What if your greatest shame became your greatest testimony? The story of Rahab challenges everything we think we know about who belongs in God's family.
Joshua 2 takes us to an unexpected location—the house of a prostitute in Jericho—where two Israelite spies find refuge as they scout the Promised Land. But this isn't just any woman; Rahab is a foreigner who demonstrates extraordinary faith despite her background. With soldiers searching the city for these men, she hides them and makes a stunning declaration: "I know that the Lord has given you the land...for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."
The beauty of this narrative lies in its contrasts. Rahab likely learned about God through conversations overheard from clients—her very brokenness positioned her to hear about God's mighty works. When she lets the spies down from her window with a scarlet cord, she becomes the means of salvation not just for herself but for her entire family. This cord, reminiscent of the Passover blood, marks her home as a place where anyone who enters will be saved from coming judgment.
Throughout Scripture, Rahab continues to be called "the prostitute" even while being honored in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11). Why? Because "in Christ, your past must be remembered as a testimony, but it will never define your future identity." Her story culminates beautifully in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, where she appears simply as "Rahab"—the mother of Boaz, a man of exceptional character, and an ancestor of Christ himself.
This powerful message reminds us that faith often exists in simple acts of sacrificial kindness, that no one is beyond redemption, and that God delights in writing incredible stories through unlikely people. Where might you be hiding your past and wounds instead of putting God's incredible grace on display? Your story matters, and it might just be the testimony someone else needs to hear.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Please turn in your Bibles to Joshua 2, 1-11, which
is on page 178 in the Pew Bibles, and follow along as I read
God's Word.
The son of Nun sent two mensecretly from Shittim as spies,
(00:24):
saying Go view the land,especially Jericho.
And they went and came into thehouse of a prostitute whose
name was Rahab and lodged there.
It was told to the king ofJericho Behold, men of Israel
have come here tonight to searchout the land.
Then the king of Jericho sentto Rahab, saying Bring out the
men who have come to you, whoentered your house, for they
(00:46):
have come to search out all theland.
But the woman had taken the twomen and hidden them.
And she said True, the men cameto me, but I did not know where
they were from.
And when the gate was about tobe closed at dark, the men went
out.
I do not know where the menwent, pursue them quickly, for
you will overtake them.
I do not know where the menwent, pursue them quickly, for
(01:06):
you will overtake them.
But she had brought them up tothe roof and hid them with the
stalks of flax that she had laidin order on the roof.
So the men pursued after them onthe way to the Jordan, as far
as the fords, and the gate wasshut as soon as the pursuers had
gone out, before the men laydown, she came up to them on the
roof and said to the men I knowthat the Lord has given you the
land and that the fear of youhas fallen upon us, and that all
(01:29):
the inhabitants of the landmelt away before you, for we
have heard how the Lord dried upthe water of the Red Sea before
you when you came out of Egypt,and what you did to the two
kings of the Amorites who werebeyond the Jordan, to Sihon and
Og, whom you devoted todestruction.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Much appreciated.
In case you don't know,christine was given the text to
read a couple of weeks ago andas soon as she got it, I think
did you text me right away andsay you've got to be kidding me.
Okay, so the reason is notbecause there are words in it
that are hard to pronounce.
Her husband has studied Hebrew.
(02:23):
He can help her with that.
The reason it's hard is if youactually correctly pronounce one
of the first difficult words inverse one, it would cause some
of you to blush, and I thinkit's important that you know
that Christine intentionallymispronounced a city that you
will find in verse one, to makelife a little bit easier on all
(02:43):
of us.
Anyway, I find that a littlebit easier on all of us, and so,
anyway, I find that a littlebit fun and fascinating.
Out of curiosity, we're goingto see how many of you guys were
here last week and how many ofyou who were here last week paid
attention.
One question I would lovefeedback on this.
I'm going to try not to make ita difficult one.
It's okay to get things wrongat church.
This is where we come to getright, not to prove we're right.
(03:05):
The main thing that wasrepeated over and over and over
in Joshua, chapter one.
What came before what we'reabout to lead was be blank and
blank.
Fill in the blanks, be andblank.
Okay, way to go.
Team.
All right, we're in a goodplace, we're in a really good
place.
Before we dive in, let me justgive you guys sort of some
(03:28):
closing of summer and enteringin fall heads ups.
So obviously the room's prettyfull.
We're pulling in chairs.
If you're planning on pullinginto the parking lot at nine
o'clock and grabbing a cup ofcoffee and a donut and dropping
off your kid and getting a goodseat, you have more faith than
most.
Okay, so just a couple oftidbits.
(03:49):
We're going to try to squeezeinto the room while it is so hot
outside.
If we have to open those backdoors, it makes everybody a
little muggier, and this manypeople make it warm in the
building anyway.
I'm very much looking forwardto, and somebody who knows
weather better than I being ableto open in the building.
Anyway, I'm very much lookingforward to, and somebody who
knows weather better than Ibeing able to open up the doors.
But I'm guessing we got a month.
(04:10):
Does that sound about right?
And so just know, we're gonnabe squeezing, probably for the
next month before it cools off.
But then also know, secondservice does tend to be lighter,
and so if you feel a littlecrowded or if you dropped your
kid off in a room that seemedmore crowded than you would like
, just know that second servicetends to be lighter than first
service.
(04:30):
Here's what we're going to startwith today Be strong and
courageous.
And here's the great news,god's people are.
They get it right.
This time.
This second generation figuresit out, and we go into one of
the coolest stories in the bookof Joshua.
Today.
I want to begin with a question,and I would love for you guys
to answer.
You're going to answer by phone, if you have it, so grab your
(04:51):
phones.
There's a little QR code thatI've got up on the screen.
I make this joke all the time.
If you're about to take apicture of that, ask the young
person next to you how thosethings work, and they will be
happy to show you, and then youcan take them out to lunch and
make a friend today.
Here's my question If you wereto pick a man from Scripture for
(05:11):
your daughter to marry now, ifyou're single, you can pick for
yourself, but I tried to come upwith a question that anybody
could potentially answer.
If you were to pick a man fromScripture for your daughter to
marry, or for you to marry, whowould you pick?
I left this open-ended, okay,which means don't ruin this for
everybody.
The 3% of you who think it'svery funny to put in responses
(05:35):
that ruin it for the whole crowd.
All right, I've got somebody.
Like previewing them, but don'tmake their job more difficult
than it has to be.
If you were to pick a man fromscripture for your daughter to
marry, who would you pick?
Joshua 2 begins in an unlikelyplace, but it ends in an even
(05:56):
more unlikely place.
This is where it begins.
Men who are strong, men who arecourageous, men who are
trusting in the Lord show up andthey spend the night at the
house of a prostitute whose nameis Rahab.
In the event.
By the way, I can tell I'mtransitioning faster than y'all.
(06:17):
Y'all think you have reallycute and clever answers and I
can read it on your faces rightnow, just so you know.
You're not as cute as you think.
All right, we begin in a.
You're not as cute as you think, all right, we begin in a place
you would not expect the Bibleto begin.
Certainly, if this story isgoing to go in an upward,
encouraging, enthusiastic way,why on earth, in the early
beginnings of God's people goinginto the promised land, would
(06:40):
we begin here?
Why would we start in the homeof a prostitute, of a woman
named Rahab?
Let me just begin, because I'mnot going to make a big point
out of this.
Throughout the entirety of themorning, there is not a single
soul in this room, there is nota single person that you know.
That is beyond the grace of God.
(07:01):
That is one thing that Joshua 2screams out loud.
You have never been, will neverbe, have never known and will
never know someone that thegrace of God cannot rescue.
And if you can't pick it up byverse two, you certainly excuse
me, by verse one, you certainlywill by the end of our chapter.
(07:22):
And then this incredible woman,rahab, shows some pretty
incredible faith, all tuckedinto verses 8 through 11.
Are these statements of faith?
Now, you need to know Rahab wasnot just a prostitute.
She was also a foreigner.
Which means sometimes we readthe Old Testament, we just
assume well, if their name's init, then they're one of God's
(07:45):
people.
Not the case.
She was not one of God's people.
She was one of the Canaanites.
She was not somebody who wouldhave grown up into fear and the
admonition of the Lord, and yetshe has some incredible
statements to make.
Before I point out those, I dowant to make one theological
point, and I've put it in boldon the screen.
(08:05):
Lots of people struggle withwhat we are going to read as we
continue through the book ofJoshua, where God calls his
people to devote entire citiesto destruction.
I'm going to go in more depthwhen we get to chapter 6,
because we see this actually panout.
But just in case you're nothere, I want to give you a
(08:27):
theological tool to put in yoursort of toolbox so that if
anybody ever comes up to you andsays you know I could never
really follow the Lord or theGod of the Bible, how could I.
He's a genocidal, angry God.
I just want to give you onequick tool to put in your back
pocket, and it is this when yousee the term devoted to
(08:47):
destruction, most of us focus onthe destruction, but notice the
word that comes first devoted.
If we think of somebody beingdevoted to something, do we
think of that as a warm thing ora cold thing?
We tend to think warm.
What do we call the time thatwe spend with the Lord at the
beginning or the end of the day?
Our devotion, our devotional,and so these two terms sitting
(09:09):
side by side, it really shouldjar us a bit.
What I want you to recognize,though, is that there is just as
much about devotion as there isdestruction.
This is not about God's peoplewinning a war as there is
destruction.
This is not about God's peoplewinning a war.
This is about the removal of alittle g, god that will cost
people their souls.
(09:30):
This is about worship more thanit is about anything ethnic.
I'll give you one quick exampleout of Deuteronomy 13.
You have to pay attention whenyou read it, though.
If you hear in one of yourcities, so this would be a city
of God's people.
If you hear that in one of yourcities, which the Lord, your
God, is giving you to dwellthere, that certain worthless
(09:53):
fellows have gone out and serveother gods.
If they have devoted themselvesto someone other than the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords,the creator of the universe, god
, you shall surely put theinhabitants of that city to the
sword.
The point here is God is notpicking and choosing based on
(10:14):
ethnicity.
What he is saying is if you aregoing to be devoted to things
that are going to steal yoursoul away from me, steal the
souls, souls of your children,steal the souls of the people
that are inhabiting the landaround you.
God is going to bring judgment,but it isn't a guarantee that
judgment has to come.
That's what we see in the bookof Jonah An entire city that was
(10:37):
going to be devoted todestruction, and then their
hearts change.
If you want to go a littledeeper on this, notice verse 17,
.
None of the devoted things.
So this is saying in thesecities, there are actual
physical things that are drawingpeople away from God, and God
doesn't want them to.
I love this.
Stick to your hand.
(10:59):
In other words, when we findourselves in a culture, if you
find yourself.
In a household where God is notworshiped and God is not
praised, sticky little physicalrealities will try to become
your God.
It is why God's word isconstantly concerned that our
(11:21):
possessions not possess us, andI want you to see that from the
outset.
When you see this term devotedto destruction, this isn't about
something ethnic so much, it isabout something worshipful.
But I do want you to see whatRahab puts on display for us.
Here is this foreigner who is aprostitute, but notice the words
(11:43):
that come out of her mouth.
I know that the Lord has givenyou the land.
I know that the fear of you hasfallen on us.
I know that all the inhabitantsof the land melt away before
you.
These two spies come to herhouse and she says listen, I
don't know a lot about you, butI do know something about your
(12:04):
God.
I know that God has alreadydetermined that my house is not
going to have my family's nameon it in the days ahead.
I know it's going to be yours.
I am convinced.
Fear of your people is runningrampant through the city.
Our hearts melt when we thinkabout you.
We have heard how the Lorddried up the water of the Red
(12:27):
Sea, that whole book of Exodus.
We've heard about it.
Not only that, we have heardhow you defeated the two kings
of the Amorites who you devotedto destruction.
And as soon as we heard itverse 11, our hearts melted.
There was no spirit left in anyman because of you, for the
Lord, your God.
He is God in heavens above andthe earth beneath.
(12:48):
She begins giving us hymns ofpraise falling from the mouth of
a foreign prostitute.
If you really want to have funwith this text, you need only
ask yourself one question howdoes Rahab know all of this?
(13:08):
How can she possibly know allof this?
I'm not looking to poke on anytouchy internal.
You know whatever situation'sgoing on in your life, but can I
just tell you women did not getthe news back then.
It's not how it worked.
They were not in your life.
But can I just tell you womendid not get the news back then.
It's not how it worked.
They were not in the know.
They were intentionally leftout of the know.
(13:30):
Additionally, she's in adifferent country.
How does she know that thehearts of soldiers are melting?
How does she know that all ofthe people are fearful?
Can I give you my guess andwhat some commentators think.
Her customers talked about itin front of her.
In all likelihood she knows howgood and big and powerful God
(13:57):
is because in her brokenness shehas heard this soldier who is
trying to find comfort in theonly way.
He knew how, by coming to her,she may have listened to two or
three men sitting outside herdoor talking about these very
things.
It was her brokenness thatactually prepared her for
(14:21):
usefulness.
Why was it that we wantedNatalie to share today?
Is it because I didn't know allthat was going to be in there
for me?
Just so you know, I didn't say,hey, could you slide some in
it's raise time in about a monthand a half?
I didn't ask for any of that.
Why?
Because I wanted you to realizethat many times, following God
and serving him is small.
(14:42):
Following God and serving himis small, simple, although risky
decisions, and when we do thosethings, there is a story that
God desires to write for you.
That is better than you couldpossibly imagine, but you'll
miss out on it if your ear isn'tto the ground, if your eye
isn't looking.
She knows that the Lord is Godin heaven, above and earth below
(15:06):
.
She has beheld who he is.
She has believed that.
This is true.
But has she become?
That's our definition of ahealthy Christian.
Behold, believe become.
But has she become the womanthat God desires her to be?
Not yet, but, boy, is she onthe right way?
When you read a passage likethis, what needs to stand out to
you is how amazing andprovidential God is putting on
(15:31):
display His mercy to foreignersand people whose sin is as
apparent as hers.
And this is strategic.
But it's not just strategicbecause of where her address is.
Her mailbox actually matters inthis text.
It's strategic because it'stelling you no one is foreign
from God.
He knows you well.
(15:51):
No one's depravity is toodepraved.
He sees it and he loves you.
Anyway, I know that the Lordhas done these things.
She has heard these storiesfrom some of the worst places,
but she never saw it with hereyes.
There's a guy who struggled withthat.
His name was Thomas.
Thomas, I was thinking aboutyou when I put this up.
It's a weird thing to me thatThomas is a common Christian
(16:14):
name.
He does not get the best rap.
Anyway, I just think that'scool.
Jesus said to him being Thomashave you believed?
Because you have seen me?
Thomas shows up Jesus has beenresurrected.
He's heard the stories but hehadn't seen Christ yet.
And Thomas goes and he looks atPeter and he looks at John.
He's like guys, here's the deal.
I'm not gonna believe thatChrist has been resurrected
(16:36):
unless I put my finger in theholes of his hand, unless I see
the holes in his side.
And Jesus then shows up and hesays hey, come on, thomas, let's
get awkward, right, this isgoing to make the book, let's do
it.
You want to see, get real close.
And then he looks at him.
He says have you believedbecause you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have notseen me physically and yet they
(17:01):
have believed.
By the way, this is Rahab.
If you want to see you in this,you could probably see yourself
there.
But first Peter's a little bitbetter.
Though you, christian, have notseen him, you love him.
Do you realize how profoundthat sentence is?
For you to love someone thatyou have never seen?
There is a fair chance that ifJesus was not in a new body, if
(17:24):
Jesus did not have glory exudingfrom him, that you would walk
by him and not even notice.
The Bible tells us, as ordinaryas you could imagine, but
though you have not seen him,you love him.
Though you do not now see him,you believe in him.
You rejoice with joy that'sinexpressible and filled with
glory, and in so doing, youobtain the outcome of your faith
(17:46):
the salvation of your soul.
Here we find that faith doesn'trequire sight, as much as we
may want it.
She knows that the Lord is incharge, which is why, in verse
12, she doesn't want the men topromise that if she takes care
(18:07):
of them, they will take care ofher.
She says no, no, no.
Swear to me by the Lord, swearto me by the one who created all
things.
Swear to me by him that, asI've dealt kindly with you, you
will also deal kindly with myfather's house.
And give me a sure sign thatyou will save alive.
(18:28):
My notice on the screen, if youwould.
She is going from.
Will you save me too?
I want you to save my wholefather's house.
I want my father and my mother,I want my brothers and my
sisters, I want all who belongto them, to be saved from death.
I know you're going to win,because I know your God, and
your God doesn't lose.
You may screw it up, but yourGod's not going to screw it up
(18:52):
and I'm telling you, swear to meby him.
I don't need the promise of asoldier, I don't need the
promise of a spy.
I don't need the promise of allof your people or your greatest
leader.
You swear to me by the God thatyou trust in that.
I'm trusting in that if I helpyou, you will help me.
And when you help me, this youngwoman who may have very likely
(19:14):
been looked down on by herfamily, whose father may have
looked at her profession andwondered where did I go wrong?
Whose mother may have lookedand said what have we done?
Our child could not havestrayed any further.
There's a world in which theymay have even encouraged it.
I don't know.
Remember these are not God'speople.
(19:35):
This is in a city that isliving completely opposed to
God's ways.
Her brothers, her sisters, allof the conversations that would
have been had at Christmas andThanksgiving and birthdays about
Rahab.
Now this woman becomes theirlowercase s Savior.
She does what they could not,and these spies say to her in
(19:57):
verse 14, our life for yours,even to death.
In other words, if you die, wedie.
We're going to take care of youas much as we take care of our
own lives.
If you do not tell thisbusiness of ours, and when the
Lord gives us the land, we willdeal kindly and faithfully with
you.
She may have disgraced herfamily, but something else is
about to happen, and I don'tknow if you've noticed that, but
(20:19):
what these guys just said is sovery different than the first
generation.
When the Lord gives us the land, this was the confidence that
these spies' fathers did nothave.
They were not strong andcourageous, but they are.
Do you want to know why?
Because the faith that Rahabhad fueled their own.
(20:43):
When they heard from aforeigner that already her
people are terrified of the Godof the Bible, all of a sudden
their faith begins to grow.
What a change, what confidence.
So she lets them go after thispromise has been made.
She let them down by a ropethrough the window, for her
(21:06):
house was built into the citywall so that she lived in the
wall.
And she said to them go intothe hills or the pursuers will
encounter you.
Hide there three days until thepursuers have returned, then
afterward you may go your way.
I love thinking about how thisworked out.
Her house was built into thecity wall.
That was a very common thing.
You would build walls back inthat day that were quite thick.
(21:27):
If you had the means, you wouldmake them literally thick and
solid.
But many fortresses were builtwith a gap between the wall and
people lived in it.
Rahab lived.
This is why I say her addressher mailbox was strategic.
When these spies come, they havean ally right on the edge of
the territory that they arecoming into, right on the edge
(21:49):
of the fortress.
But I do love thinking aboutRahab letting these guys down
out of the window.
It's just cool to me.
How did that work out?
I'm not going to guess thatRahab was jacked and she's like
go ahead, boys, I'll keep an eyeout for you.
She probably ties this rope offand all of a sudden these guys
just start scuttling down thewall and she says now go and
(22:12):
stay hidden for anybody payattention.
How long?
Three days Now.
If you're not paying attention,if you read your Bible quickly,
you're going to be prone tomiss things like this.
These three days matter.
The spies were hunted.
Men If caught.
Their fate was certain death.
Humanity, similarly, isconstantly being chased by death
(22:36):
.
We went this past week to afuneral on um Monday and Tuesday
in Texas.
About two months ago, I sharedwith you about a woman who, uh,
we have gone to camp with for along time, whose husband has
cancer.
He passed away about two weeksago.
He's a couple of years olderthan me, has children.
My children's age loved theLord, fought cancer once, went
(22:59):
into remission for 10 years, gotcancer again, fought it for
five years and then lost thefight on this side of eternity
and won it.
Forevermore in Christ.
And we go to this funeral andit is the most worshipful thing
that I have ever been a part of.
That was connected with afuneral like this.
This man had shared histestimony after his first bout
(23:21):
with cancer.
He thanked God for his cancerbecause he did not believe he
ever would have come nearer tothe Lord had it not been for
that.
It changed him in all of thebest of ways.
All of these incredible momentsbeing shared their refrigerator
is.
I would recommend this practice.
By the way, I can't put stuffon my refrigerator because my
wife likes the kitchen to look acertain way.
(23:42):
One side of our refrigeratorcan have magnets, the other does
not, and that's just like howit works in our house.
But if I had spiritual freedomin my own household, what I
might do and what this familydid, is they put prayer requests
on one side of the fridge andthen, when God answers them,
they move to the other.
I'm going to try to say thiswithout losing it.
One of the prayer requests thatthey moved a week ago was God,
(24:04):
will you heal daddy?
Well, they wanted it here, butthey moved it there.
You see, when these three menshuttle down a wall and they run
out and they hide it in thewoods, they hide under impending
death for three days.
This is exactly what we seewith Christ in the grave.
(24:25):
This is exactly what we seewith Jonah in a whale.
This is exactly what we see allover scripture.
That three days isrepresentative of death coming
but not finding Romans 6.23reminds us the wages of sin is
death.
I have great news for you Ifyou've never sinned, you're
(24:46):
going to live forever.
I look really forward to seeingthat, but none of you are going
to make that cut and, whetheryou realize it or not, death is
chasing you.
The question is have you found aplace to hide that actually
hides you from death?
There is one and it is here,and Christ went into the grave
(25:08):
for three days as death pursued.
And if death cannot find himand he has paid your penalty,
death will not find you.
Instead, the free gift of Godbeing eternal life in Christ
Jesus, our Lord, will be givento you.
Life in Christ Jesus, our Lord,will be given to you.
I will say, because of thefaith of these spies, I think
(25:31):
they had a great three days.
This is speculation.
Let me step away from the pulpithere for a moment.
I'm going to guess Rahab hookedthem up with some food I'm
going to guess they had breadand cheese and who knows what
else to drink, depending on yourtheology and they went out into
the woods for three days,knowing our God is going to give
us this land, knowing the faithof this woman has increased my
own.
Knowing we get to be a part ofsomething that people are going
(25:51):
to talk about for thousands ofyears, that gets to be our story
.
As they sat around, maybe acampfire looking up at the stars
for three nights, a campfirelooking up at the stars for
three nights, and then theyreturn, the men said to her we
will be guiltless in respect tothis oath of yours that you have
made a swear Behold, when wecome into the land, you shall
(26:19):
tie the scarlet cord in thewindow through which you let us
down.
And I can't go into this wholething.
What does something red hangingover or near a window remind
you of Passover?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, time out.
You'll get to see that in theweeks ahead.
But if you think there's noteven more incredible biblical
story tucked into this, youwould be missing it.
You shall gather into yourhouse your father, your mother,
your brothers and all yourfather's household.
Did you hear it expand?
(26:40):
At first it was just Rahab,then it's her mom or dad, or
brothers and sisters and theirpeople, then it's the entire
father's household.
What you should be hearing whenyou read this is the creaking
of the hinges of the door ofeternity, opening wide even to
the foreigner and even to theprostitute.
Then if anyone goes out of thedoors of your house into the
(27:02):
street, his blood be on his ownhead.
That's very Passover talk andwe shall be guiltless.
But if a hand is laid on anyonewho is with you in the house,
his blood shall be on our head.
But if you tell this businessof ours, then we will be
guiltless with respect to youroath that you have made a swear
and she said according to yourword, so be it.
(27:23):
Then she sent them away andthey departed and she tied the
scarlet cord in the window.
It would be there for only amatter of days, but in the event
that you didn't hear the doorscreak, open even more.
But if a hand is laid on anyonewho is with you in the house,
(27:46):
all of a sudden, salvation thatwas pointed at Rahab.
That then goes to her mom anddad and family who may have been
very disappointed in her, andshe becomes a savior of that
family is then expanded to theirchildren as well.
But by the time we get to theend of this story, please look
at the word on the screen.
Anyone who comes into thishouse, though death may be
(28:06):
chasing them, will be saved.
Let me interpret that for you.
If you think, walking throughthose doors as you coming into
this house, you have notunderstood scripture.
If you think this house is theonly house to walk into to find
salvation, you have notunderstood the scripture.
What's happening here?
Are you coming into not abuilding but a home, and are you
(28:29):
part of the family of that home?
This is the spirit of Godopening the doors to any who
would say I know that I havesinned.
I know that death is chasing me.
I fully expect to live a full,long life.
I hope death has to run reallyhard to catch me.
(28:49):
But if it catches me in twodays when I take a funky turn
off of the yellow light, I wantto know that I am protected from
that enemy who pursues me.
Anyone is welcome to come intothe house.
And what does it look like?
It looks like knowing who dadis.
It looks like changing yourname.
It looks like more thanbeholding who he is and
(29:11):
believing who he is, butbecoming who he has called you
to be.
That is what faith actuallylooks like.
And for her it didn't take much.
It took one conversation andone act of sacrificial kindness.
This is the end of the chapter.
They departed, they went intothe hills and they remained
(29:31):
there three days until thepursuers returned.
And the pursuers searched allalong and they found nothing.
Because they were hidden forthree days under the providence
of God.
Because they were hidden forthree days under the providence
of God.
Then the two men return.
Can I just tell you this istheir best day.
They get to walk up to Joshua,the new leader of God's people,
(29:52):
they get to deliver good news,faithful news, be strong and
courageous news, and they tellhim everything.
Then the two men return.
They came down from the hills,passed over, came to Joshua.
Then the two men returned.
They came down from the hills,passed over, came to Joshua, the
son of Nun, and they told himall that had happened to them.
Now are these guys married?
Maybe, but whether they'remarried or not, there does need
(30:13):
to be an explanation as to whatthey were doing at the
prostitute's house.
He's like all right, look,we're gonna get the whole story
straight here.
We did what we were supposed todo.
The fact that God usedsomething unusual to us.
We are seeing it as unusual too.
But might it be that salvationis widening and widening, and
widening?
And they said to Joshua we havefaith, we have faith in God, we
(30:36):
have faith in you.
We're ready to be strong, we'reready to be courageous.
We believe our people will aswell, because, truly, the Lord
has given.
This is them saying God hasmade a promise and we believe
he's gonna keep it.
All the land has been giveninto our hands and all the
inhabitants of the land aregonna melt away before us.
(31:00):
This is a great story.
It doesn't make many of thecoloring sheets, just so you
know it might make it once theyget to the woods.
It doesn't make it when they'rehanging out with Rahab.
Rahab begins as a prostituteand that part of her life may
never have been forgotten.
All of the conversations likelyhad after God's people move in,
(31:22):
rahab, her family, herhousehold and anybody else who
hid in that home become a partof God's people.
But if you think for a minute,when they were traveling
together, she didn't overhear.
Hey, isn't that the prostitute?
Hey, isn't that the woman?
I mean, do you know what herbackground looks like?
You?
ever hung out with church people, all right, on a Monday,
tuesday, wednesday, thursday,friday or Saturday, all right.
(31:44):
Just so you know we're notperfect.
She probably heard about herstory from whispered, dark,
shady corners for the rest ofher life, and the Bible doesn't
hide it when I tell you a partof her life may never have been
forgotten.
I mean it.
This is chapter 6.
And who is she considered inchapter six?
(32:04):
Rahab the prostitute, verse 17.
The prostitute's house, verse22.
Rahab the prostitute, verse 25.
Timeout flag on the field.
New identity in Christ.
Should we just call her RahabLike?
Can't we move there, god's word?
Were there so many Rahabsabsand that was the only way?
No, no, not that Rahab theprostitute one.
(32:25):
Was that the only way?
Couldn't they have been the onewith the scarlet thread in the
window?
Can't we use that as a monikerinstead?
But the Bible doesn't.
In fact, the Bible reallydoesn't.
All the way in Hebrews, all theway in James.
Do you see who she is by faith?
Rahab the prostitute, james 2,.
(32:45):
In the same way, was not alsoRahab the prostitute?
Why does this name chase her?
Can I tell you why?
I think?
I think this name chases herfor a very good reason.
These verses that I just put upfor you are praising her.
Why would the Bible call herRahab the prostitute, while it
(33:08):
is lifting her up as an exampleof faith and an example of good
works?
And that's exactly what'shappening.
Hebrews 11 is the hall of fameof faith.
All of the best examples ofpeople who had faith in God.
They find themselves in Hebrews11.
And so does she.
By faith, rahab the prostitutedid not perish with those who
(33:29):
were disobedient because she hadgiven a friendly welcome to the
spies.
Do you see how simple her faithwas?
She gave a welcome to those whoneeded it.
She didn't go to seminary, shedidn't have to go on a big
missions trip, she didn't haveto raise a lot of money.
She didn't spend 40 hours aweek praying.
No, she gave a friendly welcometo people who needed it.
(33:52):
James, chapter two James beingthe book not on faith but on
works.
And in the same way, was notalso Rahab the prostitute
justified?
And in the same way, was notalso Rahab the prostitute
justified seen as guiltless byworks when she received the
messengers and sent them out byanother way?
Why does this not fall off ofher name?
(34:13):
Because in Christ, your pastmust be remembered as a
testimony, but it will neverdefine your future identity.
If you try to scrub from yourname all of the brokenness that
was built up under it, you arenot making yourself look better.
(34:34):
You are making God's grace looksmaller.
That's what happens.
Parents, just one big piece ofadvice to you Do not hide your
past from your children.
To clarify, I'm not saying atlunch today you sit down with
your five-year-old and you talkabout your college days.
(34:54):
It's not what I'm saying Mightbe interesting, I'm not
recommending that.
But as they grow in the faith,as they grow in their
understanding of grace, do younot know that they are going to
have the same questions that youhad and have?
Is my sin too big for God?
He knows what I think, he knowswhat I say, he knows what I
mumble that no one else hears.
(35:15):
And when a mom and a dad whohave a faith that is strong and
courageous can say son daughter,let me tell you where I came
from.
When we do that, it doesn'tdiminish us, it expands the
grace of God.
Parents, don't hide yourstories.
Roommates, friends, leaders inyour schools, coaches, whatever.
(35:37):
Do not hide your story inChrist.
Your past must be remembered asa testimony, but it will never
define your future identity.
There is one place that I knowthe prostitute falls off, and
it's the coolest part to me ofthe whole thing.
This is where we see it falloff in a screen that is far too
(36:00):
small for you to be able to read.
I know that I'm going to zoom.
This is Matthew, chapter one.
It's known as the genealogy ofJesus.
If you don't trust me, look itup in your own Bible.
Rahab may have began as aprostitute, but this is how she
is remembered.
This, all of these names, arehow we get from, how we get to
(36:21):
Jesus.
Look at 18.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christtook place in this way.
How do we get there inscripture?
Well, we go through a bunch ofnames.
We got Isaac, we got Judah,we've got all of this.
I just want you to notice Let mezoom in real good.
I want you to notice verse fiveIn Salmon, the father of Boaz,
(36:44):
by Rahab.
That one little phrase tells mea couple of things.
Rahab gave up her old ways.
Rahab married someone, marry abeliever, believed in the God of
(37:06):
the Bible, and when they had achild, do you know who their
child was?
Boaz.
Now that may not matter to you,and if you don't know who Boaz
is, I would recommend a book ofthe Bible called Ruth.
It's pretty great, ladies.
It's got to be in your topthree.
All right, esther, ruth, psalm,proverbs 31,.
All good, just keep it in thetop three.
She not only gave up her oldways and got married, she had a
child.
And when she raised that child,she raised him to be, in my
(37:30):
estimation, one of the greatestexamples of godliness that we
find in all of scripture.
And who raised that man?
A prostitute who was foreign tothe knowledge of God?
That's who does it.
(37:50):
And if you want to knowsomething even cooler, why was
it when Ruth showed up?
We're going deep Old Testament.
If you're not tracking with me,let's get coffee or lunch.
Why was it when Ruth showed uplate at night and laid at Boaz's
feet?
He didn't take advantage of herBecause his mom had been taking
advantage of her whole life,because his mom had been taken
(38:16):
advantage of her whole life.
Most people look at this andthey jump to the fact that Rahab
was a great, great grandmotherof David.
David's awesome kills giants.
But he also has a pretty sundrypast.
Boaz, her son is the exampleyou want, and this happens when
we do not hide who we are fromour children and from those
(38:41):
around us.
I asked you a question at thebeginning and it was this I have
no clue what you guys answeredand I'm about to find out and,
I'll be honest, I'm just alittle bit nervous.
Let me make sure I don't screwthis up.
Thank you to the over a hundredof you.
All right, I love this.
Alright, okay, hang on, I'mdoing it different.
(39:03):
Y'all don't do anything.
I Wanted to try.
I wanted to try somethingdifferent today and see if it
works, and it didn't.
But I still love technology.
Okay, nope, how dare you?
Let's see what Josiah's viewinghistory is.
(39:28):
There we go.
I should be able to zoom.
I'm sorry.
How do I do this?
Boop, no, nope.
Well, whatever, there we go.
All right, everybody, giveyourselves a hand.
You nailed it.
Way to go.
Well, not everybody, just thoseof you who put Boaz, okay, or
(39:50):
Jesus.
I'll take Jesus, boaz and Jesus, all right.
As much as I would love topause and talk about all of the
folks, oh, uriah is a reallygood pick too, all right.
When I look at this, here's whatI want you to realize when I
think about who it is that Rahabturned into.
(40:12):
There is one place where thatname falls off.
And that name falls off whenyou get to see the family that
she was a part of.
When it comes to her faith, herhistory is remembered.
When it comes to her past, herhistory is remembered when it
comes to the example.
Her history is remembered whenit comes to the example that she
(40:33):
set in her works.
Her history is remembered, buthere, as an ancestor of Jesus.
Rahab the prostitute is herpast, but that is not her future
anymore.
Thomas Watson puts it this waywhen God calls a man, when God
calls a woman, he does notrepent of it.
God does not, as many friendsdo, love one day and hate
(40:57):
another.
God's call is founded upon hisdecree.
He decreed that Rahab theforeign prostitute was going to
be the savior of the nation, andhis decree is immutable.
It's unchangeable.
Acts of grace cannot bereversed.
God blocks out His people'ssins, but not their names.
(41:17):
He made you exactly who you are.
He knows your past better thanyou know it, and if you want
that piece of your name to falloff, let it fall off only in one
place.
I'm in the family of God, buteverywhere else.
Let me tell you who I was,because when we hide our past
and we hide our wounds, whatwe're ultimately doing is hiding
(41:39):
God's grace, and I tell youthis because y'all are great at
this.
I'm not saying this as aconviction, I'm saying this as
an encouragement.
You are a people who openyourselves up and say let me
tell you who I was.
Let me tell you who I still am,but let me tell you whose I am,
(41:59):
because I know what I willbecome.
This is the hope that we havein God.
This is the hope that we havein Christ and this is the hope
that we have in the gospel Band.
If you guys want to go aheadand come on up, feel free.
I've got a couple of questionsI want you to ponder as the band
plays in the background, behindme, and then we will stand and
(42:19):
praise God for who he is.
For Rahab, faith existed in onesimple conversation and one act
of sacrificial kindness.
Might we be over-complicatingfaith in Jesus.
What is a simple, sacrificialthing that God may be calling
you to?
Where are you tempted to hideyour past?
Where are you tempted to hideyour wounds?
(42:41):
How, instead, can you put God'sincredible grace on display and
do you believe that God wantsto write an incredible story
through someone like you?
I can tell you he does.
I can tell you he does, I cantell you he is.
I can tell you half the storiesin this room.
I'm not allowed to, but I can.
His grace is unbelievable, andif you have not found it yet,
(43:06):
let today be the day where whoyou are doesn't fall off, but
who you will become absolutelychanges.
Let today be the day that youare written in the family.
You are under the household offaith.
Let today be the day that deathpursues, but you know that
because of the work of Christ,in three days you will be
protected from it.
Let's worship together, aswe're ready, a God who deserves
(43:30):
it.
Please turn in your Bibles to Joshua 2, 1-11, which
is on page 178 in the Pew Bibles, and follow along as I read
God's Word.
The son of Nun sent two mensecretly from Shittim as spies,
(00:24):
saying Go view the land,especially Jericho.
And they went and came into thehouse of a prostitute whose
name was Rahab and lodged there.
It was told to the king ofJericho Behold, men of Israel
have come here tonight to searchout the land.
Then the king of Jericho sentto Rahab, saying Bring out the
men who have come to you, whoentered your house, for they
(00:46):
have come to search out all theland.
But the woman had taken the twomen and hidden them.
And she said True, the men cameto me, but I did not know where
they were from.
And when the gate was about tobe closed at dark, the men went
out.
I do not know where the menwent, pursue them quickly, for
you will overtake them.
I do not know where the menwent, pursue them quickly, for
(01:06):
you will overtake them.
But she had brought them up tothe roof and hid them with the
stalks of flax that she had laidin order on the roof.
So the men pursued after them onthe way to the Jordan, as far
as the fords, and the gate wasshut as soon as the pursuers had
gone out, before the men laydown, she came up to them on the
roof and said to the men I knowthat the Lord has given you the
land and that the fear of youhas fallen upon us, and that all
(01:29):
the inhabitants of the landmelt away before you, for we
have heard how the Lord dried upthe water of the Red Sea before
you when you came out of Egypt,and what you did to the two
kings of the Amorites who werebeyond the Jordan, to Sihon and
Og, whom you devoted todestruction.
Amen.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Much appreciated.
In case you don't know,christine was given the text to
read a couple of weeks ago andas soon as she got it, I think
did you text me right away andsay you've got to be kidding me.
Okay, so the reason is notbecause there are words in it
that are hard to pronounce.
Her husband has studied Hebrew.
(02:23):
He can help her with that.
The reason it's hard is if youactually correctly pronounce one
of the first difficult words inverse one, it would cause some
of you to blush, and I thinkit's important that you know
that Christine intentionallymispronounced a city that you
will find in verse one, to makelife a little bit easier on all
(02:43):
of us.
Anyway, I find that a littlebit easier on all of us, and so,
anyway, I find that a littlebit fun and fascinating.
Out of curiosity, we're goingto see how many of you guys were
here last week and how many ofyou who were here last week paid
attention.
One question I would lovefeedback on this.
I'm going to try not to make ita difficult one.
It's okay to get things wrongat church.
This is where we come to getright, not to prove we're right.
(03:05):
The main thing that wasrepeated over and over and over
in Joshua, chapter one.
What came before what we'reabout to lead was be blank and
blank.
Fill in the blanks, be andblank.
Okay, way to go.
Team.
All right, we're in a goodplace, we're in a really good
place.
Before we dive in, let me justgive you guys sort of some
(03:28):
closing of summer and enteringin fall heads ups.
So obviously the room's prettyfull.
We're pulling in chairs.
If you're planning on pullinginto the parking lot at nine
o'clock and grabbing a cup ofcoffee and a donut and dropping
off your kid and getting a goodseat, you have more faith than
most.
Okay, so just a couple oftidbits.
(03:49):
We're going to try to squeezeinto the room while it is so hot
outside.
If we have to open those backdoors, it makes everybody a
little muggier, and this manypeople make it warm in the
building anyway.
I'm very much looking forwardto, and somebody who knows
weather better than I being ableto open in the building.
Anyway, I'm very much lookingforward to, and somebody who
knows weather better than Ibeing able to open up the doors.
But I'm guessing we got a month.
(04:10):
Does that sound about right?
And so just know, we're gonnabe squeezing, probably for the
next month before it cools off.
But then also know, secondservice does tend to be lighter,
and so if you feel a littlecrowded or if you dropped your
kid off in a room that seemedmore crowded than you would like
, just know that second servicetends to be lighter than first
service.
(04:30):
Here's what we're going to startwith today Be strong and
courageous.
And here's the great news,god's people are.
They get it right.
This time.
This second generation figuresit out, and we go into one of
the coolest stories in the bookof Joshua.
Today.
I want to begin with a question,and I would love for you guys
to answer.
You're going to answer by phone, if you have it, so grab your
(04:51):
phones.
There's a little QR code thatI've got up on the screen.
I make this joke all the time.
If you're about to take apicture of that, ask the young
person next to you how thosethings work, and they will be
happy to show you, and then youcan take them out to lunch and
make a friend today.
Here's my question If you wereto pick a man from Scripture for
(05:11):
your daughter to marry now, ifyou're single, you can pick for
yourself, but I tried to come upwith a question that anybody
could potentially answer.
If you were to pick a man fromScripture for your daughter to
marry, or for you to marry, whowould you pick?
I left this open-ended, okay,which means don't ruin this for
everybody.
The 3% of you who think it'svery funny to put in responses
(05:35):
that ruin it for the whole crowd.
All right, I've got somebody.
Like previewing them, but don'tmake their job more difficult
than it has to be.
If you were to pick a man fromscripture for your daughter to
marry, who would you pick?
Joshua 2 begins in an unlikelyplace, but it ends in an even
(05:56):
more unlikely place.
This is where it begins.
Men who are strong, men who arecourageous, men who are
trusting in the Lord show up andthey spend the night at the
house of a prostitute whose nameis Rahab.
In the event.
By the way, I can tell I'mtransitioning faster than y'all.
(06:17):
Y'all think you have reallycute and clever answers and I
can read it on your faces rightnow, just so you know.
You're not as cute as you think.
All right, we begin in a.
You're not as cute as you think, all right, we begin in a place
you would not expect the Bibleto begin.
Certainly, if this story isgoing to go in an upward,
encouraging, enthusiastic way,why on earth, in the early
beginnings of God's people goinginto the promised land, would
(06:40):
we begin here?
Why would we start in the homeof a prostitute, of a woman
named Rahab?
Let me just begin, because I'mnot going to make a big point
out of this.
Throughout the entirety of themorning, there is not a single
soul in this room, there is nota single person that you know.
That is beyond the grace of God.
(07:01):
That is one thing that Joshua 2screams out loud.
You have never been, will neverbe, have never known and will
never know someone that thegrace of God cannot rescue.
And if you can't pick it up byverse two, you certainly excuse
me, by verse one, you certainlywill by the end of our chapter.
(07:22):
And then this incredible woman,rahab, shows some pretty
incredible faith, all tuckedinto verses 8 through 11.
Are these statements of faith?
Now, you need to know Rahab wasnot just a prostitute.
She was also a foreigner.
Which means sometimes we readthe Old Testament, we just
assume well, if their name's init, then they're one of God's
(07:45):
people.
Not the case.
She was not one of God's people.
She was one of the Canaanites.
She was not somebody who wouldhave grown up into fear and the
admonition of the Lord, and yetshe has some incredible
statements to make.
Before I point out those, I dowant to make one theological
point, and I've put it in boldon the screen.
(08:05):
Lots of people struggle withwhat we are going to read as we
continue through the book ofJoshua, where God calls his
people to devote entire citiesto destruction.
I'm going to go in more depthwhen we get to chapter 6,
because we see this actually panout.
But just in case you're nothere, I want to give you a
(08:27):
theological tool to put in yoursort of toolbox so that if
anybody ever comes up to you andsays you know I could never
really follow the Lord or theGod of the Bible, how could I.
He's a genocidal, angry God.
I just want to give you onequick tool to put in your back
pocket, and it is this when yousee the term devoted to
(08:47):
destruction, most of us focus onthe destruction, but notice the
word that comes first devoted.
If we think of somebody beingdevoted to something, do we
think of that as a warm thing ora cold thing?
We tend to think warm.
What do we call the time thatwe spend with the Lord at the
beginning or the end of the day?
Our devotion, our devotional,and so these two terms sitting
(09:09):
side by side, it really shouldjar us a bit.
What I want you to recognize,though, is that there is just as
much about devotion as there isdestruction.
This is not about God's peoplewinning a war as there is
destruction.
This is not about God's peoplewinning a war.
This is about the removal of alittle g, god that will cost
people their souls.
(09:30):
This is about worship more thanit is about anything ethnic.
I'll give you one quick exampleout of Deuteronomy 13.
You have to pay attention whenyou read it, though.
If you hear in one of yourcities, so this would be a city
of God's people.
If you hear that in one of yourcities, which the Lord, your
God, is giving you to dwellthere, that certain worthless
(09:53):
fellows have gone out and serveother gods.
If they have devoted themselvesto someone other than the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords,the creator of the universe, god
, you shall surely put theinhabitants of that city to the
sword.
The point here is God is notpicking and choosing based on
(10:14):
ethnicity.
What he is saying is if you aregoing to be devoted to things
that are going to steal yoursoul away from me, steal the
souls, souls of your children,steal the souls of the people
that are inhabiting the landaround you.
God is going to bring judgment,but it isn't a guarantee that
judgment has to come.
That's what we see in the bookof Jonah An entire city that was
(10:37):
going to be devoted todestruction, and then their
hearts change.
If you want to go a littledeeper on this, notice verse 17,
.
None of the devoted things.
So this is saying in thesecities, there are actual
physical things that are drawingpeople away from God, and God
doesn't want them to.
I love this.
Stick to your hand.
(10:59):
In other words, when we findourselves in a culture, if you
find yourself.
In a household where God is notworshiped and God is not
praised, sticky little physicalrealities will try to become
your God.
It is why God's word isconstantly concerned that our
(11:21):
possessions not possess us, andI want you to see that from the
outset.
When you see this term devotedto destruction, this isn't about
something ethnic so much, it isabout something worshipful.
But I do want you to see whatRahab puts on display for us.
Here is this foreigner who is aprostitute, but notice the words
(11:43):
that come out of her mouth.
I know that the Lord has givenyou the land.
I know that the fear of you hasfallen on us.
I know that all the inhabitantsof the land melt away before
you.
These two spies come to herhouse and she says listen, I
don't know a lot about you, butI do know something about your
(12:04):
God.
I know that God has alreadydetermined that my house is not
going to have my family's nameon it in the days ahead.
I know it's going to be yours.
I am convinced.
Fear of your people is runningrampant through the city.
Our hearts melt when we thinkabout you.
We have heard how the Lorddried up the water of the Red
(12:27):
Sea, that whole book of Exodus.
We've heard about it.
Not only that, we have heardhow you defeated the two kings
of the Amorites who you devotedto destruction.
And as soon as we heard itverse 11, our hearts melted.
There was no spirit left in anyman because of you, for the
Lord, your God.
He is God in heavens above andthe earth beneath.
(12:48):
She begins giving us hymns ofpraise falling from the mouth of
a foreign prostitute.
If you really want to have funwith this text, you need only
ask yourself one question howdoes Rahab know all of this?
(13:08):
How can she possibly know allof this?
I'm not looking to poke on anytouchy internal.
You know whatever situation'sgoing on in your life, but can I
just tell you women did not getthe news back then.
It's not how it worked.
They were not in your life.
But can I just tell you womendid not get the news back then.
It's not how it worked.
They were not in the know.
They were intentionally leftout of the know.
(13:30):
Additionally, she's in adifferent country.
How does she know that thehearts of soldiers are melting?
How does she know that all ofthe people are fearful?
Can I give you my guess andwhat some commentators think.
Her customers talked about itin front of her.
In all likelihood she knows howgood and big and powerful God
(13:57):
is because in her brokenness shehas heard this soldier who is
trying to find comfort in theonly way.
He knew how, by coming to her,she may have listened to two or
three men sitting outside herdoor talking about these very
things.
It was her brokenness thatactually prepared her for
(14:21):
usefulness.
Why was it that we wantedNatalie to share today?
Is it because I didn't know allthat was going to be in there
for me?
Just so you know, I didn't say,hey, could you slide some in
it's raise time in about a monthand a half?
I didn't ask for any of that.
Why?
Because I wanted you to realizethat many times, following God
and serving him is small.
(14:42):
Following God and serving himis small, simple, although risky
decisions, and when we do thosethings, there is a story that
God desires to write for you.
That is better than you couldpossibly imagine, but you'll
miss out on it if your ear isn'tto the ground, if your eye
isn't looking.
She knows that the Lord is Godin heaven, above and earth below
(15:06):
.
She has beheld who he is.
She has believed that.
This is true.
But has she become?
That's our definition of ahealthy Christian.
Behold, believe become.
But has she become the womanthat God desires her to be?
Not yet, but, boy, is she onthe right way?
When you read a passage likethis, what needs to stand out to
you is how amazing andprovidential God is putting on
(15:31):
display His mercy to foreignersand people whose sin is as
apparent as hers.
And this is strategic.
But it's not just strategicbecause of where her address is.
Her mailbox actually matters inthis text.
It's strategic because it'stelling you no one is foreign
from God.
He knows you well.
(15:51):
No one's depravity is toodepraved.
He sees it and he loves you.
Anyway, I know that the Lordhas done these things.
She has heard these storiesfrom some of the worst places,
but she never saw it with hereyes.
There's a guy who struggled withthat.
His name was Thomas.
Thomas, I was thinking aboutyou when I put this up.
It's a weird thing to me thatThomas is a common Christian
(16:14):
name.
He does not get the best rap.
Anyway, I just think that'scool.
Jesus said to him being Thomashave you believed?
Because you have seen me?
Thomas shows up Jesus has beenresurrected.
He's heard the stories but hehadn't seen Christ yet.
And Thomas goes and he looks atPeter and he looks at John.
He's like guys, here's the deal.
I'm not gonna believe thatChrist has been resurrected
(16:36):
unless I put my finger in theholes of his hand, unless I see
the holes in his side.
And Jesus then shows up and hesays hey, come on, thomas, let's
get awkward, right, this isgoing to make the book, let's do
it.
You want to see, get real close.
And then he looks at him.
He says have you believedbecause you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have notseen me physically and yet they
(17:01):
have believed.
By the way, this is Rahab.
If you want to see you in this,you could probably see yourself
there.
But first Peter's a little bitbetter.
Though you, christian, have notseen him, you love him.
Do you realize how profoundthat sentence is?
For you to love someone thatyou have never seen?
There is a fair chance that ifJesus was not in a new body, if
(17:24):
Jesus did not have glory exudingfrom him, that you would walk
by him and not even notice.
The Bible tells us, as ordinaryas you could imagine, but
though you have not seen him,you love him.
Though you do not now see him,you believe in him.
You rejoice with joy that'sinexpressible and filled with
glory, and in so doing, youobtain the outcome of your faith
(17:46):
the salvation of your soul.
Here we find that faith doesn'trequire sight, as much as we
may want it.
She knows that the Lord is incharge, which is why, in verse
12, she doesn't want the men topromise that if she takes care
(18:07):
of them, they will take care ofher.
She says no, no, no.
Swear to me by the Lord, swearto me by the one who created all
things.
Swear to me by him that, asI've dealt kindly with you, you
will also deal kindly with myfather's house.
And give me a sure sign thatyou will save alive.
(18:28):
My notice on the screen, if youwould.
She is going from.
Will you save me too?
I want you to save my wholefather's house.
I want my father and my mother,I want my brothers and my
sisters, I want all who belongto them, to be saved from death.
I know you're going to win,because I know your God, and
your God doesn't lose.
You may screw it up, but yourGod's not going to screw it up
(18:52):
and I'm telling you, swear to meby him.
I don't need the promise of asoldier, I don't need the
promise of a spy.
I don't need the promise of allof your people or your greatest
leader.
You swear to me by the God thatyou trust in that.
I'm trusting in that if I helpyou, you will help me.
And when you help me, this youngwoman who may have very likely
(19:14):
been looked down on by herfamily, whose father may have
looked at her profession andwondered where did I go wrong?
Whose mother may have lookedand said what have we done?
Our child could not havestrayed any further.
There's a world in which theymay have even encouraged it.
I don't know.
Remember these are not God'speople.
(19:35):
This is in a city that isliving completely opposed to
God's ways.
Her brothers, her sisters, allof the conversations that would
have been had at Christmas andThanksgiving and birthdays about
Rahab.
Now this woman becomes theirlowercase s Savior.
She does what they could not,and these spies say to her in
(19:57):
verse 14, our life for yours,even to death.
In other words, if you die, wedie.
We're going to take care of youas much as we take care of our
own lives.
If you do not tell thisbusiness of ours, and when the
Lord gives us the land, we willdeal kindly and faithfully with
you.
She may have disgraced herfamily, but something else is
about to happen, and I don'tknow if you've noticed that, but
(20:19):
what these guys just said is sovery different than the first
generation.
When the Lord gives us the land, this was the confidence that
these spies' fathers did nothave.
They were not strong andcourageous, but they are.
Do you want to know why?
Because the faith that Rahabhad fueled their own.
(20:43):
When they heard from aforeigner that already her
people are terrified of the Godof the Bible, all of a sudden
their faith begins to grow.
What a change, what confidence.
So she lets them go after thispromise has been made.
She let them down by a ropethrough the window, for her
(21:06):
house was built into the citywall so that she lived in the
wall.
And she said to them go intothe hills or the pursuers will
encounter you.
Hide there three days until thepursuers have returned, then
afterward you may go your way.
I love thinking about how thisworked out.
Her house was built into thecity wall.
That was a very common thing.
You would build walls back inthat day that were quite thick.
(21:27):
If you had the means, you wouldmake them literally thick and
solid.
But many fortresses were builtwith a gap between the wall and
people lived in it.
Rahab lived.
This is why I say her addressher mailbox was strategic.
When these spies come, they havean ally right on the edge of
the territory that they arecoming into, right on the edge
(21:49):
of the fortress.
But I do love thinking aboutRahab letting these guys down
out of the window.
It's just cool to me.
How did that work out?
I'm not going to guess thatRahab was jacked and she's like
go ahead, boys, I'll keep an eyeout for you.
She probably ties this rope offand all of a sudden these guys
just start scuttling down thewall and she says now go and
(22:12):
stay hidden for anybody payattention.
How long?
Three days Now.
If you're not paying attention,if you read your Bible quickly,
you're going to be prone tomiss things like this.
These three days matter.
The spies were hunted.
Men If caught.
Their fate was certain death.
Humanity, similarly, isconstantly being chased by death
(22:36):
.
We went this past week to afuneral on um Monday and Tuesday
in Texas.
About two months ago, I sharedwith you about a woman who, uh,
we have gone to camp with for along time, whose husband has
cancer.
He passed away about two weeksago.
He's a couple of years olderthan me, has children.
My children's age loved theLord, fought cancer once, went
(22:59):
into remission for 10 years, gotcancer again, fought it for
five years and then lost thefight on this side of eternity
and won it.
Forevermore in Christ.
And we go to this funeral andit is the most worshipful thing
that I have ever been a part of.
That was connected with afuneral like this.
This man had shared histestimony after his first bout
(23:21):
with cancer.
He thanked God for his cancerbecause he did not believe he
ever would have come nearer tothe Lord had it not been for
that.
It changed him in all of thebest of ways.
All of these incredible momentsbeing shared their refrigerator
is.
I would recommend this practice.
By the way, I can't put stuffon my refrigerator because my
wife likes the kitchen to look acertain way.
(23:42):
One side of our refrigeratorcan have magnets, the other does
not, and that's just like howit works in our house.
But if I had spiritual freedomin my own household, what I
might do and what this familydid, is they put prayer requests
on one side of the fridge andthen, when God answers them,
they move to the other.
I'm going to try to say thiswithout losing it.
One of the prayer requests thatthey moved a week ago was God,
(24:04):
will you heal daddy?
Well, they wanted it here, butthey moved it there.
You see, when these three menshuttle down a wall and they run
out and they hide it in thewoods, they hide under impending
death for three days.
This is exactly what we seewith Christ in the grave.
(24:25):
This is exactly what we seewith Jonah in a whale.
This is exactly what we see allover scripture.
That three days isrepresentative of death coming
but not finding Romans 6.23reminds us the wages of sin is
death.
I have great news for you Ifyou've never sinned, you're
(24:46):
going to live forever.
I look really forward to seeingthat, but none of you are going
to make that cut and, whetheryou realize it or not, death is
chasing you.
The question is have you found aplace to hide that actually
hides you from death?
There is one and it is here,and Christ went into the grave
(25:08):
for three days as death pursued.
And if death cannot find himand he has paid your penalty,
death will not find you.
Instead, the free gift of Godbeing eternal life in Christ
Jesus, our Lord, will be givento you.
Life in Christ Jesus, our Lord,will be given to you.
I will say, because of thefaith of these spies, I think
(25:31):
they had a great three days.
This is speculation.
Let me step away from the pulpithere for a moment.
I'm going to guess Rahab hookedthem up with some food I'm
going to guess they had breadand cheese and who knows what
else to drink, depending on yourtheology and they went out into
the woods for three days,knowing our God is going to give
us this land, knowing the faithof this woman has increased my
own.
Knowing we get to be a part ofsomething that people are going
(25:51):
to talk about for thousands ofyears, that gets to be our story
.
As they sat around, maybe acampfire looking up at the stars
for three nights, a campfirelooking up at the stars for
three nights, and then theyreturn, the men said to her we
will be guiltless in respect tothis oath of yours that you have
made a swear Behold, when wecome into the land, you shall
(26:19):
tie the scarlet cord in thewindow through which you let us
down.
And I can't go into this wholething.
What does something red hangingover or near a window remind
you of Passover?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, time out.
You'll get to see that in theweeks ahead.
But if you think there's noteven more incredible biblical
story tucked into this, youwould be missing it.
You shall gather into yourhouse your father, your mother,
your brothers and all yourfather's household.
Did you hear it expand?
(26:40):
At first it was just Rahab,then it's her mom or dad, or
brothers and sisters and theirpeople, then it's the entire
father's household.
What you should be hearing whenyou read this is the creaking
of the hinges of the door ofeternity, opening wide even to
the foreigner and even to theprostitute.
Then if anyone goes out of thedoors of your house into the
(27:02):
street, his blood be on his ownhead.
That's very Passover talk andwe shall be guiltless.
But if a hand is laid on anyonewho is with you in the house,
his blood shall be on our head.
But if you tell this businessof ours, then we will be
guiltless with respect to youroath that you have made a swear
and she said according to yourword, so be it.
(27:23):
Then she sent them away andthey departed and she tied the
scarlet cord in the window.
It would be there for only amatter of days, but in the event
that you didn't hear the doorscreak, open even more.
But if a hand is laid on anyonewho is with you in the house,
(27:46):
all of a sudden, salvation thatwas pointed at Rahab.
That then goes to her mom anddad and family who may have been
very disappointed in her, andshe becomes a savior of that
family is then expanded to theirchildren as well.
But by the time we get to theend of this story, please look
at the word on the screen.
Anyone who comes into thishouse, though death may be
(28:06):
chasing them, will be saved.
Let me interpret that for you.
If you think, walking throughthose doors as you coming into
this house, you have notunderstood scripture.
If you think this house is theonly house to walk into to find
salvation, you have notunderstood the scripture.
What's happening here?
Are you coming into not abuilding but a home, and are you
(28:29):
part of the family of that home?
This is the spirit of Godopening the doors to any who
would say I know that I havesinned.
I know that death is chasing me.
I fully expect to live a full,long life.
I hope death has to run reallyhard to catch me.
(28:49):
But if it catches me in twodays when I take a funky turn
off of the yellow light, I wantto know that I am protected from
that enemy who pursues me.
Anyone is welcome to come intothe house.
And what does it look like?
It looks like knowing who dadis.
It looks like changing yourname.
It looks like more thanbeholding who he is and
(29:11):
believing who he is, butbecoming who he has called you
to be.
That is what faith actuallylooks like.
And for her it didn't take much.
It took one conversation andone act of sacrificial kindness.
This is the end of the chapter.
They departed, they went intothe hills and they remained
(29:31):
there three days until thepursuers returned.
And the pursuers searched allalong and they found nothing.
Because they were hidden forthree days under the providence
of God.
Because they were hidden forthree days under the providence
of God.
Then the two men return.
Can I just tell you this istheir best day.
They get to walk up to Joshua,the new leader of God's people,
(29:52):
they get to deliver good news,faithful news, be strong and
courageous news, and they tellhim everything.
Then the two men return.
They came down from the hills,passed over, came to Joshua.
Then the two men returned.
They came down from the hills,passed over, came to Joshua, the
son of Nun, and they told himall that had happened to them.
Now are these guys married?
Maybe, but whether they'remarried or not, there does need
(30:13):
to be an explanation as to whatthey were doing at the
prostitute's house.
He's like all right, look,we're gonna get the whole story
straight here.
We did what we were supposed todo.
The fact that God usedsomething unusual to us.
We are seeing it as unusual too.
But might it be that salvationis widening and widening, and
widening?
And they said to Joshua we havefaith, we have faith in God, we
(30:36):
have faith in you.
We're ready to be strong, we'reready to be courageous.
We believe our people will aswell, because, truly, the Lord
has given.
This is them saying God hasmade a promise and we believe
he's gonna keep it.
All the land has been giveninto our hands and all the
inhabitants of the land aregonna melt away before us.
(31:00):
This is a great story.
It doesn't make many of thecoloring sheets, just so you
know it might make it once theyget to the woods.
It doesn't make it when they'rehanging out with Rahab.
Rahab begins as a prostituteand that part of her life may
never have been forgotten.
All of the conversations likelyhad after God's people move in,
(31:22):
rahab, her family, herhousehold and anybody else who
hid in that home become a partof God's people.
But if you think for a minute,when they were traveling
together, she didn't overhear.
Hey, isn't that the prostitute?
Hey, isn't that the woman?
I mean, do you know what herbackground looks like?
You?
ever hung out with church people, all right, on a Monday,
tuesday, wednesday, thursday,friday or Saturday, all right.
(31:44):
Just so you know we're notperfect.
She probably heard about herstory from whispered, dark,
shady corners for the rest ofher life, and the Bible doesn't
hide it when I tell you a partof her life may never have been
forgotten.
I mean it.
This is chapter 6.
And who is she considered inchapter six?
(32:04):
Rahab the prostitute, verse 17.
The prostitute's house, verse22.
Rahab the prostitute, verse 25.
Timeout flag on the field.
New identity in Christ.
Should we just call her RahabLike?
Can't we move there, god's word?
Were there so many Rahabsabsand that was the only way?
No, no, not that Rahab theprostitute one.
(32:25):
Was that the only way?
Couldn't they have been the onewith the scarlet thread in the
window?
Can't we use that as a monikerinstead?
But the Bible doesn't.
In fact, the Bible reallydoesn't.
All the way in Hebrews, all theway in James.
Do you see who she is by faith?
Rahab the prostitute, james 2,.
(32:45):
In the same way, was not alsoRahab the prostitute?
Why does this name chase her?
Can I tell you why?
I think?
I think this name chases herfor a very good reason.
These verses that I just put upfor you are praising her.
Why would the Bible call herRahab the prostitute, while it
(33:08):
is lifting her up as an exampleof faith and an example of good
works?
And that's exactly what'shappening.
Hebrews 11 is the hall of fameof faith.
All of the best examples ofpeople who had faith in God.
They find themselves in Hebrews11.
And so does she.
By faith, rahab the prostitutedid not perish with those who
(33:29):
were disobedient because she hadgiven a friendly welcome to the
spies.
Do you see how simple her faithwas?
She gave a welcome to those whoneeded it.
She didn't go to seminary, shedidn't have to go on a big
missions trip, she didn't haveto raise a lot of money.
She didn't spend 40 hours aweek praying.
No, she gave a friendly welcometo people who needed it.
(33:52):
James, chapter two James beingthe book not on faith but on
works.
And in the same way, was notalso Rahab the prostitute
justified?
And in the same way, was notalso Rahab the prostitute
justified seen as guiltless byworks when she received the
messengers and sent them out byanother way?
Why does this not fall off ofher name?
(34:13):
Because in Christ, your pastmust be remembered as a
testimony, but it will neverdefine your future identity.
If you try to scrub from yourname all of the brokenness that
was built up under it, you arenot making yourself look better.
(34:34):
You are making God's grace looksmaller.
That's what happens.
Parents, just one big piece ofadvice to you Do not hide your
past from your children.
To clarify, I'm not saying atlunch today you sit down with
your five-year-old and you talkabout your college days.
(34:54):
It's not what I'm saying Mightbe interesting, I'm not
recommending that.
But as they grow in the faith,as they grow in their
understanding of grace, do younot know that they are going to
have the same questions that youhad and have?
Is my sin too big for God?
He knows what I think, he knowswhat I say, he knows what I
mumble that no one else hears.
(35:15):
And when a mom and a dad whohave a faith that is strong and
courageous can say son daughter,let me tell you where I came
from.
When we do that, it doesn'tdiminish us, it expands the
grace of God.
Parents, don't hide yourstories.
Roommates, friends, leaders inyour schools, coaches, whatever.
(35:37):
Do not hide your story inChrist.
Your past must be remembered asa testimony, but it will never
define your future identity.
There is one place that I knowthe prostitute falls off, and
it's the coolest part to me ofthe whole thing.
This is where we see it falloff in a screen that is far too
(36:00):
small for you to be able to read.
I know that I'm going to zoom.
This is Matthew, chapter one.
It's known as the genealogy ofJesus.
If you don't trust me, look itup in your own Bible.
Rahab may have began as aprostitute, but this is how she
is remembered.
This, all of these names, arehow we get from, how we get to
(36:21):
Jesus.
Look at 18.
Now, the birth of Jesus Christtook place in this way.
How do we get there inscripture?
Well, we go through a bunch ofnames.
We got Isaac, we got Judah,we've got all of this.
I just want you to notice Let mezoom in real good.
I want you to notice verse fiveIn Salmon, the father of Boaz,
(36:44):
by Rahab.
That one little phrase tells mea couple of things.
Rahab gave up her old ways.
Rahab married someone, marry abeliever, believed in the God of
(37:06):
the Bible, and when they had achild, do you know who their
child was?
Boaz.
Now that may not matter to you,and if you don't know who Boaz
is, I would recommend a book ofthe Bible called Ruth.
It's pretty great, ladies.
It's got to be in your topthree.
All right, esther, ruth, psalm,proverbs 31,.
All good, just keep it in thetop three.
She not only gave up her oldways and got married, she had a
child.
And when she raised that child,she raised him to be, in my
(37:30):
estimation, one of the greatestexamples of godliness that we
find in all of scripture.
And who raised that man?
A prostitute who was foreign tothe knowledge of God?
That's who does it.
(37:50):
And if you want to knowsomething even cooler, why was
it when Ruth showed up?
We're going deep Old Testament.
If you're not tracking with me,let's get coffee or lunch.
Why was it when Ruth showed uplate at night and laid at Boaz's
feet?
He didn't take advantage of herBecause his mom had been taking
advantage of her whole life,because his mom had been taken
(38:16):
advantage of her whole life.
Most people look at this andthey jump to the fact that Rahab
was a great, great grandmotherof David.
David's awesome kills giants.
But he also has a pretty sundrypast.
Boaz, her son is the exampleyou want, and this happens when
we do not hide who we are fromour children and from those
(38:41):
around us.
I asked you a question at thebeginning and it was this I have
no clue what you guys answeredand I'm about to find out and,
I'll be honest, I'm just alittle bit nervous.
Let me make sure I don't screwthis up.
Thank you to the over a hundredof you.
All right, I love this.
Alright, okay, hang on, I'mdoing it different.
(39:03):
Y'all don't do anything.
I Wanted to try.
I wanted to try somethingdifferent today and see if it
works, and it didn't.
But I still love technology.
Okay, nope, how dare you?
Let's see what Josiah's viewinghistory is.
(39:28):
There we go.
I should be able to zoom.
I'm sorry.
How do I do this?
Boop, no, nope.
Well, whatever, there we go.
All right, everybody, giveyourselves a hand.
You nailed it.
Way to go.
Well, not everybody, just thoseof you who put Boaz, okay, or
(39:50):
Jesus.
I'll take Jesus, boaz and Jesus, all right.
As much as I would love topause and talk about all of the
folks, oh, uriah is a reallygood pick too, all right.
When I look at this, here's whatI want you to realize when I
think about who it is that Rahabturned into.
(40:12):
There is one place where thatname falls off.
And that name falls off whenyou get to see the family that
she was a part of.
When it comes to her faith, herhistory is remembered.
When it comes to her past, herhistory is remembered when it
comes to the example.
Her history is remembered whenit comes to the example that she
(40:33):
set in her works.
Her history is remembered, buthere, as an ancestor of Jesus.
Rahab the prostitute is herpast, but that is not her future
anymore.
Thomas Watson puts it this waywhen God calls a man, when God
calls a woman, he does notrepent of it.
God does not, as many friendsdo, love one day and hate
(40:57):
another.
God's call is founded upon hisdecree.
He decreed that Rahab theforeign prostitute was going to
be the savior of the nation, andhis decree is immutable.
It's unchangeable.
Acts of grace cannot bereversed.
God blocks out His people'ssins, but not their names.
(41:17):
He made you exactly who you are.
He knows your past better thanyou know it, and if you want
that piece of your name to falloff, let it fall off only in one
place.
I'm in the family of God, buteverywhere else.
Let me tell you who I was,because when we hide our past
and we hide our wounds, whatwe're ultimately doing is hiding
(41:39):
God's grace, and I tell youthis because y'all are great at
this.
I'm not saying this as aconviction, I'm saying this as
an encouragement.
You are a people who openyourselves up and say let me
tell you who I was.
Let me tell you who I still am,but let me tell you whose I am,
(41:59):
because I know what I willbecome.
This is the hope that we havein God.
This is the hope that we havein Christ and this is the hope
that we have in the gospel Band.
If you guys want to go aheadand come on up, feel free.
I've got a couple of questionsI want you to ponder as the band
plays in the background, behindme, and then we will stand and
(42:19):
praise God for who he is.
For Rahab, faith existed in onesimple conversation and one act
of sacrificial kindness.
Might we be over-complicatingfaith in Jesus.
What is a simple, sacrificialthing that God may be calling
you to?
Where are you tempted to hideyour past?
Where are you tempted to hideyour wounds?
(42:41):
How, instead, can you put God'sincredible grace on display and
do you believe that God wantsto write an incredible story
through someone like you?
I can tell you he does.
I can tell you he does, I cantell you he is.
I can tell you half the storiesin this room.
I'm not allowed to, but I can.
His grace is unbelievable, andif you have not found it yet,
(43:06):
let today be the day where whoyou are doesn't fall off, but
who you will become absolutelychanges.
Let today be the day that youare written in the family.
You are under the household offaith.
Let today be the day that deathpursues, but you know that
because of the work of Christ,in three days you will be
protected from it.
Let's worship together, aswe're ready, a God who deserves
(43:30):
it.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.