Invite your attention to Joshua
chapter 2. Joshua chapter 2. Our brother
read the passage this morning, verses 1 through 21, and God
willing, we will consider the subject of Rahab the harlot. We are blessed to be here, my
wife and I. We were blessed with An uneventful
flight from St. Croix to Nashville Friday, and
nowadays, an uneventful flight can be a good flight. We were
blessed to spend yesterday with our children and grandchildren,
and it's been two years since that has occurred, so we were
blessed, and then blessed to be here with you today. This
church is dear to us. All of you are friends. Our children and grandchildren
are in this church, and they're under the ministry of Chris Cunningham,
who is very highly regarded and revered among us. So it's a pleasure
and a blessing to be here with you this day. Joshua chapter 2. Verse one. Now Joshua, the son of Nun, his
father's name was Nun, sent out two men. Interestingly, the Lord
sent out men two by two. Joshua sent two. Sent them from
Acosia Grove. Our King James Version says,
Shittim, it is named for a tree that thrived in the desert. It
was the Acacia tree. There was a grove of them on
the other side of the Jordan River across from Jericho. And
Joshua took two highly regarded men, sent them over to spy out
the land, particularly the city of Jericho. That was to be the
scene of the first conquest in the promised land. spied out secretly, saying, go
view the land, especially Jericho. So they went and came to the
house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. Rahab. Let's consider Rahab this morning.
In both the Old and the New Testament, she is known as Rahab the harlot. She's one of the more remarkable
characters in the scriptures, but always known as Rahab the
harlot. We're going to consider today
eight things concerning Rahab the harlot. Eight points, but
we will be brief. We will consider Rahab the true
harlot. Second, the big harlot. Third,
the confessing harlot. Fourth, the desiring harlot. Fifth, the saved harlot. Sixth,
the Christ-related harlot. Seventh, the faithful harlot. And eighth, the justified harlot. As you can see from both the
Old and the New Testaments, much is said about this woman, Rahab
the harlot. Today, let us consider her. First, consider that she is Rahab,
the true harlot. She was truly a harlot. Verse
one of our text. I emphasize this point because
some say, well, she was only an innkeeper, not a harlot. Well, in those days, before the
days of hotels and motels, and there were inns and taverns along
the way, And it was not uncommon for the woman who owned the inn
to be a harlot. She served various services to
those who came and stopped in her inn. This woman was truly
a harlot. Well, that's good news for sinners
like me. If God saved harlots, he can
save This one. If God saves sinners like this
woman, he can save sinners like you and me. Here is proof that
God can save the worst of sinners. Never say that you are too big
a sinner or too bad a sinner for God to save. He saved Rahab. He can save you. Second, she's
a big harlot. Her name Rahab, it means broad
or wide. Rahab was evidently bigger than
the average woman. She not only was a harlot, she
was a big harlot. She was a big sinner, not only
in what she did, but among the people with whom she lived. They're Canaanites. Jericho was
a city in Canaan. Everybody there was degenerate
and an idolater and an immoral person. And Rahab was one of
the biggest of them. So never let it be said that
someone is too big a sinner for God to save. He saved a big harlot. He can save you. None too big,
none too bad. Our God is in the business of
saving big, bad sinners, and none are too big or too bad for
him to save. Rahab is proof. Third, Rahab
was the confessing harlot. Observe her confession in verses
nine through 11. She confessed First of all, what she knew in
verse number nine. She knew three things, consider
them. She says, I know that Jehovah
has given you the land. I know that the terror of you
has fallen on us. And I know that all the inhabitants
of the land are fainthearted because of you. Three things
she knew. First of all, she knew Jehovah. How? We have no idea. How did she know Jehovah? God
had never sent a preacher there. God sent Jonah to Nineveh. He sent no prophet to Jericho,
of which we know. There's no record of any gospel
preacher ever having gone to Jericho, how did she know about
Jehovah? We are not told. But I will tell
you this, before Jehovah saves a sinner, he will ascertain that
you know whom and what he is. And so he had done with Rahab. Second, she knew that Jehovah
had given Canaan to Israel. And again, how did she know?
We are not told. We do not know. But she spoke
the truth. Many hundreds of years earlier,
God had said to Abraham, our father, he said, survey the land. I'm going to give you everything
you can see. It included Jericho. How did
she know that? It happened hundreds of years
earlier. When our Lord brought the children of Israel out of
Egypt 40 years earlier, he said, I'm going to give you the promised
land, the land that I promised to Abraham, your father. That
was 40 years earlier. How did she know that? We're
not told, but she knew. If the Lord wants you to know
something, he'll find some way to tell you. In Ecclesiastes 10, verse 20,
we read, beware of what you say in your bedroom, because a bird
may overhear and tell someone. You've heard the expression,
a little bird told me. It's where it came from. If the
Lord wants you to know something, he will use any means he desires
to see that you were told. And here is Rahab, she has been
told. Then third, she knew that the
terror of Israel had fallen upon the Canaanites. Well, it was
a constant conversation, undoubtedly, in her inn. She would serve meals
and drinks in her inn, and people would come in. Jericho wives
would come in, ministers would come in, and around the table,
what did they discuss? Someone comes in and says, hey,
have you folks seen what's across the river? No, what's over there?
Those people that came out of Egypt, they are on the other
side of the river and they're headed your way. and we're told
they're coming for Jericho. You can imagine the terror that
was in the hearts of the people there in Jericho. Rahab knew
she could overhear the conversations, people talking about the children
of Israel headed toward Jericho. Those were the things that she
knew. Then consider that she confessed what she had heard,
verse number 10. We have heard how Jehovah dried
up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. We have heard what you did to
the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of
the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you destroyed. Now, how had she
heard that? When the children of Israel came
out of Egypt, and God dried up the Red Sea, and the children
of Israel walked through on dry ground, there was no one to witness
it, because the people who had seen it happen, Pharaoh and his
army, had tried to go through, and every one of them was drowned.
There was not a witness to that event that lived, and yet, she
heard. Sihon and Og, king of the Amorites,
attacked Israel. The Lord utterly destroyed them. There were no survivors. Now,
how had she heard? How had she heard? I tell you,
folks, if the Lord wants you to know something, you're going
to know it. One way or another, he will ascertain that you do.
She confessed what she had known, she confessed what she had heard,
and she confessed what she felt. Verse 11. And as soon as we heard
these things, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any
more courage in anyone because of you. Well, she could not have
known it, but this was a fulfillment of the prophecy. 40 years earlier,
when the Lord brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea
on dry ground, destroyed Pharaoh and his army, drowned them every
one there in the Red Sea, caused the water to come in upon them,
their chariots fell into the mire, and they drowned. And yet, the terror of this people
had fallen upon her. In fulfillment of the prophecy
in Exodus chapter 15, verses 14 and 16, the people will hear
and be afraid. All the inhabitants of Canaan
will melt away. Fear and dread will fall on them
by the greatness of your arm. They will be as steel as stone.
Well, it happened. Rahab is telling these two spies,
we have heard, our hearts are melted, we are fearful, you folks
have come, we fear your God. So she confessed what she felt. Then she confessed, also in verse
number 11, what she learned. She said, Jehovah your God, he
is God in heaven and on earth beneath. Now that's an interesting
expression when you consider it was spoken by a heathen. Heathens
believed their gods were gods only in their districts. The
god of Jericho was not going to do you much good if you were somewhere else. That's
why you would always carry your god around with you, because
they were gods of their districts. When the Syrians attacked King
Ahab of Israel, they were defeated in battle. And so they retreated,
and then they said, we need a new battle plan. We need to remember
that the God of Ahab is a God of the hills. Therefore, let's
go down into the lowland and entice them into the lowland,
and we will there defeat them, because that's the way that heathens
thought about their gods. Our gods are good in the mountains,
while ours are good in the valleys, so come and fight us in the valleys.
Rahab confesses that you cannot confine gods to the hills. You
cannot confine him to the valleys. You cannot confine him to this
place or to yon place. She says, we know that your God
is a far greater God than any of this. She learned that Jehovah's
reign is universal. Heaven is not above him. Earth
is not below him. She learned what is confessed
in Psalm 135, verses five and six. I know that Jehovah is great,
and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever Jehovah pleases, he
does in heaven, in earth, in the seas, and in all deep places. Wherever you go, Jehovah is there. Wherever you are, Jehovah is
reigning. He is not content to stay only
in the hills. Neither does he merely visit
the valleys. He's God of it all. And she knew
that. This woman confessed, your God's
greater than ours. In Jericho, he's God. Outside
Jericho, he's God. He proved it in Egypt. He proved
it among the Amorites. This woman has here made a true
confession. Consider now the fourth point.
The Desiring Harlot, verse 12 and 13. She says, now therefore
I beg you, swear to me by Jehovah your God, since I have shown
you kindness, and she had, that you also will show kindness to
my father's house and give me a true token and spare my father. my mother, my brothers, my sisters,
and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. She's concerned
not only for herself, but for her parents, her brothers, and
her sisters. Interestingly, note, she does
not mention her husband, nor does she mention any children.
She evidently at that time had neither. Later, she would, as
we shall see. But here is her desire. Everyone
in Jericho knew that the God of heaven and earth was about
to bring doom upon them, but only Rahab, the biggest and baddest
sinner in the place, was concerned for her soul. Only Rahab. How did that happen? There is
so much here that we do not know how it came to pass, but it did.
Here is Rahab. She desires salvation. Well, friend, let me ask you.
You know doom is coming, do you not? You know this world deserves
it, do you not? You know that the God of heaven
and earth and the seas and deep places is coming, do you not? Are you not concerned about where
you are in Jericho today? Are you not concerned? Rahab
was. I know the day of doom is coming.
I want to be ready in that day. Can you swear to me that I can
have salvation in that day. Give me a word, give me a token.
I want to know that in that day that I will be saved. That's her desire. Number five,
Rahab the saved harlot. Verse 18, Rahab was saved when
Jericho was destroyed because she followed these precise instructions,
I mean to the letter. Look in verse 18. Bind this line
of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down
and, drop down of a line, bring your father, your mother, your
brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. Folks,
This is very, very specific. The spies are telling her how
she can be saved. Note six particular facts. First, the token of salvation
had to be a cord, a piece of rope. They said, as it were, Not a
ribbon, not a piece of cloth. It has to be a piece of cord. Second, had to be a piece of
scarlet cord, a particular color. Now we know up on your roof,
you have some brown cords that you use to bind the flax. Do not use one of them. The cord
has to be scarlet, which by the way is the color of our sins
and of the blood of Jesus Christ. Then third, it has to be this
line of scarlet cord, this one. Now we know that you have other
scarlet cord in your house. Do not use one of those. It has
to be this one that you're gonna use to let us down from your
window. Now you may say, I can put another
piece of scarlet cord there and you won't know when you walk
around Jericho. Well, that's true. We may not,
but God in heaven will. It has to be this line of scarlet
cord, none other. Furthermore, This line of scarlet cord had
to be bound in a window. Don't tie it around your doorknob.
Don't put it on the mantle or the lentil. Don't put it anywhere. It has to be in a window. Furthermore,
it has to be this window through which you let us down, not another
window. So this woman has got to follow
these very precise instructions. There is no salvation unless
she follows it to the very letter. A cord, scarlet cord, this line
of scarlet cord, in a window, this window, and then you have
to bring all your family into the house. All your family, you
know what that means she has to do? Not only does she have
to bring a whole of her family into the house, she has to evict
all her tenants. She has shut the door to her
inn and say, no more meals are being served. No more clients,
all my tenants get out. No one is allowed in my house
except my family, all of them, everybody else get out. And then
she ties the cord to the window, as the spies had said. You see,
God is very precise in the salvation of sinners. He saves them only
one way, only one way. By grace are you saved through
faith in Christ. It is not of yourselves, not
of works, lest anyone should boast. Well, preacher, surely,
you know, one little work I've done. Nope, you cannot be saved. What about my baptism? Doesn't
it count for salvation? Not at all. Or my Sabbath keeping? Not at all. Stay away from pork
and shellfish. Does that not count? Not at all.
Not at all. God saves sinners in a very precise
way. And you cannot change an iota
of it and have salvation. You cannot change a bit of it.
It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. and not of yourselves at all.
And that's what Rahab did. She showed this salvation by
grace through faith in Christ in the token of that scarlet
cord hanging from the window through which she left the spies
out. Bear that in mind. Our God is not only God of heaven
and earth, but he is very precise, very exact. Number six, Rahab the Christ-related
harlot. Locate Matthew chapter one. Matthew's
gospel chapter one. We hear not much else about Rahab. Once you leave Joshua, well,
chapter six, because she was saved because she did exactly
and precisely what the spies had told her to do. And then, we know nothing of
her until we come to the New Testament, but appropriately,
here she is in the very first chapter of the New Testament. Matthew's Gospel, chapter one.
Verse one, the book of the genealogy, the family tree of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham. the son of David, the
king, the son of Abraham, the patriarch. Well, let's look at this family
tree. I mean, Abraham and David, yeah, that's two prominent people,
isn't it? Abraham begot Isaac. Yeah, we
know about Isaac, great man. Isaac begot Jacob. Do you see
the names in this family tree? David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Judah. Judah begot Perez and Zerub,
Tamar. Perez begot Hezron. Hezron begot
Ram. Ram begot Amenadab. Amenadab
begot Nashon. And Nashon begot Salmon. Those
names may not mean much to you, but they were important people.
if you'll read the books of the Chronicles. And then verse five, Salmon begot
Boaz by Rahab. There she is. Here she is. Here in the family tree of Jesus
Christ, Along with David the King, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, the patriarchs, here's a harlot. A harlot, a woman is named in
this distinguished genealogy of great men. A woman is named
and not an ordinary woman, a harlot. Rahab the harlot, right here
in Matthew chapter one, in the family tree of Jesus Christ.
Interestingly, if you'll read the rest of the genealogy, there
are four women named in this genealogy. Only four, three of
them are immoral women, including Rahab the harlot. I stress this
point to you. Our Lord Jesus Christ condescended
to save not only the patriarchs, but harlots and adulterers and
adulteresses like you and me. I mean, every one of us are. Preacher. These hands have never
engaged in adultery. Yeah, but your heart has. Jesus
says, he who looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed
adultery in his heart. So face it, folks, we're all
a bunch of Rahabs here today, are we not? All a bunch of Rahabs. And Jesus condescended to be
born of harlots. like Rahab and Tamar and Bathsheba. They're listed
here. Our Lord condescends to save
the worst of sinners and identifies himself with them, this friend
of sinners. That's Jesus Christ. Born of This woman, the Christ-related
harlot, I say to you, friend, you are not too low a sinner
for Jesus to condescend to save you. He condescended to save
Rahab, a big sinner, a bad sinner, a low sinner. He'll do the same
for you and me. Now we come to consider Rahab
the faithful hearted, Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11,
I'm telling you, this woman, she's found in various parts
of the scripture. Hebrews chapter 11. If you go to, various parts of the country,
you'll find a Hall of Fame. You know, there's one for baseball
and basketball. Colleges have a Hall of Fame
for their sports programs. And you can walk through, you
can see the pictures of this man who played here or this woman
who played here at this school. And they made us famous. Our
Hall of Fame, well, we have one too. We Christians have one. It's found in Hebrews chapter
11. We're going to call it a hall
of faith. A hall of faith. Who's in it? Well, let's see. Look in verse
number 4. There's Abel. Righteous Abel. Here he is in
our hall of faith. Look in verse 5. There's Enoch.
Look in verse 7, there's Noah. Look in verse 8, there's Abraham. Look in verse 11, there's Sarah. Look in verse 20, there's Isaac. Look in verse 21, there's Jacob. In verse 22, there's Joseph. In verse 23, Moses and his parents,
Amram and Jochebed. Here they are. Folks, I'm telling
you, we're looking at some notable people, worthy people, giants
in the faith. Here they are. Their names are
given. And lo and behold, look in verse
31. By faith, the harlot Rahab did
not, here she is. Here she is with all these notable
people. Abel the righteous, Abraham the
faithful. And here's a Rahab the harlot.
And notice what she's called, Rahab the harlot. That is her
name. Evidently forever, Rahab the
harlot, she did not perish with those who did not believe when
she had received the spies with peace. The faithful harlot. This is
good news. Even harlots can have faith. Even harlots can be full of faith
because that's what the word faithful means, full of faith. Here's Rahab. Well, if she can
be faithful, so can you and me. Our names can be listed here.
Indeed, they are. The writer says, time does not
permit me to tell. He goes on and on. Every one
of God's children can be included here if they're faithful. Rahab is. Rahab the harlot. All right. Eighth and last, go
to the book of James chapter two. James chapter two. One more time, Rahab the justified
harlot. James chapter two. Verse 25,
likewise, was not Rahab the harlot, listen folks, here she is again,
that's her name, Rahab the harlot. I will not be surprised if upon entering heaven's fair land,
Some woman comes up and says, welcome, I am Rahab the harlot.
Oh, well, okay, I am Moose, the chief of sailors. We're in good
company here, are we not? That's the name of what she's
called. She's in the Old and the New Testaments, Rahab the
harlot. But oh, what a remarkable woman
is this. Ever a testimony to the saving
sovereign grace of our God. Was not Rahab the harlot also
justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them
out another way? For as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And she's proof. I was looking at an online debate
recently and the question was asked, are sinners saved, justified
by faith or by works? And here are these self-appointed
theologians trying to prove that you're justified by faith only.
Well, you are. You're justified by works too.
Well, preacher, that's a contradiction. No, it's not. No, it's not. As
soon as that woman believed in God, she was justified by faith. When she hung the scarlet cord
in the window and gathered her family into the house, she's
justified by works. Our works prove our faith. Was
not Rahab the harlot justified by works? when she received the
spies and sent them out another way and did as they told her. Some want to talk about being
justified by faith. That's good, you must be. But
if you're justified by faith, your works will prove it, and
Rahab's did. When Israel came back a few days
later, They marched around Jericho. And there's Moses at the head
of the train. He undoubtedly has the two spies
with him. And what are they looking for?
A scarlet cord hanging from a window. Will they see it? A scarlet cord. The spies know the house. They
come to where the place is. Moses, there it is. There it
is. We told her to hang it there, and she did. That's her works,
folks. Rahab the harlot. I tell you,
this is a most remarkable woman. She demonstrated by her works
that her faith in Christ was true and justifying faith. If God can save Rahab, He can
save me. He can save you. If a harlot like Rahab can trust
in God, so can you. Our God gives faith to the worst
kinds of sinners. And here's proof. Oh, my friend, do not walk out
that door today until you have known the God of Rahab the harlot,
confessing, believing, trusting him. And when you have walked
out that door, let your works prove the truth of your faith. May the Lord bless you.