There's only four women mentioned
in the genealogy of our Savior. Tamar, who was guilty of incest. Ruth, who was a cursed, unclean
Moabite woman. Bathsheba, who was an adulteress. And the fourth woman is in our
text today in Hebrews 11 verse 31. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished
not with them that believed not when she had received the spies
with peace." We'll start out in Joshua chapter 2 and we'll
go through and look at this account of Rahab. But in these four women,
in the genealogy of our Lord, we see already how that He associates
Himself with sinners, even in His genealogy. But we'll begin
here in Joshua 2 and verse 1, and it says, Joshua the son of
Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly saying go view
the land Even Jericho and they went and came into a harlot's
house named Rahab lodged there Two things we see here. First
of all first we see that Rahab was an ungodly woman living in
an ungodly land She's called the Harlot Rahab, and just about
every time she's mentioned in scripture, her job title is included
in her name. She's a harlot, and ain't no
pretty way to paint that. And God doesn't cover it up.
He records it here in His Word on purpose. And some people would
think that a pastor might not ought to bring out something
like that. But we need to be told what we are in our flesh. And that's what we are in our
flesh. Prostitutes. Furthermore, she was She wasn't
a natural descendant of Abraham. She was a foreigner. She perished
not with them that believe not. She lived in that cursed city
of Jericho. It was a cursed race of people. She was an Amorite and lived
there amongst them in Jericho. And they were devoted by God
to utter destruction. He was going to destroy that
entire race. And as far as anyone could tell,
she was an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, a stranger from the
covenants of promise. And here's our first point. But
Rahab is just the kind of person that God saves. This is just
the kind of person that God saves. God saves those who have absolutely
nothing in themselves worthy of God's notice. Absolutely nothing. But for the grace of God, all
she had merited was God's holy indignation. That's all she had
merited in herself. And while the world of self-righteous,
pious, snooty religious folks would look down their nose on
somebody like Rahab the harlot, God speaks words of everlasting
love and grace to comfort her weeping heart. One of the Pharisees
desired the Lord that he would eat with him on one occasion.
He went into this Pharisee's house and he sat down to meet. And Scripture says a woman came
in. She came in, a woman who was from the city, which was
a sinner. And she knew that the Lord was there sitting down for
a dinner in this Pharisee's house. And she came there and brought
an alabaster box of ointment. Probably no telling how long
she had saved to buy that box of ointment. Precious. Valuable. And she comes and breaks that
box of ointment on his feet and begins to wash his feet and dry
them with the hair of her head. And there was a man sitting there
named Simon. And he said within himself, he
said if he knew what kind of woman this was, what manner of
woman this was, he wouldn't allow her to come near him. This was
a sinner. Probably just like Rahab. And
the Lord said, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And
he said, There was a certain creditor which had two debtors.
The one owed 500 pence and the other 50. And he said, when they
had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore,
which of them would love him most? And Simon answered and
said, well, I suppose it's the one to whom he forgave the most. And the Lord said, you have answered
correctly. You have answered correctly.
And he said, I entered into your house and you gave me no water
for my feet. Didn't wash his feet, coming
in from the hot desert sand, didn't wash his feet. Showed
what he thought about the Savior. And he said, but she hath washed my feet with
tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest
me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not
ceased to kiss my feet. And he said, My head withal thou
didst not anoint. And he said, This woman has anointed
my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her
sins, which are many, are forgiven. And he said, For she loved much,
but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And He
said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And He said, Go thy way, thy
faith hath saved thee. When the Pharisees saw the Lord
with sinners, they would say, they mocked Him and spread rumors
about Him saying, He eats, He socializes with publicans, low
down, dirty, conniving tax collectors and sinners like Rahab, the harlot. And he said, the person that's
whole doesn't need a physician. The person that is not a sinner
doesn't need a savior. And he said, I didn't come to
call the righteous to repentance, but I came to call sinners, those
that have no way of saving themselves, But we see a second thing here
in Joshua chapter 2. We see the wise hand of our God
directing the spies right to the door of Rahab. It says there
in verse 1, And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two
men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho.
And they went and came into an harlot's house named Rahab and
lodged there. Now here's the second point I
want you to get. God predestinates everything
in this world from the tiny sparrow falling to the ground to some
spies coming directly to the house of a harlot that He's chosen
to save by His grace. Everything. Did you hear one
of the nominees for president this week was on one of the talk
shows and he said, He said that, I believe that God directs everything. And he said, I'm not talking,
he goes, not of course not who gets to be elected officials.
Oh yes, even who gets to be an elected official. He directs everything. The Scripture
says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will. And the Scripture says, in whom?
In Christ also we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. We would do that if we could.
We'd direct everything after the counsel of our own will if
we could. But God can, and He does, and He leaves nothing to
chance. Now, let's read on here and let's
see. Now there in Hebrews, I want
you to stay where you are in Joshua, but there in Hebrews
it says, "...by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them
that believed not." And it says, "...when she received the spies
with peace." You notice there God had already given Rahab the
gift of faith when the spies came to her door. She already
believed God. True faith is not a fruitless
thing, but it's an active thing. It brings forth some obedience
to God. That's what true fruit is, is
obedience to God. Let's see here, Joshua 2, verse
2. And it was told the king of Jericho,
saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children
of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent
unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee,
which are entered into thine house. For they become to search
out all the country. The woman took the two men and
hid them and said there came men unto me But I wish not whence
they were and it came to pass about the time of shutting off
the gate when it was dark That the men went out whether the
men went. I don't know she said pursue
after them quickly for you shall overtake them and But she said,
but she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid
them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon
the roof. And the men of the city, the men that worked for
the king of Jericho, pursued after the spies the way to Jordan
and to the fords. And as soon as they which pursued
after them were gone out, they shut the gate. This big walled
city of Jericho, they shut the gate. And it says, Verse 8, And
before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof,
and she said unto the men, I know. She didn't say, I think, or there
might be a possibility. She said, I know. That's what
faith says. I know. She said, I know that
the Lord hath given you the land. and that your terror is falling
upon us." If you listen to what she's saying, remember when we
saw Moses come through the Red Sea and he sang the song after
he came through the Red Sea? This is exactly what Moses sang
in that song. Exact words here. And she had
heard this. It had come to her somewhere
and she believed. She believed God. And it says,
and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of
you. For we've heard how the Lord dried up the water of the
Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, what you did unto
the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side,
Jordan, Sion and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon
as we heard these things, our hearts didn't melt, neither did
there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For
the Lord your God He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Wouldn't you like to come to
somebody, meet somebody out on the road like these spies were,
and them tell you that? She wasn't saved because she
received the spies, but she received the spies because the Lord had
given her faith and she believed Him. She trusted Him. Now get
that right now. What Rahab did in receiving these
spies was not a work to obtain faith, but it was the fruit of
faith. That's the third lesson. Good
works are the fruit, the result of God's gift of faith. And where
there's no fruit, there's no faith. Where there's no fruit,
there's no faith. The fruit of the Spirit, this
is how I can make that statement with certainty. The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith. All of those are towards the
same direction. All of those are toward the same
One. The fruit of the Spirit is love for Christ, joy in Christ,
peace in Christ, long-suffering for the sake of Christ. We'll
see that in our message this morning. Gentleness, goodness,
faith. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
If the Spirit dwells in somebody, and that's the only way we're
going to have faith, If the Spirit dwells there and gifts faith,
there's going to be some fruit that's going to evidence the
work of the Spirit, what the Spirit has done. And that's what
happened. When Rahab saw these spies, she received them. And
she sent those fellows that were pursuing them and would kill
them, she sent them out another direction. Now, secondly, what was the promise
and object of Rahab's faith? Let's see that. Rahab's faith
was based upon promise. That's what it was based upon.
Joshua 2.12. She said, Now therefore I pray
you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness,
that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house and give
me a true token. I don't want this thing based
on something flimsy. Give me a true token. And that
ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren,
and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives
from death." And then he answered her. The man answered her and
said, Our life for your life. If ye utter not this our business,
and it shall be when the Lord hath given us the land, that
we will deal kindly and truly with thee." Here's the fourth
point. Faith rests in God's promise. This word right here is God's
promise. You start talking to somebody
and they want to argue with you over the gospel. And if they
get backed into a corner, they'll start saying, well, you don't
even have all the Bible. There's parts of the Bible that
you don't even have. Or they'll say, you don't even
know if that's really the Word of God. You might as well end
all discussion because this is the promise of God and faith
believes God. And if they make that statement,
they're just telling you blatantly, I don't believe a word God said.
Faith rests on the promise of God. Our Lord said, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they'll never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. And faith says, I believe Him.
I believe Him. The God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet. That's God's promise. He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. That's God's promise. Faithful
is He that calleth you who also will do it." That's God's promise.
The Lord promises saying, let your conversation be without
covetousness. Be content with such things as
you have. For He said, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. That's His promise. And faith
says, I'm content. I can do all things through God
which strengthens me. The Lord's my helper. I'll not
fear what man will do to me. And then we see that Rahab's
faith was in the person of her Redeemer, typified by the scarlet
line in the window. Look here in Joshua 2 verse 15. Then she let them down by a cord
through the window, for her house was upon the town wall. And she
dwelt upon the wall, and she said unto them, Get ye out to
the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves
there three days, until the pursuers be returned, and afterward may
ye go your way. The men said unto her, We will
be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
Behold, when we come into the land, Thou shalt bind this line
of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down
by. And thou shalt bring thy father,
and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household
home unto thee. And it shall be that whosoever
shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his
blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless. And
whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall
be on our head, if any hand be upon thee. If anything happens
to you, our life for your life, for those that stay in this house.
Did the house do anything for them? This was a brothel. This
was a house of prostitution. And the Lord said, bring them
all there and have them waiting right there. And he said, put
this scarlet line in the window. And they said, our life or your
life if we don't deliver everybody in this house. If they've gone
out of this house, though, their blood's on their own head. It's
on their own head. Verse 20, And if thou utter this
our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou
hast made us to swear. It's over. And she said, According
unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they
departed, and she bound the scarlet line in the window. And she, Rahab the harlot, look
down at verse 21, Or there, verse 21, she, Rahab the harlot, said,
according unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away,
and she bound that scarlet line in the window. That scarlet line
pictures the gospel itself. There can't be any preaching
of the gospel without the preaching of the blood of Christ. Because
the preaching of the blood of Christ is the gospel. That is
the gospel. The preaching of the cross, that's
what, when you read that, the preaching of the cross, that's
the blood of Christ. That is what He accomplished
at Calvary. It's to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God and the wisdom of
God. Now you listen to this. God chose
a people and promised to save them in covenant with His Son
and Spirit. covenant between the three and
one. And then that people became totally ruined in sin. And God's holy character demands
he must make good on his promise or his word is worthless. The
word that God, the Father's word to his son is worthless if he
don't save that people that he that he gave to his son. He promised
him to his son. And at the same time, the soul
that sinneth, it must die. Or God's holy justice means nothing.
Now if it were possible that some man, who's not God, could
save this people, then the creature would reserve the glory and not
God. If God provides himself to die
in their place, then his justice is satisfied, and him being the
one who satisfied his justice receives all the glory for saving
them. But God's eternal, and he's spirit,
and he cannot die. And his people are flesh and
blood. It cannot obtain, and they can't
obtain eternal justification and eternal salvation. So what's
going to happen? It's got to be some power and
some wisdom. Well, how's He going to retain
His glory and yet show mercy to a people who deserve only
justice? If God provides His only Son,
And yet His Son comes as a man, born of a virgin, spotless, holy,
righteous, God and man, eternal in His Godhead and able to obtain
eternal satisfaction. One with His people and thus
able to die in their place. Able to know the infirmity of
their flesh because He's walked right where they've walked. Able
to enter into God's presence and stand as an advocate for
his people in God's presence. There, covered in flesh, dripping
in blood, covered in the marks of man's depravity and hatred
for holy God, is not a helpless little Jesus, but the power and
wisdom of God. That's what you see in a crucified
Christ is the power and wisdom of God. We couldn't have thought
it up. We could not have come up with it. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now what happened? He suffered
eternal wrath for each of His chosen children, each of the
chosen children of God. He died the eternal death of
each chosen child of God. But when He rose from the grave,
He is the resurrection of each chosen child of God. And He declares
God as just and justifier to show mercy to a people that deserve
nothing but wrath. Because He put out the wrath. He extinguished it. Now, if God has that power and that
wisdom, Does He not have the power and the wisdom to save
all of His Rahab's wherever they may be? Does He not have the
power and mercy and wisdom to send His spies right into the
midst of their city where they are and declare His Word and
His oath and His covenant and save them? Sure He does. Just like He saved everybody
that we read about in this Word. That's how He saves. That's why
this is the preaching of the cross. This is why Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. This is why you read in Paul's
writing when he said, I was determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Here's the fifth lesson. As surely
as that scarlet thread hung there between Rahab and the spies and
bound them to one another in covenant mercy, so Christ's blood
binds. It is the New Testament in his
blood. And his blood is the scarlet
thread which binds every one of his blood-bought children
to him, and therefore not one will be lost. And because He
bought them, let me bear this point out too. If we, in a defense
of preaching Christ and Him crucified, and wanting Christ to have all
the glory, cease to declare how God the Father elected a people
unto salvation. how that God the Father predestinated
a people unto the adoption of children to be conformed to the
image of Christ. Or, if we turn around and deny
the work of the Holy Spirit in creating a new nature in a man,
of a man being born by the seed of God, by the Word of God, that
incorruptible seed, and therefore being created in righteousness
and true holiness in the inner man which delights after the
law of God. If we cease to declare God the
Father or God the Holy Spirit and we say it's in defense of
Christ Jesus and Him crucified, we deny the deity of Christ.
We're denying the deity of Christ because they, those, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one. They're
one. And to deny the work of God the
Father or simply omit it, and to deny the work of the Holy
Spirit or simply to omit His work is not to glorify Christ
at the cross, it's to deny Christ being God is what it is. If you
leave a man thinking that he can come to God himself somehow,
that he can somehow, somehow this new birth is just, is not
a total new creation by God. That's as much preaching Christ,
it's done through the blood and righteousness of Christ. That's
as much preaching Christ as preaching what God the Father did in putting
a people in Christ. Now let me show you the sixth
thing. True faith waits for the coming of our Redeemer. Rahab
tied that line in the window and she waited. What do you suppose
kept her going? What do you think kept her going
every day while she waited? She'd come to that window and
she'd look to see if that scarlet line was still in that window.
And she'd see that scarlet thread. And she'd say, alright, I'm just
going to keep on waiting. Every time she saw that scarlet
thread, she thought of that covenant. Every time she thought of that
covenant, she thought of that deliverance. Every time she saw
that scarlet thread, she thought of her God who had delivered
His people through the Red Sea. And she waited, and she waited.
When we go to this Word, we go to this Word to see the scarlet
thread. It runs through, weaves in and
out of every Word, on every page, all the way from front to back
of this Book, this scarlet thread. And when we come here, we come
here to hear about the scarlet thread, because it's what keeps
us going. We're coming to the window, and
we're looking to see that scarlet thread one more time. So we read
here in Joshua, turn over to Joshua 6, verse 20. I may go a little long here on
our lesson, but I don't know when I'll be with y'all again,
so I'm just gonna keep going. Joshua 6, 20. This was when Joshua and the
priest went in. We saw this a few lessons ago. Let's read this here. So the
people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets and it came
to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and
the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down
flat so that the people went up into the city and every man
straight before him and they took the city and they utterly
destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young
and old, and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword.
But Joshua. Joshua. This trumpet blew just
as the trumpet's gonna blow in the last day. The people shouted
with a great shout just as the host of heaven shall shout in
the last day. And the wall fell down flat just
as every man-made wall shall fall in the last day. And God's
troop took the city and won the victory just as the Lord shall
do in the last day. Every one, every vile, God-hating
rebel was destroyed. Every one of them. But what about
Rahab? What about Rahab? Do you remember
where Rahab's house was in Jericho? It said back there in 2.15, it
says, She led them down by a cord through the window, for her house
was upon the town wall. And she lived there in the wall.
They had a wall that was built. I don't know how wide the wall
of Jericho was, but I know the wall in Nahum's day, that wall
was over, around Babylon I believe it was, was three chariots wide. It was wide enough that down
below, underneath the top of it, a person could have a house
in the side of the wall. And therefore they have a window
that faced outside and a window that faced inside. And she let
them down outside that window, outside of the wall. But the
scripture says here the people shouted and it says the wall
fell down flat. The wall fell down flat except
for in one place. It fell down flat except for
in one place. You know where that place was?
It was where Rahab Her mother and her father and all the shit
brought into that house is right where they were right where that
scarlet thread was You ever set up a bunch of dominoes around
your house and click them, you know and watch them just the
dominoes just fall That's what I picture when I picture that
wall falling down in Jericho I picture it going all the way
around like a like dominoes just falling except for when it got
to where that scarlet thread was stopped What stopped it the
scarlet thread. You mean just a scarlet thread
stopped a big giant wall of stones from falling down? That's exactly
right. A scarlet thread. Because that
scarlet thread represented the blood of Christ Jesus the Lord.
And God stopped it right there and said it won't go any further.
They're mine. Those in that house right there
are mine. I'm bound to them by that scarlet
thread. Bound to them. They can't die.
They can't perish. And so she was saved. Verse 22,
Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country.
Now everything's being destroyed. They're taking the city. But
he says to these two men that spied out the country, Go into
the harlot's house and bring out thence the woman and all
that she hath as you swear unto her. Just as you promised, just
as he purchased, so shall the believer be delivered by our
faithful Redeemer And the young men that were spies went in and
brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren
and all that she had. And they brought out all her
kindred and left them without the camp of Israel. And they
burnt the city with fire and all that was therein, only the
silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron they put into
the treasury of the house of the Lord and Joshua. The name
means Savior. Saved Rahab the harlot alive
and her father's household and all that she had. And she dwelleth
in Israel even unto this day because she hid the messengers
which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. She believed God. And unto this day she still dwells
in Israel. You know what we ought to do?
We ought to get us a plane ticket and fly over there. and see her. That'd be something, wouldn't
it, to see Rahab after all this time in Israel? Dwelling there? I'd like to see this woman, wouldn't
you, Robert? She went through this miracle. I'd like to talk
to her and get her to tell me about it. That's not the Israel
where she is. She dwells right now, just as
alive as you think you are sitting right there. in God's Israel,
in heaven with God. Right now. Because she believed
God. That's what he says there at
the end. Because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent
to spy out Jericho. Well, it doesn't say because
she believed God. Yes, it does. It says because she hid the messengers
which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. That says that's the
same thing as saying she trusted Christ. She believed God. Because
those that believe God are going to receive His messengers, going
to receive His spies, going to receive His brethren, and going
to send them out another way, protect them, because they believe
God. That's what she did. Do you believe
Him? Whether you be a harlot, despised
by men, rejected by this world, looked down on by religion, know
this. As you have trusted your eternal
soul to Christ Jesus your Lord, as you have by faith bound the
scarlet line in your window like Rahab, you shall dwell in Israel
with your Joshua. You know why? Because the scarlet
blood of Christ Jesus the Lord, by His blood you cannot, cannot,
cannot perish. It just can't happen. You must
be saved. You must be saved. Alright.