Let us turn once again to God's Word in the New Testament Scriptures. Turning to the epistle of James. The general epistle of James. And the second chapter. And I'll read the closing verses of the chapter from verse 21.

James 2.21 Was not Abram our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? See also how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abram believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Remember how James in his epistle does make a contrast between living faith and dead faith between that faith that is true and that faith that is false and in the course of this he does speak of a faith that is justified by works and he certainly does that in this particular chapter He says, doesn't he, at verse 14, What of the prophet, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not works? Can faith save him? And then again at verse 20, But will thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? And then again at verse 26, we just read it, For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

He speaks really of the necessity of works in regards to that faith that is justifying faith. And he mentions how this is illustrated in the case of Abraham who is the father of all the faithful and Rahab the harlot. There at verse 21 concerning Abram was not Abram our father justified by works? And then in verse 25 likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works?

What is this justification by works? What is this justification that he is speaking of then in the case of these two, Abraham and Rahab? Well, we can say for certain that this faith that justifies works is not before God. It is not before God. Look at the language that we have in another epistle Paul to the Romans Romans 3.20, he says, "...by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Paul is quite emphatic then that nobody, no flesh at all, no man, no woman, can be justified in God's sight by their own works of the law. And he repeats it really In a sense, in Romans 4 and verse 2, if Abram were justified by works, he says he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.

Again, he says the justification by works is not before God. We know concerning Abram, who is the father of all the faithful, that he was justified by faith in the promised seed which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have that account in the fourth of Romans where he speaks much of the faith of Abraham and all that that faith amounted to. What does he say? Well there in Romans at verse 2 he speaks of how Abram believed God and it was counted to him for for righteousness and what was the object of this faith that was counted to him for righteousness or reckoned to him or imputed to him for righteousness what was the object of his faith? well we're told at the end of Romans chapter 4 and there in verse 21 and 22 that is the faith of Abraham had to do with the promise, the seed that was promised, the son that was promised and that son would be born to Sarah and that's where his faith centered really in that promised seed, Isaac and yet we know don't we that Isaac was a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ Galatians 3 and verse 16 there to Abram and his seed were the promises made he says not to seed as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ that was the object of Abram's faith Christ and all that Christ accomplished when in the fullness of the time God sent forth his son and he was made of a woman and made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.

Or the faith of Abraham, the faith that justified Abraham centered in Christ and that work that Christ accomplished, his obedience and his obedience unto death. Even the death of the cross, the obedience of his life, The righteousness was wrought by a life in which he honoured and magnified the Lord of God by obedience to every commandment. He wore a robe of righteousness. And then that holy and just and righteous and sinless man died the cruel death of the cross. substituting the atonement Christ not only living for his people but dying for his people that's the faith that justified Abraham thy seed which is Christ and doesn't he say to the to the Jews there in John chapter 8 your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad that was his justification in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But it is evident that here in this second chapter of James there is a certain emphasis on works in relation to justification. We can't deny that. And this is part of the Scriptures. I know that Luther would refer to it as an epistle of straw. He would, as it were, want to remove it from the canon of Scripture, but we don't follow Luther in every particular. We recognize that James, as any other part of the Scriptures, is the very Word of God. and so we have to accept the things that James is saying we know that there's no contradiction in the word of God so James cannot be contradicting those things that Paul has said and I've referred to Paul and what he says there in Romans 4 what he says in Galatians chapter 3 what are we to make of these things and this emphasis?

well Here we have an emphasis on certain works that are seen in a sense not of God, a work seen of men. Not before gods, but those things that are seen before men. Here in verse 18, Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have work. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my work. this is a man speaking to a man as it were I'll show my faith and the reality of my faith by the lives that I'm living isn't that what he's saying there? again in verse 22 see'st thou our faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect. He's speaking of Abraham clearly from verse 21 but he's speaking to men, he's addressing the the saints of God who are scattered abroad and he says, see us thou or as the margin says, thou seest how faith wrought with Abram's works and by works his faith was made perfect his faith was seen to be a genuine faith and again at verse 24 ye see ye see there now that by works a man is justified and not by faith only

but we have to understand What he's speaking of here is that work that justifies the faith in the sense that it makes that faith to be seen for what it is. It's a genuine faith. It's a living faith. It's not a dead faith. It's not a false faith. How do we know? There's this emphasis on those things that are seen of men, the life that's being lived. But there's also something else in a sense. There's an emphasis on the trial which will also prove the reality of the faith. And certainly that's the case with Abraham. Was not Abraham our father justified by works? We read in verse 21. How was he justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? James is referring to Genesis 22. where the Lord God is trying Abraham. We know he didn't offer his son, but he was willing to offer his son at God's command. Strange. And, well, the significance of that, of course, is there, isn't it, in the 11th of Hebrews, where we read amongst the great catalogue of the faithful of the Old Testament we read of the faith of Abraham verse 17 in Hebrews 11 by faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whom also he received him in a figure.

What a remarkable type is Isaac of the Lord Jesus Christ because Isaac was raised up from the dead as it were just as the Lord Jesus Christ would be raised up from the dead when he had made that great sin atoning sacrifice but what a trial was that how the Lord was trying the reality of the faith of that man who is the father of all them that believe. And of course, in the previous chapter, the opening chapter, James does have much to say concerning the trying of faith. There in the second verse of the opening chapter, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, or testings, or trials, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Why? The trial will prove the genuineness of that faith that is being professed, and how good and how necessary. Why, this man who is in the trial is a blessed man. Verse 12, blessed is the man. that endure of temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him and so here we have reference to Abraham and the reality of his faith how it was seen by men and men could see that this was a man of faith how his faith was proved in the trials of faith

But some might say, well, to speak of Abraham, who is renowned in scripture for his faith, that's far too high a standard. So what does the Apostle James do? He refers to another so different to Abraham really. He speaks of Rahab the harlot. here in verse 25 and it's this verse that I want to concentrate on and to say something with regards to the faith of this woman the faith of Rahab and she's likened to Abraham likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way to consider her faith in and doing that in terms of two headings really to say something with regards to the person of Rahab and then the works of Rahab and how these relate so remarkably to the faith of the woman first of all the person of Rahab and she is declared isn't she for what she is Rahab the harlot. Rahab the prostitute. And she was an embarrassment. She is an embarrassment to the Jews. We're told how she married a prince in Israel, Saman, who was the father of Boaz. Boaz, his father. had as his wife this Canaanitish woman who had been a prostitute and as she is the father of Boaz so she as she was married I should say to Salmon and was the father of Boaz who was the father of Boaz and she is that one who is therefore now to be recognized as the great great grandmother of David David is descended from from Boaz and from Sammon and also from Rahab the harlot and the Lord Jesus Christ comes of course of that line

And if we turn to the opening chapter of Holy Scripture, New Testament Scripture I should say, there in the opening chapter of Matthew, we have the genealogy of Christ and Rahab's in the genealogy. How remarkable it is. And yet, to the Jews she was such an embarrassment.

In the Jewish Targum, which is a sort of Old Testament paraphrase what the Jews say is that Rahab was not a prostitute but she kept a vitualing house she was a sort of innkeeper a hostess they're embarrassed you see because of that significant position she has in the those who were the ancestors even of King David

But the scriptures repeatedly declare her to be a harlot. In the portion that we read, we read Joshua chapter 2 and there in the opening verse we read of Rahab the harlot. We also read the closing verses of chapter 6 there and in verse 25 again we read of her as a harlot.

In the New Testament she's spoken of thus in that passage in Hebrews 11 31 and so we have it here in the text tonight likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way

what was her profession? what was she? she was a common prostitute but then who were her people? Well, Jericho, the city of the Canaanites, she was a Canaanitish woman. And how those Canaanites were to be utterly destroyed, those wicked peoples that were there in the land that God had promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, when Moses brings forth the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, they had to go into the land and they are to destroy all those wicked people.

Deuteronomy chapter 20 and the language that's used with regards to the complete and utter destruction of these wicked people. Verse 16 there, But of the cities of these people which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth, But thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded them, that they teach you not to do after their abominations which they have done unto their gods. So should ye sin against the Lord your God."

They were such a wicked, divorced people. and concerning Jericho there in that sixth chapter previous to where we were reading verse 17 the city shall be accursed even it and all that are therein the city was an accursed city and God delivered it miraculously into the hands of the children of Israel and they completely overran that city and destroyed all that was living within except for the harlots and all her family who were with her in the house

and then we read those words didn't we at the end how Joshua adjured the people and said that the city was never to be rebuilt If it was, terrible judgments would come upon the person who dared to do such a deed. Joshua adjured them, it says. And the word that he uses here, to adjure, it means to charge under solemn oath and curse. They were told quite plainly and we read of one who did actually rebuild the city.

In 1 Kings 16.34, rebuilt the city and just as Joshua had said he laid the foundation in his firstborn and he set up the gates thereof in his youngest son what a city it must have been that God would continue to visit judgments upon anyone who had any association with that city called Jericho

And yet Rahab of Jericho was saved. Why? Because she had faith. It seems, it appears that she had faith before ever she received those spies. If we turn to what's said there in Hebrews 11 concerning her faith, that's so evident the very language that's used in verse 31 by faith the harlot ray have perished not with them that believe not when she had received the spies with peace and the verb that we have there when she had received the spies it's in the Aorist in the Greek the nearest equivalent in our English would be the simple past tense she already had faith that's why she received them she knew who they were and doesn't she as she receives them confess her faith to them

if we go back to the words that we read earlier in that second chapter in the book of Joshua remember what she says to those two men verse 9 I know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. And 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 had heard these things our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and in earth beneath." She's confessing. She's confessing Him who is the only living and true God. She has faith.

And what does this teach us? It teaches us a remarkable lesson that none are beyond the saving grace of God. What sort of a woman was she? She was a harlot. And yet, as she hears this report that's coming to her of these people the Hebrews who have just been delivered out of well, 40 years previously delivered out of the bondage of Egypt and whom God has watched over and now they're coming into the land and they're beginning to take possession of it she recognizes that this must be the people of God, the true God, the living God and she's not beyond the grace of God

We can think of those words of the Apostle in the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Remember when he says, such were some of you, he says, but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ through the Spirit. There in 1 Corinthians 6 and they were the most notorious of sinners. If we look at the context, verse 9 in that chapter, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. All those who were converted, those who were saved, were the greatest of sinners.

You see, the greatest sinner out of hell who lives to fill his need is welcome at the throne of grace, the Saviour's blood to plead. And this woman, she knew the grace of God where sin abounds. Grace does so much more abound, isn't that Isn't that the sinner's greatest comfort? The super aboundings of the grace of God. And as I said, this woman is there, highly honoured. She's in the genealogy of Him who came to be the Saviour of sinners. Even the Eternal Son of God, who we see there as the son of David, who was the two times great-grandmother, that's what Rahab was, two times great-grandmother of King David the person who this woman was the people she belonged to and yet she saved but what of the works?

well in the works that we read of and we don't have the full account of course here in James we have it in the portions that we were reading back in the early chapters of Joshua in her works we see the reality of her faith and in a sense there's two contradictory things in this woman's faith there's strong faith and yet there's weak faith at the same time how she's commended for receiving the spice that's what we're told here Rahab the islet justified by works out when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way those were her works those were her works and it's the same works that are spoken of previously in Hebrews 11 Verse 31, By faith I heard that Rae had perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace.

It was what she'd done to ensure the safety of those spies. That's the works, that's the only works we read of in the case of this woman.

But what faith this woman has, the spies had come back hadn't they in Numbers 13 you remember when Moses had sent out the 12 spies earlier when they first came out of Egypt and had arrived on the borders of the promised land it was just 11 days journey that they'd made but the spies come back ten of them with an evil report and they say of the cities of the Canaanites and those other peoples the cities are walled and very great it's just those two Joshua and Caleb who give the good report and say they can go in and possess the land but the other ten they're afraid what they've witnessed great walled cities and amongst them the city of Jericho one of the great cities of the Canaanites and remember what we read there in the opening verse of our reading earlier in Joshua 6 verse 1 it says that the city was straightly shut up Jericho was straightly shut up.

The margin tells us that the Hebrew is literally did shut up and was shut up. It did shut up, it was shut up. It was virtually impregnable. They were never going to be able to take this great city. And yet here is Rahab and she's living on the wall of the city. She's well aware of all the fortifications. She must have been, that's where she lived, on the wall. This impregnable place.

But she has faith. She has faith and she sees beyond the things which are seen. She had the eye of faith, just like Moses. Remember what we're told concerning the faith of Moses back in Hebrews 11. We read of him seeing him who is invisible. Well, it's the same faith that Rahab. She sees him who's invisible, the God of the Hebrews. It's not like the God that she's so familiar with as the Canaanite idols. This God is a spirit. He's the God of heaven and earth. She sees Him with the eye of faith. Paul says we look not at the things which are seen. The things which are seen are temporal. The unseen things are eternal. This is the eternal God and she believes in Him. She has the eye of faith.

And surely she's aware that with this God Nothing is impossible. Doesn't she speak there in that second chapter of how God had made a way for the children of Israel to pass through the Red Sea on dry land? How they'd been able to overcome already great kings of Asia. all she knew who the true God was she had faith in this God there's a strength in this woman's faith but it's seen in particular in the way in which she receives the messengers and what she does with the messengers she'd sent them out we're told another way you see There are certain aspects of what she does which seem to us to be so wrong. This is the weakness of the faith of the woman. She lied. She lied, didn't she? Obviously lied in what she says to the king of Jericho concerning the spies. She'd hidden them on the top of the house. and yet she says that they'd gone off and gone out of the city and gone somewhere into the mountains and then as soon as the men have been out to pursue them she alarms these two and she sends them out another way she's a liar how can she be justified by faith?

Well, that's the wonder of faith, isn't it? Our salvation is not of works. Our salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're the transgressors. But Christ has paid the dreadful penalty of our transgressions of the holy law of God. So this woman can be saved, although she's a transgressor, but in no sense. It's impossible to say that she was saved by works, because her works are really contrary to the law of God. The ninth commandment plainly states, they shall not bear false witness. She'd borne false witness. She told a lie.

But you know, there's a sense, isn't there, we have to recognize that surely in no way could Abraham be justified by his works because what's spoken of with regards to his works is him offering up Isaac. If he'd offered up Isaac, he would have killed the boy. And that would have been murder, it would have been a transgression of the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. that shall to no murder it's interesting isn't it what we read with regards to these people and their works so whatever James is saying he's not speaking of these people being justified by their own works of the Lord of God because they're doing things contrary to the law of God but we're thinking in particular of this woman and we know don't we from what's written in scripture that Liars won't go to heaven. Liars will have their part in hell. You know the language that we have there at the end of the Revelation. The last but one chapter, Revelation 21. Verse 27 there, "...shall in no wise enter into it..." That's heaven. "...anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." But they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, while she's written in the Lamb's Book of Life, previously there in verse 8, the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

she's a liar whatever you say she tells a non-truth and yet she's a saved woman and she was received into the congregation of Israel with her family we read of that there at the end of Joshua chapter 6 she's received now Surely a lying is not to be excused. A lying is not to be excused. There's difficulty here, there's mystery here. The strict Baptist minister, James Wells, who was the pastor at the Surrey Tabernacle, reckoned to be the largest strict Baptist church that ever existed in England, He had a vast congregation, a large church. He was a most evangelistic preacher. There were regular conversions, baptisms upon baptisms. He was a high Calvinist, was James Wells, and he preached on Rahab, and he caused quite a furore when he preached because he excused her, really, of her sin. So you can imagine what the reaction of so many would have been to that. I feel in some ways he was misjudged.

It was a time of warfare, wasn't it? We know that in time of war, if a man is armed, is a soldier and he kills his enemy, he's not accused of murder. He's killed a man. But he's not accused of murdering a man because it's a time of military conflict. I'm not saying that moral law is in abeyance at that time, but I mean, it's a fact, it's warfare. So one wonders, what was this woman to do? She wanted to ensure the safety of these two men. That's why she acted as she did.

I say it's a mystery. I'm not wanting to excuse her for a moment. But what I would say is this, when we think about what she did, lying is sinful. Lying is sinful. And yet, here she is and she's spoken of as a woman who is justified. How is she justified? She's justified before God only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ just as Abraham was justified before God because he had faith in the promised seed the son that was to be born but ultimately Christ Christ the true seed and that's how this woman was saved and yet she was a harlot, she was a liar, there's so much against her

And we see really the reality of her faith in the love that she has for the brethren. She loves these men. We read of faith which worketh by love. She loves the people of God. She's embracing the people of God, the Hebrews. We know that we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren. Let us be careful with regards to the way in which we judge this woman. We know that ultimately she saved. And she's one of the great women of faith. She's there in that tremendous catalogue in Hebrews 11. She's there in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a woman was Rahab. What she was? Well, one, she was a prostitute, a common prostitute, saved by the grace of God, yes. she told lies and yet there's no doubt in the fact that she had a faith that was true and genuine and faith is seen in her works and what were her works? well as we are told here in the text Rayab the harlot justified by works how when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. And that's all part and parcel really of the lies that she's taking. I don't pretend I can explain it but I do feel sometimes she's so misjudged. She was a woman of faith and she's here linked with him who is the father of all the faithful, the father of all believers.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered up Isaac, his son, upon the altar? Murder? Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers? and had sent them out another way? Lies? Well, we have to leave the matter there. The Lord be pleased to bless his word to us. Amen.