All right, Joshua chapter 2 now. Joshua chapter 2. I had thought that we had studied
this more recently than we have. It's been three years ago. Time
flies. But that message is still fresh
on my mind, three years ago. Rahab is mentioned three times
in the scripture, in the New Testament. Three times. Paul's great chapter, Hebrews
11, what we call the Hall of Faith, that lists all of those
people, the scripture says, of whom the world is not worthy.
Rahab is amongst them. Rahab, along with Noah, Moses. James speaks of her. There's only two people James
mentions in his book, two saints that he mentions, two great believers. and Rahab. Two people. Abraham, the great patriarch,
and this little woman named Rahab. There's a reason for that. I
think we'll see at the end of this study. All right, the principal
characters in this story, and I'm not going to read it. I trust
and hope that you read it for yourself this afternoon. Nevertheless,
we will go through it. The principal characters in this
story and who they typify, who they represent, are Joshua. Joshua, though he is not in this
particular chapter yet, or not much anyway, yet he is behind
it all. Joshua represents the Lord Jesus
Christ. Then there are two spies here.
Two spies, and they represent the Word of God. Old and New
Testament. The Law and the Prophets. Two
spies represent the Word of God. I think we'll see that clearly
in a moment. Rahab represents every sinner saved by the grace
of God. All right. All right. Here's the decree. Look at chapter
1. This is God's decree. concerning
Joshua, and God's decree concerning the New Testament Joshua. Jesus
Christ our Lord. Look at Joshua 1, verse 3. Do you remember this? Our Lord
said of Joshua, Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread, that have I given unto you. As
I said unto Moses, verse 5 and 6, there shall not any man be
able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will
be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake
thee. Be strong and of a good courage,
for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance, the
land. So God says, God makes the decree
concerning Joshua. He's saying that Joshua is Lord
over the land, that Joshua is in charge, that Joshua is Lord. And he said the same thing concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this. He said, I will
declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession. And all things belong unto the
Lord Jesus Christ." Psalm 24 says the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, the world and the inhabitants thereof. belong unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the land they were about to come into, God gave it to Joshua,
and God said Joshua would dole it out to whom he saw fit. Joshua
was to be sovereign over the land and give it to whomsoever
he will. And no one is going to stand
before you, God said. No one shall stand before Joshua.
And the Lord said concerning our Lord, every knee shall bow. and every tongue confess that
you are the Lord." Christ Jesus is the Lord, and all things have
been given into his hand. Everything is his spoil, and
he shall divide the spoil with his people. He decides. He is sovereign over all. All
right? Verse 1 of chapter 2 now. Chapter
2, verse 1, Joshua, the son of Nun, He's in charge. He's lord over the land. They're
about to go in and take it. And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent
out of Shittim two men to spy secretly. Now, they were just
passing through the land, as Shittim was one of these places
they just came through, and they were about to cross over into
Jericho. And Joshua sent out these two
spies into the land. Now, these two spies represent
the word of God. Joshua represents Christ. The
word of God, God's power and God's eternal Godhead, the scripture
says, are clearly seen by the things that are made. Clearly
seen. Scripture says in Psalm 19, day
and night, day and night, uttereth speech. their line is gone out
to the ends of the world. There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. God's written and incarnate word,
God's creative person, his power and his Godhead, God's written
and incarnate word have gone out into the land. God has sent
them. The word has gone out of his
mouth. It will not return Boy, these
spies were to go, look into the land, and report back to Joshua.
And they came back and told him some things. They didn't return,
boy. The Word, Christ said, has gone
out of my mouth. It won't return, boy. And the
Word was made flesh. You have the Word incarnate,
and you have the written Word. Two spies. God's Word is as it
were two spies, the Law and the Prophets, the Old and New Testament,
And the scripture says the word of God is a discerner of the
thoughts and the intents of the heart. A spy of the heart. You see, these two spies, they
tell what goes on in the heart. A discerner of the thoughts,
and they're sent to spy up the heart. OK? So God sent Eris,
Joshua sent these two spies into all the land to check out all
the land and report back to him. But though they were sent to all
the people and land in general, they went to one woman to save
her in particular. They spied out the land and they
went throughout the land to spy it out, but they came to one
house to save this certain woman in particular. And that's the
way the word of God, that's the way he uses the word. The word
has gone out. Have they not heard? Yea, verily
the sound has gone throughout all the world. The word of God,
it's everywhere. People have, everybody nearly
has a copy of it, but it's sent to certain individuals in particular
to save them. And look who they came to. You
know, it says they went and came into a harlot's house, named
Rahab, and lodged there. A harlot's house. Of all the
people in town, of all that weren't sent to the wise and the prudent,
of all the people in town, they came, these two, came to a harlot's
house. Or did they just stumble on this
house? Was this just an accident? Was this just a random thing?
Did they just say, well, where can we hide his house? No. Oh, no. This was in God's sovereign
providence, and this is a picture of sovereign grace. Because Christ
said, I am come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repent. And this man," they said, and
see, the Pharisees and the publicans didn't receive him into their
house. They didn't even give him anything to wash his feet.
And they said of him, and no truer saying was uttered, of
Christ. They said, this man receiveth
sinners. He receiveth sinners. Why, he's
a friend of publicans and sinners. So these two spies came. to a
house of all people, he came to the harlot's house. And our
Lord comes to sinners. He comes to call sinners to repentance. All right, you notice there it
said they came to this harlot's house and lodged there. They
lodged there. They abode there. That's where
they were going to abide. Christ said, if you abide in
me, in my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you."
You'll ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. If
you abide in me, and I abide in you, the word of God sent
to a particular people to abide in them, he said, you ask what
you will, and it'll be done unto you. This is exactly what happened
here. So look at verse 4. So the woman
took the two men and hid them. Says she hid them. David said,
Thy word have I hid in my heart. Thy word have I hid in my heart. All right, now I believe what
we're going to see here. I believe that a work had already
begun in her heart. I believe that God had already
begun to prepare her for this visit of these two spies who
were going to tell her some wonderful things. I believe the Lord had
already begun a good work in her heart. Before she heard the
word of salvation, see, there was no promise yet. She just
entertained strangers. She didn't know who they were.
She knew to a degree who they were. She didn't know, and she
hadn't heard yet, that she was going to be saved in her house.
So before salvation came, though, she knew this much. Look at verses
8 through 13. Read there. It says, Before they
were laid down, before these men laid down, she came up unto
them upon the roof, and she said unto the men, Now, I know, I
don't know much, but I know this. I know that the Lord has given
you the land, and that your terror," read it with me now, verse 9,
"...that your terror is falling upon us, and all the inhabitants
of the land faint because of you." You're powerful. We've heard how the Lord dried
up the water of the Red Sea for you. When you came out of Egypt,
you're able to do so many things, he was saying. And what you did
unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of
Jordan, Sion and Og, whom you utterly destroyed." 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. And look
at what she knew. She said, For the Lord your God,
he is God, in heaven above and in earth beneath. I pray you, swear unto me by
the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you will also
show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token."
So before she heard the word of salvation, she knew this. She had the beginning of saving
wisdom. She feared the Lord. She knew
that much. She knew, she said, I know your
God is God. He's God. What does a person
have to know to be saved? God is God. This is eternal life
that they might know be the only true God. The people of Jericho
were religious, but they had a false God, an idol. But the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he is God. And she knew that.
And she feared him. And these men who represented
the Word of God, she knew they were powerful, and they could
do as they pleased. But they could do as they pleased,
with whom they pleased, and she, and so she knew God was God,
she feared him, and she asked for mercy. That's simple, isn't it? Simple
confession. She didn't know much. That's
enough. That's enough to save you. to hear the word of kindness
and mercy and grace to you." So this is the first thing the
word of God does to a sinner. The first thing God does when
he begins a good work in a sinner is he creates the fear of the
Lord in them. It's the beginning of wisdom.
And then when the fear of the Lord is created, he causes them
to cry out for mercy like the publican. God be merciful to
me, the sinner. And you notice how she prayed
for her family, too. She began to see that others
needed mercy, and she had an intercessory spirit. She asked
for salvation for her family. All right, now we're going to
see this sinner when she hears a covenant promise. Covenant
promise. We heard the decree, and now
we're going to hear a covenant promise. Look at verse 14 and
15. All right? The man answered her,
Our life for yours, if you don't utter this business by her, you
don't forsake us. Our life for yours, and it shall
be when the Lord hath given us the lamb, that we will deal kindly
and truly with thee. 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." By faith she believed all that
these spies had said. By faith she believed all that
they said. And it says she let them down
by a cord. By faith. By faith we lay hold
on the promising, the Word of God. Faith is how we lay hold
on the Word of God. We cling to God's Word by faith. By faith. Faith is the tie that
binds us to the promising. Faith is the window. It says that she let them down
through the window. Faith in Christ, faith is the
window through faith we understand, the scripture says, that God
made all things out of nothing. Through faith we understand.
Through faith the cord was put out. Through faith, faith is
how she lived. She lived on the town wall where
that cord was let down. She lived from then on, but just
shall live by faith. That line was in her window from
that day forward. by faith. She asked for a token. Look at
verse 12. Here's the token of this covenant
now. Verse 12, it says, she said,
I pray you swear unto me by the Lord. Swear. Make an oath unto
me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that you
will also show kindness unto my father's house. Give me a
true token, a token of this oath. a binding object, a seal of this
oath that you make to me, that you'll show me kindness. Give
me a token." All right, look at verse 17. The men said unto
her, We will be blameless. of this thine oath which thou
hast made us swear." We will be blamed, but our oath, they
said, is sure. This covenant we make with you
is sure. So here they are about to give
her a token. Here is a token of the covenant. Verse 18, "...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." This is the token of our covenant,
they said. This will be your salvation and
proof of that salvation. This will be the seal of that
covenant. This will be the token of our
promise to you. Salvation will be for all who,
and they said, bring your mother and your father, your brethren,
all your household under this house. You bind this line there. Salvation is going to be for
all who are in the house. all who are under the scarlet
line." Bind it in the window, they said, and we'll be bound
by it. Bind it in the window, and we'll
be bound by it. Verse 19, And it shall be, they
said, whosoever shall go out of the doors of the house into
the street, his blood shall be upon his head. Whoever stays
in the house where the scarlet thread is now, they're safe. But if anybody goes out of this
house, out from under this scarlet thread, they're going to die.
We're going to destroy this place, and they're going to die. But
read on. It says, But whosoever is in the house, he says, whosoever shall be with
thee in the house where the scarlet thread is, his blood shall be
on our head. In other words, they said, We
will die defending this person. Whoever stays in this house where
the scarlet thread is found, when we come through the land,
they will not surely die. We'll die keeping them from dying. We'll shed our own blood to save
theirs. If that's not a picture of substitution,
what is? We will die. So they say it's
the scarlet thread. It's the scarlet thread which
saved. And when Joshua sends his troops
to destroy the land, when we see the scarlet thread, we'll
say, yes. Does anyone know what the scarlet
thread represents? Does anyone not know what the
scarlet thread is? You need to know. The blood which
maketh atonement. for the soul, the blood and the
blood only. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us. It's the blood before the Lord
that's a token of our salvation. It's the blood on the mercy seat
which makes propitiation for these sinners. It's the blood
that's the seal of God's oath and God's covenant. And unlike
this one, this is where a parable or a parable or a type doesn't
walk on four legs. You've heard my pastor say that. Well, if they made this covenant
with her, it seemed to be conditioned on her doing something, didn't
it? Well, not the covenant of God. You see, if their covenant
with her was conditioned on her faith, well, not the covenant
of God. God made this covenant, ordered in all things, concerning
every sinner he was to save and apply the blood to, he made that
long before they were ever born. He made it with Christ. And their
faith is a result of that covenant, not the cause of it. You see,
that's where this covenant differs. That's where it differs. made
before they were ever born. But the blood is a token of the
covenant. The blood is the essence of true
saving faith, too. Did you notice that in verse
18? Look at it again. It says, and I talked about the
lion being faith. Well, it is. Remember that? I talked about
the lion being faith is what they clung, they would cling
to the promises. Right? The lion, the blood. Well,
the blood is the essence of true saving faith. What is our faith
in? We're justified by faith in his
blood. Verse 18, it says, You tie this
scarlet thread in the window which you did let us down by.
The same line that she clung to, that the Spies clung to,
was what was going to save her. Her faith saved her. But it wasn't
her faith at all. It was typical of the blood.
The blood. Saving faith. And you know the
law and the testimony? The blood is the essence of saving
faith. To the law and to the testimony. The blood is the scarlet line
that runs through the scriptures. The blood, all the way through,
from the start to the finish. When the first sinner sinned,
Adam, what happened? What did God show us? The first
thing God showed us when the first sinner sinned was the blood. The blood. God slew an animal
to cover his neck in it. And it's the blood from start
to finish. God's been all the way through the Scripture. It
hangs on the blood. I'm glad this thing was read. I've a long time been tempted
to drill a hole in my Bible and put a red thread through it,
so that everywhere you turn, on every page, every page, I
see that red thread and think of the blood. Well, it all hangs
on the blood. It all hinges on the blood, all
the way through. Every oath, every covenant, every
word points to the blood. Every sacrifice, everything points
to the blood of Christ. This is the scarlet line which
runs through the scripture, the Old and New Testament. God says,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. All right. So they told her, bind the scarlet thread in the
wind, the scarlet line in the wind. What else did they tell
her? Nothing. They gave her one thing
to do. They said, now we're coming through,
and you'll be saved if you do one thing. A scarlet thread in
the window. Is that it? What about? They
said, one way. You're going to be saved one
way. And we come in, this is how you're going to be saved,
when we see a scarlet line in that window. Now what if she'd
have tied a blue one in there? Blue's prettier, he's prettier.
She would have been saved. What about a green one? No. All right, what about if she'd
have tied the scarlet line and a blue one and a green one? What
if she'd have tied the scarlet line and said, well, I'll put
a little flowers out there and I'll adorn it a little bit. No.
They said, when we see the scarlet line, one way. one weapon. And there's one faith, there's
one thing that will save us, and that's the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One thing. When God sees one
thing, he'll save us. One thing applied to us. And
that's what faith does. It ties the scarlet line. It ties the scarlet line about
the heart. One thing, the scarlet And she
believed. She believed. She believed what they said.
Paul said, I believe all things written in the Law and the Prophets,
and have hope toward God. What's that? What's written in
the Law and the Prophets, Paul? It's the blood that make up the
tomb. I believe all things written
in the Prophets. Look at what she said down here
in verse 21. She believed, she said, according
unto your words, so be it. According to your words, so be
it. And she sent them away, and they departed. And what did she
do? How long did this take her, you
reckon? You reckon she tarried? Oh, he that believeth will make
haste. and won't carry. Today, she, for all she knew,
they was coming in that night, or the next night. She wasn't
going to say, well, there'll probably be a while, and I have
things to do, so I'll, at my convenience, I'll bind the stuff.
But as soon as she let them go, she went, in her window, she
bound it down good so it would not let go. She bound that scarlet
line in the window. She believed. She believed. She said, according to your words,
so be it. According to your oath, according
to your covenant, so be it. That word according, I just went
through Ephesians 1, listen to these verses. I ought to do a
sermon, a message on this, according to. Paul said in Ephesians 4,
he said it's according to according as he hath chosen us in Christ
before the foundation of the world." He said, it's all according
to his good pleasure, the good pleasure of his will. He said,
it's according to the riches of his grace. He said, it's made
known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure. He said, in Christ we have an
inheritance predestinated according to his purpose. He says, we have
received power, or we have believed the exceeding greatness of his
power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty
power. We have said, according as it is written, I believe. Christ's blood is my hope, according
to the scripture. According to the scripture. According
as it is written, So have I spoken, and so I believe." So she bound
this line in the window for Joshua's men to see. That was her main
hope, wasn't it? She wanted Joshua to see the
line. You see, it depended on Joshua seeing the line there.
When he saw the line, she'd be set. That's what God said, when
I see the blood. We don't—our faith is weak at
times, isn't it? We don't always see the blood.
We don't always see ourselves as children of God. But that's
not important. It's when God sees the blood.
That's the reason it's not dependent on our faithfulness. It's his
faithfulness. And he instructed—our Lord Christ
instructed the Holy Spirit to bind that scarlet line on that.
And you know, we do it, too. We do, too. We bind this line by faith. She bound that line
in the window for Joshua to see, but you know, I thought about
that. She did this, and it made her
to remember. This she did in remembrance of
that oath and that covenant. Every evening when she went to
bed, she looked after it. It's there. She could lay down
and sleep at night. Huh? She woke up in the morning
and thought of that oath and that covenant, and she had peace.
She knew they were coming for it. She knew the land was going
to be destroyed. When she looked at that line,
she'd get peace. It's the blood. We hear about
the blood. And the scripture, we need to
bind the cord, make it as frontless to our eyes. That's what the
preacher needs to do. Scarlet line. And though she
was not yet saved, the scarlet line was her hope. She was not
yet saved. As long as there are laws in
that window, she had hope. Right? As long as the blood makes
propitiation for sinners on the mercy seat. And Christ hadn't
come back yet, but as long as he's interceding for sinners,
as long as the blood's saved, I have hope. I have hope. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. And she did this in obedience
to the command. I just thought of this. This
just ran through my mind. You know, that could have cost
her something to tie that line out on that window. You think about that? these people in Jericho. First
of all, they thought she was a nut. Henry, they thought, what
you got that scarlet line out your window for? What's that scarlet line all
about? You got it there every day, day in, day out. You act
like it's dear to you. And it could have cost her something.
What if they start asking questions? What are you doing with a scarlet
line? What if the authorities? It could have cost her something.
But she had it out there anyway. She had it out there anyway for
all to see, but hopefully Joshua would see it. Joshua would see
it. That was her hope. Now, look
at verses 23 and verse 24. All right? She bound the scarlet
line at the window. So the two men returned, verse
23. The two men returned and descended
from the mountain and passed over and came to Joshua. the
Son of Man, and told him all things." They return, you see.
They won't return void, but they return. And they told him all
things that befell them. They told Joshua everything.
Look what they said to Joshua. They said unto Joshua, Truly
the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land. Joshua, the land is yours. You're Lord over it. It's yours
for the taking. Everything and everybody is going
to fall before you. You're going to destroy the land?
No problem. You have all power. We've seen
it. This is what the Word of God
says. We've been testifying it from the beginning, that Christ
is coming back, and he has all power and all authority over
all flesh, and he's coming in and he's going to take the land.
He's going to take what's his. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The world and the inhabitants thereof. He's
coming back to take what's rightfully His, and do with it. What's He
going to do with it? He's going to destroy it. The
Lord hath delivered it into your hands. Even all the inhabitants
of the country do faints because of us. Nobody can stand before
us, and no one stands before the Word of God, whether it's
quick, it's powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. So Joshua,
they said. The land is yours, all it is
ours, all it is ours. It's yours to destroy. But, Joshua,
there's just one thing. There's one little woman that
you must save. We've got an oath and a covenant.
We've bound ourselves to this one little woman, insignificant,
heartless. living on a wall, and she's got
a thread out her window. And we said we'd save her. Will
you save her? He said, I will. I will. We'll destroy it all, but I'll
save her. Now turn over to Joshua 6. My
brother read this and studied it. Joshua 6. And here's the story of Joshua coming
into the town of Jericho. Jericho was a exceedingly evil
place. We're going to see that as we
study it further. Jericho was a terrible place,
terrible place. And this world, you know, is
a sinful, vile, and wretched place. But God saved sinners
out of it, doesn't He? Proximus burns from the burning.
Joshua was going to burn this place. Look at it, verse 17.
He said, and the city shall be accursed. Here's Joshua's orders.
The city shall be accursed, and this world is cursed. The ground
is cursed. It's just waiting for him to
wrap it up as a vesture and put it away and burn it, even it
and all that are therein, to the Lord, or according to his
word. Now only, but she's not accursed. Rahab the harlot shall live.
She and all that are with her in the house, they're not going
to be a curse, because she hid, by faith she hid the messengers
that we sent, verse 21 through 23. So Joshua came in, and he
utterly destroyed all that was in the city, man and woman, young
and old, ox and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. Scripture
says Christ will come through and with the sword of his mouth. As he created all things by word,
he's going to destroy it with a word. Sword of his mouth, destroy
all things, read on, with a sword. And verse, old and ox, and old
and ox and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword. But Joshua
had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, So long a time went by, and Joshua
was sent to this woman, or said it to these men. They said, now, you make sure
that she's saved. And the Word of God that comes
to us in the beginning, the promises of God that promise our salvation
in the beginning, will keep us in the end. God is true to his
word. The same word that he made the
oath and the covenant concerning us is the same word that will
keep us. You see, we're kept by his power.
We were promised salvation in the beginning. It's the beginning,
John, of our confidence, isn't it? He gives us confidence, his
oath, his covenant. By two immutable things, it's
impossible for him to lie. His oath and his covenant. He
said that to us in the beginning. You trust Christ and you'll be
saved. But what about in the end? What
about when this thing's about to be destroyed? Same thing. His oath, his covenant, his blood. Support me in the whelming flood. With all the love my soul gives
way, he then is all my hope and strength. Save the harlots. He changes minds? No, he doesn't
change his mind. He's the same Joshua yesterday,
today, and forever. Save the harlots. He said it in the beginning,
and he says it in the end. But she's probably been a sinner
since that time, save the harlot. Well, why should she? Because
I said so. Because I promised. Read on. The young men, the spies,
went into the harlot's house and said, bring out the woman.
This is so good. Go into the harlot's house, bring
out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as you swear unto
her. And the young men that were spies
went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother,
and her brother, and all that she had, young kids and all,
and brought her out, all her kindred, and left them." Where
did they bring them? Without the camels. Let us go, therefore, unto him,"
the scripture says, without the camels, bearing his reproach. Oh, my. Oh, it's sweet, isn't
it? So Jesus Christ is coming back
some day. Verse 24 says, "...they burnt
the city with fire." But Joshua, verse 25, "...saved Rahab the
harlot alive." Jesus Christ is coming back someday into this
land that he first set foot in. The Word that was made flesh
will return, and not void. He will return. He'll make an
utter end of this world and all that are in it. But those that
are in the house, those that are in Christ by faith, Those
that are of God in Christ who have made unto them wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, those who are under the blood,
those who have the scarlet line wrapped about their heart, will
be saved at last. We have his word on it. We have
his word on it. Just as surely as Rahab was saved,
we shall be saved. Behold, we shall be saved even
as she. And really, this is significant
here, verse 25. Joshua saved Rahab, the harlot,
alive. She was alive. She was alive. And her father's household and
all that she had, where'd she dwell? Well, she dwelleth in
Israel, even unto this day. She's still there. You say, this
was years ago? No, she's still there. If you
look at the right-hand of our Joshua, she's still there, along
with another harlot. There's another one right beside
her named Mary. Well, this is not the end of
the story. This is the beginning. Turn over to Matthew 1. It's
the end of my message, but it's not the end of the story. This
is the beginning. See, Rahab now is in Israel,
dwelling safely. She's in Israel, dwelling safely.
She's been saved. And this is just the beginning
of a new life for her. And I see her now. I see Rahab
years later, dwelling in Israel. And of all places, she's in Bethlehem. That's where she's living. Yes,
she's living in Bethlehem. And she's married now, and she's
got a baby boy, a young boy, sitting on her knee. And she's telling that young
boy of the Lord's mercy and kindness and grace in saving her, the
pit from which she was digged. And she's telling what great
things the Lord has done for her. She's telling that young
boy the story of the scarlet light and of her salvation. And she tells him that that represents
the blood of the Messiah who is to come and lay down his life
for all of his people. And she tells him, too, you know,
son, don't be forgetful to entertain strangers. She makes sure and
tells him there are some of them. I entertain angels, I'm aware. So she tells that young boy of
the Lord's goodness and mercy and kindness and love and of
her own salvation, her story, the scarlet line. That was her
theme for the rest of her life, wasn't it? She could never think
about anything else but that. You know what the boy's name
was? Look at verse 5. It says this fellow named Salmon
begat Boaz. of Rahab. Boaz, son, let me tell you about the scarlet
line. It represents the Savior. And
you know who Boaz is, those of you who don't. Boaz married this
woman named Ruth. He entertained a stranger later
on named Ruth, a stranger to the covenant and promises. And
Ruth begat a son name Obed, and Obed began a son, and his name
was David. And you know who came from David,
don't you? The Messiah. He was numbered with the transgressors.
This is the beginning of the story. This is the beginning. Our Lord
mentioned two women, no, three women in his lineage there in
Matthew. There in Matthew 1, three women
are mentioned. And all three of them were harlots. He's numbered with the transgressors. Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba. He's numbered with the transgressors.
Ah, boy. Isn't the Word of God glorious?
Isn't it amazing? Isn't it God's Word? Without
a doubt. It's too marvelous. All right,
let's stand and I'll dismiss this in prayer.