Remembering Rahab, Part 1

Joshua chapter 2 is where we're at. Joshua chapter 2. Last week we read to you that chapter. We talked to you about it. We began looking at the character of Rah. We told you she was a Gentile. She was a foreigner. She was an Amorite. And because she was, she was destined to die. And yet, God, in a miraculous way, saved her soul. Whenever God saves a soul, it is a miracle. In Rah, Gave her life to the Lord God of Israel. We know that she gave her life to God before the spies arrived because it says so in Hebrews 11:3 and James:.

So we know that before the spies actually arrived on the scene, Rahab belie in the Lord God of Israel and was committed to following him. And so the character of Rahab was such that it was soiled and separated from God. And yet, God saved her soul, and God did a great work. And that led to point number two: the courage of Rahab.

Because of her faith in God, she had great courage. Those who have faith in God are courageous people. Those without faith in God are not very courageous. Rah put her faith into action. And James talks about that. Faith without works is dead. And she had a working kind of faith. That is, there was something reproduced in her life because of the faith she had in Almighty God. And so we were able to see the courage of Rah. And so we moved from her character to her courage. We looked at her confession.

That was important. That's down in verse 8 of chapter 2 when it says, Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, or to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the terror of you has fallen on us. Isn't it interesting that Rah knows whose land it is, but no one today knows whose land it is? She knew, and she doesn't have, didn't have nearly the information that we have in the Bible. And she goes on to say, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you, for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea.

Before you, when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who are beyond the Jordan, to Si and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And when we heard it, our hearts melted, and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you. For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above. and on earth beneath. She believed in the one true God. So we saw the character of Rahab, the courage of Rahab, the confession of Rah, and then we looked at the concern of Rahab. She had a great concern.

And that concerned was her family. What's going to happen to them? And she wanted the spies to give her some kind of assurance that they would be able to live. And we told you that verse 15 says, Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was. On the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. And Rah lived on that wall. So, what was God going to do? How was God going to spare her? And of course, archaeology has proven that all the walls in Jericho fell out, not in. To prove.

The Joshua 6 acc. You see, when people destroyed the cities, the walls were crumbled in. They were all knocked in, not out, because they were getting into the city. But all these walls fell outward. Except for the one wall where Rah lived with her family. That one little section. would remain standing as a testimony to the promise of Almighty God upon one woman who was committed to serving him. But her concern was for her family. And then we looked at the consolation from Rah, how she would tell the spies about what others had told her, about how fear had gripped her.

The Canaanites and the Amorites and the people there in the land of Canaan, and how their hearts had melted into fear because of the Lord God of Israel. And so those spies would return with that consolation from Rah and relay that message to Joshua. And then we look briefly at the commendation of Rah. And of course, that's over in Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 31, where, along with Sarah, are the only two women named in the Hall of Faith. By faith, Rah the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

And then, of course, over in James chapter 2, verse number 25, it says this: And in the same way, was not Rah the harlot also justified by works? when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. The Bible gives us a great commendation. about Rah and how she is set up as a woman of great faith. She 's in the hall of faith. She 's alongside Abraham and James chapter 2, the great patriarch of our faith, as a woman of solid faith.

And yet, we need to understand some concluding remarks about Rah. And this is where we left off last week. And I want to help you understand Rahab's life in light of your life and mine. Because it tells us about what God wants to do in our lives. This woman has a fabulous name. A name that we associate with harlotry. Rah the harlot. Why is she always called Rah the harlot? It's not because that was her profession. It is because she made the right confession. It wasn't because she was a sinner. It was because that God would save her in spite of her sin.

That's why she's always referred to as Rahab the harlot. Because God wants you to understand the magnitude of his grace. That no matter what sin you've committed, it doesn't keep you from being saved. It doesn't keep you from being used by God. She's a testimony to somebody who believes in God and will be used by God in a great and mighty way. And that's what God has for you. And you need to learn this from the story of Rah. So let me give you five points that will help you understand this story of Rah.

Point number one is this: and it all begins in the same phrase: your past. Does not, okay? It all begins with the same phrase. Your past does not. Point number one.

Proscribe God's provision for your eter life. Your past does not proscribe God's provision for your eter life. The word proscribe means To forgo or to banish or to keep you from. In other words, your past. Does not keep you from the provision of God's gift of eternal life. You need to understand that. People need to get that. There's nothing in your past that's so bad that God can't forgive it. Because our God is the God of forgiveness. And the Bible says that.

Romans 5:1, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Eternal life is granted to those who believe in the one true God of Israel, no matter what their past. Our God is a God who loves to forgive. And the Bible says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That's what our God does. And so the life of Rahab tells us that our past does not proscribe God's provision for your eternal life. Nothing keeps you from God guaranteeing you eternal life. If you believe in his name, if you believe in the Lord God of Israel, and you come to him and beg him for mercy. and rep of your sins, you are granted eternal life. Remember what Paul said? 1 Timothy 1 and verse number 5 15? This is a trustworthy statement deserving of full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.

Paul says, I am the foremost of all sinners. Now today, if you read that and some psycholog got a hold of, they'd, well, Paul didn't have a very good self-est. He didn't think very, very well of himself because he saw himself as a sinner. But you know, he had an accurate view of himself. Because if you read 1 Timothy chapter 1, it tells us very clearly in verse number 12. Paul says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor, and yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly.

Ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith, faith, and love which are found in Christ Jesus. He says, I was a blasphemer of God. I blasphemed the name of God and I persecuted the church of God. That's who I was. I was a violent aggressor. And that word violent aggressor is a word that describes a man who loves to injure people for the pleasure of it. And he loved to injure Christians. He loved to kill Christians. He persecuted the church of God. And yet he says, I found mercy.

I found grace. Folks, that's good news. And we need to understand through the life of Rah, through the life of the Apostle Paul, that no matter what your past, it does not proscribe God's provision for eternal life. Point number two, your past does not preclude God's purposes for your personal life.

Your past does not preclude God's purposes for your person Life. You know, God has a purpose for your life. When God saves you, He will mold you and make you into His image. We know, according to Romans chapter 8, verse number 29, these great and wonderful words. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image. Of his son. When God saves you, he begins to do a great work in your life. He never leaves you as you are. No one ever saved is left in the same condition they were before they were saved.

That is a the impossibility. Because when the Spirit of God resides within your body, your life is trans. And the Bible calls this a new creation. The old things have passed away. All things have become new. Because God is at work in your life to conform you to his image. God was at work in Rah's life. Here she was. She believed in the Lord God of Israel. She didn't know what was going to happen, but she knew that Israel was going to destroy them. She had heard, along with everybody in her village, there in Jericho, about what God was going to do to the enemy.

She heard all that. So she knew. But she didn't know what was going to happen to her life. And all of a sudden, one day, these two spies show up at her place of employment. And she begins to carry on this conversation with them and tell them that she believes in the Lord God of Israel. And all of a sudden, the providence of God is being worked out in her life, and she sees how God is going to protect her. And then how God will protect her family. But little did she know how God would use her in the future.

Just like you don't know. And I don know. But you know what? When you read the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1, verse number 5, in Rahab's names there, you begin to see what God was doing when he saved this Am woman. And she was used to be instrumental in the nation of Israel and their preservation and how God would begin to use her. as she then became instrumental in the line of the Messiah. Don't think for one moment that your past Will preclude God's purpose for your personal life. Don't think for one moment that whatever you've done in the past, that God, it's so bad that God's not going to use you in the future.

Folks, God is going to use you. Mark it down. Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it into the day of Christ. Philippians 1:6. God's at work. That's a good thing. We ought to be excited about that. We ought to say, you what? In spite of my past, in spite of what I've done, God is at work, and God will continue to transform my life so I can be used of Him. But you know what? For the most part, we'll never know. How God uses us in the future. That's why you need to be faithful today.

And Rah was used in a mighty way. In the future of Israel, as through her came the Messiah, folks, let me tell you something.

This is a marvelous story of the grace of Almighty God. A marvelous story. But it moves on. Your past does not proscribe God's provision for your eternal life. Your past does not preclude God's purposes for your personal life. And number three, your past does not prohibit God's protection of your physical life.

Your past does not prohibit God's protection of your ph life. She was concerned. What's going to happen? All she knew is that because she was an Amorite, she was going to be destroyed by Israel. That's all she knew. And she feared the Lord God of Israel. And even though she had committed her life to that God, she was in fear that God would protect her. Because of her belief in the Lord God of Israel. And God would protect her family as well, wouldn't he? Sure, he would. Because God is into taking care of his own.

God is into providing for his own. God is into protecting his own. You have nothing to fear. Just fear God and you'll fear nothing else or no one else. Just fear God. And her life was protected. And that doesn't mean that you're going to go through life and you're never going to die. It just means that because you're going to die when it's appointed for you to die. You're going to go home when God says it's time to go home.

But death for the believer is a good thing because death is the doorway to our ultimate destiny. And that is life with our Lord God in heaven. We'll see that in a moment. But you know we need to we need to get come to grips with what God wants to do in our lives Point number four your past your past does not preempt God's promises for real life Your past does not preempt God's promises for real life. You see, Christianity is about real living. Those who aren't Christians ex in today's day and age, but they don't know what life is all about.

They think they're living it up. They think they're having a good time. They think that that's what life is all about. But it's not We as Christians experience a true life because our Lord is the way, the truth, and the life, and His life is true life. So without God, there is no real life. And therefore, we need to understand that what God does in our lives through saving us by his grace is give us real life. Real life, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2.

9, I have not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those. Who love him? The Bible says in Ephesians 3, verse number 20, that our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think.

And we forget. We forget that the life we receive is the abundant life, right? John 10. Verse number 10, I came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. We experience the abundant life. That's the real life. It's the life of God in man. Folks, that's real life. And that's what Rah's life teaches us. Because she had, for the first time, Real life.

She had lived as a harlot. She had lived as a prostitute, trying to fulfill her own personal needs, her own physical needs, her own emotional needs by giving her body away or selling her body, but realizing. That all of it was nothing but emptiness. Emptiness. And coming to realize that the Lord God of Israel was the one true God who would fill her life with Himself. One last point. Your past does not prevent God's praise of your spiritual life. Your past does not prevent God's praise of your spiritual life.

We read it in Hebrews 11, 31. We read it in James 2, 25. But let me read to you what it says in Joshua 6, verse number 25.

However, Rahab the harlot, and her father's household, and all she had, Joshua spared. And she has lived in the midst of Israel. What's it say? To this day. To this day, not the day in which the book of Joshua was written, but to this very day. You see, her name is so prominent. She has an everlasting abode with the nation of Israel. An everlasting abode with the nation of Israel because of her faith in the living God of the universe. And she has a name written down in glory. She has a name that will be remembered forever.

And I wonder this evening if you have that kind of name. The kind of name that will never be forgotten, that will always be remembered from this day forward. All through eternity. This is important. Why is that? Because so many people in this world don't have a name that will be remembered. They live to make a name for themselves. You know, every year I buy, you know, that People magazine, the 100 most beautiful people. Keep thinking that my picture is going to show up in there sometime, but it never does.

And I don't understand it. But you know, it's America's most beautiful people. Always trying to make a name for themselves. And you'll notice that we always characterize The immoral in that magazine.

We always magnify the adulterer. We always magnify the immoral person. No one is in that magazine because of their character. I mean, God forbid. You know, they're in there because they want to make a name for themselves. And they are making a name, but their name will never last forever. Will your name carry on into eternity? Will your life be remembered because of your faith in Almighty God? Will your life be etch? In the stone above, in the book above, in heaven's books, because it's a name that's been written down in glory.

That will last forever. I want to talk to you about that. I'm not going be able to finish it this evening, so I'll finish it next week. But I'll begin with this. If you want your name written down in glory, if you want your name to last through eternity, You must remember, it's conceived in spirituality. That is, when you're born again, you real that your name will last forever. When I speak of name, I speak of your character. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7.

1, a good name is better than a good ointment. And the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth. In other words, you have between your birthday and your death day to develop. A name that will last forever. A good name is better than a good ointment, a good perfume. Why? Because a good perfume. Fades away. It doesn't last, but a good name does. The Bible says over in Psalm 112, verse number 6, the righteous will be remembered forever.

Rahab is remembered forever. Lazarus is remembered forever. The rich man is not. He's not. The citizens of Jericho are not, except Rah. Because she had a name written down in glory. She had a name that would be remembered forever. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:1, a good name is more desired than great riches.

A life of character, a life that follows God, is more desirable than great riches. Proverbs chapter 10, verse number 7 says, The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. That's Luke 16, the story we read just a few moments ago. The name of the wicked will rot, but the righteous, they'll be blessed forever. And that name is conceived in spirituality.