Faith That Saves. Joshua 2 Series

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Joshua 2:1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

Moses had died. The children of Israel had spent 40 years in the wilderness after their exodus out of Egypt. It was now time for them to enter the new and promised land under the leadership of Joshua. Joshua sent two spies to the city of Jericho which was the border town on the very banks of the Jordan River.

These spies were to assess whether or not Jericho was a formidable city and whether it could be taken and how. Joshua sent them secretly, that is not even to the knowledge of the Israelites, let alone the Canaanites. He didn’t want his people to know either lest it would start some furor among them and some debate about whether this was the proper tactic. And so these men would have to swim the Jordan probably at night, approach the strongly fortified city of Jericho, early morning get inside the gate when it opens and find a place to lodge to assess the situation.

They found a place, a harlot’s house. We can assume they didn’t know they were in a house of prostitution. God wanted them there because there was a woman there who was a ready heart to receive the truth. And so they were led to this house not only because it was apparently an available place, not only because there was a ready heart there, but because the house was located with its backside on the city wall and there was a way of escape should they be found out.

Illustration: On July 15, 2015; a group called ‘The Impact Team’ hacked Ashley Madison website. This website also called as adultery facilitation site which was designed for married people who want to cheat on their spouses. The website’s motto is “Life is short, have an affair.”

But after it was hacked, there was a public posting on-line of about 37 million users with their names, home addresses, financial data and message history that has caused tremendous uproar.

Avid Life Media, the Toronto – based company that runs this extramarital website Ashley Madison offered a $500,000 reward for the information leading to the arrest of those who hacked the website. Also, several multi-million dollar lawsuits have been filed against Avid Life Media for inadequate security in protecting its customer’s data. But this hacking led to numerous extortion attempts, several unconfirmed suicides, lots of divorces, and marital problems.

Why is there such an alarm for those whose names were in the Ashley Madison website? Because of the devastating shame, the guilt and embarrassment of their sins being made in public. There is a damaging ripple effect with the exposure of infidelity. Their past had haunted them and severely affected their integrity and their future.

There is a good news. Any sin can be very devastating but there is a God who can forgive, give life, and restore. That is what we are going to talk about today.

Joshua 2:2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” They weren’t very good at spying, they hadn’t done any of it in their lifetime. This was their first shot and they were seen.

Joshua 2:3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.” He was obviously frightened by the thought of invasion. He was very much aware that on the other side of the Jordan River was camped a massive multitude of people, the children of Israel, who were known to all of the inhabitants of the country for their wanderings and for many of the inhabitants of Jericho the history of how they escaped Egypt was somewhat common knowledge. And so here is a man who is trying to maintain his power in this city and he sees himself facing a massive multitude of people.

Joshua 2:4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from… She hid them before the messengers of the king arrived and when the messengers of the king came, she said…I don’t know from where they were:

Joshua 2:5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them. This is a common behavior among heathen, it’s known as lying. She was probably unconscious about the guilt of a lie because it was so much a way of life. But even more so because the laws of eastern hospitality perhaps even surpassed the laws of honesty. When someone came into your house even if it was your greatest enemy, you were bound to save their life whatever that meant. Honoring your guest was the highest moral law.