Rachab: The Prototype of Salvation
“You’ve Been Made Righteous”
TEXT - Matthew 1:1-6
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; 3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; 5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; 6 And Jesse begat David the king;
INTRODUCTION - Matthew’s gospel chapter 1 list the geneology of Jesus Christ. Among the prestigious names the Hebrew patriarchs, God also lists and emphasizes some unlikely candidates so I can see that He is not ashamed to place me in the family tree. He also uses these people religion would reject but grace embrace so I can understand that Jesus Christ has made me right.
Joshua 2:1-4
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. 2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. 3 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 be come to search out all the country. 4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were:
The Bible tells us that Rahab was a harlot. In modern day vernacular, she was a hooker. She did not come from an honorable background, but neither did many of us. Many of us are ex-hookers, ex-whoremongers, ex-liars, ex-cheaters, and ex-convicts. We are all ex-somethings. There are only two letters in the church… X’s and R’s. If you are not an EX, it’s because you a still an ARE. None of us is so good that we do not need Jesus and none of us is so bad that His grace cannot save us. Just like Rahab was saved from the fate of the inhabitants of the city of Jericho because she believed (Joshua 6:23), we are saved by grace from the fate of eternal damnation through faith in Jesus Christ. The wage sin is death and He who had no sin made Himself a sacrifice to pay the price for my eternal life. In other words, we who had no righteousness of our own have been made righteous.
Romans 5:19
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
righteous is defined as morally upright; without guilt or sin. It means in right standing with God.
The bible teaches that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous no not one. At least, not until we are made righteous by Jesus Christ. It’s called imputed righteous.
James 2:23
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
To impute is to attribute (righteousness, guilt, etc.) to a person or persons vicariously; to ascribe as derived from another; to credit to a person or a cause (to give someone credit for something they did not do).
Jesus Christ has imparted his right standing with the Father to us. This is imparted righteousness. Nothing we can do is good enough to make us righteous so nothing we have done is bad enough to prevent our righteousness. Most people have no problem with imparted and imputed righteousness until it falls upon someone we don’t think deserves it. The problem is we confuse righteousness with holiness. It’s the revelation of the difference between justification and sanctification. Justification means God sees me just as though I’ve never sinned because I believe on the Son of God who never sinned. Sanctification means staying away from sin.
Holy means consecrated, dedicated or devoted to the service of God.
Being holy requires that you give yourself wholly to the service of God. Imputed righteousness is being made right with God. Holiness is living right because I’ve been made right. Christians have been made right but many have a problem with living right because it requires that we turn our backs on a system of living that we probably thought was working for us. If it was not working for us, it was probably still the only way of life we knew. When we leave the family of Satan to become part of the family of God, we have to learn to lean on the Word and relinquish the world. Rahab is a great example of how being made righteous requires a change in lifestyle for us to live as if we are righteous. Rahab had a system that worked for her. She had a moneymaking profession.
She lived on the wall of the city so she owned prime real estate. She hid the men in stacks of flax so she had many of the finer things. She made all of her decisions without having to consult with a man that told her what to do or partook of her earnings. As a prostitute, she knew how to make the systems of the world work for her when she was in the world. She had confidence in the systems of the world. However, once she was saved, she did not open up the same business among the people of promise. Instead, she traded in depending on many men to marry and depend on one man. We, the church, have traded in our sin and shame to depend on the Man, Jesus Christ! …until we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place. This is when recidivating takes place. This is when we return to lying on our taxes and getting a new phone number under our children’s name. This is when we start to live a life that disqualifies the gospel in the eyes of people that are waiting to see is if the letter of our life reads like the Letter of the grace and truth. This is when we who have been made righteous backslide from holiness. The Bible says without holiness, no man can see God. Without a people that have been made righteous living a life that wholly dedicated to holiness, the world cannot see a reflection and representation of a God that wants to make them righteous too. The truth of the matter is, there are people who are on their way to heaven that leading people straight to hell. Jesus Christ has made me right so now my job is to live right so God will not be ashamed to have me in His family tree.
