Faith Lessons from Rahab
Griffith Baptist Church – 2/8/09
A.M. Service
Text: Hebrews 11:31 (Joshua 2:1-20)
Key verse: Hebrews 11:31 - By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Premise: God uses the most unlikely heroes to teach us faith, but are we learning?
The Introduction
A woman was trying to raise her daughter as a Christian. However, she was getting very little support from her husband who thought Christianity was ridiculous. In fact, he often tried to undermine her efforts. One Sunday, the mother and her daughter were coming home from worship and the daughter was excited about learning about creation. Her mother went over the story with her and added some details that weren’t covered in junior church. God created Adam. Then God created Eve. And it was pretty exciting to think that God had done all this and that both of them were created by God in God’s image. The daughter got home and with grand excitement told her father all that she learned. When she was finished, he said, “Honey, I know you are very excited about this but I need to tell that what the church is teaching is just a story. There may be some lessons to be learned about being a good person. But it is a story that is just not supported by science.” So he told her about evolution and how humans were descendents from apes. The little girls took it all in with a somber face and said that she understood. “I know that you are disappointed but it is better for you to learn the facts then to grow up believing a story is true.” The little girl went to her mother and told her everything that her dad had told and said, “How could they both be true? Daddy says these are the facts.” The mother replied, “Oh those are the facts all right. He was telling you about his side of the family.”
We learn a lot of things in our lifetime
Many lessons are taught to us.
We get the greatest lessons the Word of God and putting that Word into practice.
Sometimes, God uses unlikely instruments to teach us what we need to know.
Such is the case with Rahab.
In fact, the only other woman mentioned by name in Heb. 11 is Sarah
Sarah was pure
Rahab was a prostitute
Both are in the line of Christ
For the rest of our teaching, we need to turn to Joshua 2:1-20
There are three great truths that Rahab teaches us about faith from her life and the life of the spies.
Body
1. God Uses Unappealing People to Support Our Faith
A. We should never get like Frederick the Great who said - The more I get to know people, the more I love my dog.
B. God used a common prostitute, Rahab, to hide the spies - 1
i. God could have used anyone with a better reputation
ii. Rahab feared what God had done through the Israelites (10-11)
iii. Rahab was in the lineage of David and ultimately Christ, signifying that Christ can forgive and use even the vilest of sinners.
iv. The spies most likely did not know where they would stay
a. This woman’s house would be the least likely to attract attention to spies
b. The word gets back to the king who sends for her and inquires
c. She hides them and lies about their departure
d. God saving her did not justify the lie but God saved her for one reason only: her saving the spies – James 2:25 - Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
C. God uses people we would never expect to be used
i. He may use your enemy
ii. He may use a stranger – Hebrews 13:2 - Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
iii. He may use the weak and unwise – If God uses the weak and unwise in salvation, there is not reason to believe that He doesn’t use them after our salvation - 1 Corinthians 1:26-28 - 26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
iv. He may use a child – The disciples never expected Jesus to use a child as a teaching tool - Matthew 18:2-3 - 2And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
D. When we have faith in God, He will many times use people who may not be appealing to us, but who need to see God’s faith work in and through us
i. God may use our faith to reach them for Christ
ii. God may use people to get our attention
2. God Uses Unusual Circumstances to Stretch Our Faith
A. Several churches in North Dakota were being served by a clever old preacher. The people were always amazed, for no matter what the circumstances, the preacher could always find something to give thanks for. As he made his rounds one cold December morning, he was late in getting to worship because of excessive snow drifts. As he began the service with prayer, the parishioners were eager to see what the old preacher could come up with to be thankful for on this dismal and frigid morning. "Gracious Lord," his prayer began, "we thank you that all days are not like today.”
B. For Rahab, it was the spies. For the spies, it was the location
i. They were in enemy territory and in an awkward place
ii. They were in the house of a prostitute – Deuteronomy 23:17 – There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. and Leviticus 21:9 - And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
iii. Add to that, the spies were in danger at all times (2-7)
C. Our faith is stretched and exercised in ways we cannot predict would happen
i. God may use situations that we get ourselves into
ii. God may use conditions that are uncomfortable for us
iii. Isaiah 55:8-9 - 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
D. When we have faith in God, He will allow circumstances that we cannot control so we have no choice but to trust Him.
3. God Uses Unpredictable Methods to Sustain Our Faith
A. God used Rahab to rescue the spies
i. She hid them (3, 6)
a. They probably thought they would be caught
b. They trusted an ungodly, heathen harlot to protect them
c. It could be nothing else than faith in God
ii. She helped them escape (15)
a. She let them down through a window on the wall
b. There was no other way out without being detected
iii. She gave them a plan of protection (16)
a. Head for the hills
b. Hide for three days
c. Hoof it back home
B. Our faith is upheld by God’s unforeseen ability to use the element of surprise
i. We often don’t see what is coming that will increase our faith – 1 Corinthians 2:9 - But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
ii. Since Satan does not know the future, he cannot predict God’s choice for us that will benefit us the most.
iii. If God worked predictably, our faith would not grow.
C. When we have faith in God, He will often take us in a direction we didn’t expect so we are forced to stay close to Him as our Guide and trust His path
Conclusion:
What has God been teaching you lately?
How has he been trying to get your attention?
Has God sent people into your life that you may have shunned when He wanted to speak to you?
Has your faith been stretched lately through circumstances you knew were unusual?
Has God asked you to go in a direction but yet you have been unwilling to follow?
