Cornerstone Church
November 2, 2014
“Rahab – Rescued and Redeemed”
Joshua 2
“In Genesis 18:25, Abraham asked a question that puts things in perspective: ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ As humans, we recoil from the concept of judgment. We question why God would condemn the world. We wonder about those who have never heard the message of the Gospel. We can’t fully understand the presence of evil in the universe or the suffering that fills our world. Sometimes we’re uncomfortable with the Biblical concepts of God’s wrath, vengeance, and judgment.
In the end, we will come to Abraham’s conclusion in Genesis: The Judge of all the earth will do right. We’ll agree with the angels in Revelation: ‘True and Righteous are His judgments.’ God’s wisdom knows how to handle sin; and His purity demands its condemnation. His grace is extended to us fully and freely, and His cross frees us from condemnation.
Without the judgment of God, sin and suffering would be unhindered, unfettered, and unending. God’s judgment is certain, but it’s wise in its application and crucial for our happiness. We can praise Him for His judgments, for the Judge of all the world will do right.”
Today’s Turning Point: “The Judge of All the Earth” by Dr. David Jeremiah, October 28, 2014
The Judge of all the world will do right!
As Christians we hold to this truth that comes from our belief and knowledge of the absolute sovereignty of God and what we know about His attributes.
We know He is Holy, Righteous and Just as well as merciful, righteous, good, kind and gracious.
It is because He is omnipotent (all-powerful) and in complete control that we know He will do what is right.
On a daily basis we see so much hatred, violence, sin and injustice that we wonder how much more can be stuffed into the cup that is overflowing before God’s wrath or judgment falls?
* We long for justice. This is good!
* We may even call out or cry out for judgment. How long Lord can this continue?
* What I have observed over the years is that we want judgment to come, well for everyone else but ourselves!
* We want grace!
* We want mercy!
* For everyone else – judgment and justice!
JUDGMENT IS COMING!
We, however, need to be very careful to not miss what God is doing in the world!
Nor do we want to shirk or shrink back from fulfilling what He has commanded us to do before He returns which is proclaiming the Gospel and “making disciples” before He returns.
Judgment is coming but see God’s heart!
2Pet. 3:9 NIV The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
1Tim. 2:3-4 NIV This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Outline:
I. An Unlikely Background
II. An Unexpected Act of Kindness – Joshua 2:1-7
III. An Amazing Expression of Faith – Joshua 2:8-14
IV. An Enduring Legacy – Matthew 1:5-6; Hebrews 11:31; James 5:26
Outline taken and expanded from: “Twelve Extraordinary Women” by John MacArthur, Jr.
I. AN UNLIKELY BACKGROUND
THE BACKDROP
God is about to fulfill His promise to Abraham to lead him into land that He would show him and make him (his descendants) into a great nation (Genesis 12:1-3).
The Fulfillment to this promise is nearly 700 years in the making. This promise was believed and passed on to:
* Isaac
* Jacob (Israel) 12 sons – 12 Tribes)
* Joseph
Joseph believed the Promise so strongly that he wanted his body exhumed when they would one day leave Egypt.
Gen. 50:24-25 NIV Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”
The Children of Israel spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt.
After Moses was raised up by God to deliver the Children of Israel from Egypt and they departed, they were led into the Wilderness to wander for 40 years because of unbelief.
Now they are ready to enter the Promised Land! There is just one problem!
People already inhabited the Promised Land that God was giving to His people:
* Canaanites
* Hittites
* Hivites
* Perizzites
* Girgashites
* Amorites
* Jebusites
God was fulfilling His promise and bringing judgment.
God was foreclosing on the land’s inhabitants because of their wickedness and the detestable acts of sin they practiced.
* Practiced divination and sorcery
* Sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire (child sacrifice) – today Abortion
* Practiced witchcraft – cast spells
* Interpreted omens
* Mediums and spiritists that consulted the dead (right at end of King Ave/Live Oak)
* Every form of sexual perversion
Judgment is coming!
BTW: every one of these detestable acts that God judged Amorites, Canaanites, Moabites and others for is active and present in America!
* The Red, White and Blue isn’t going to save us!
* Repentance and following God is what is needed!
Important Point:
‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’
Observe the Grace and Mercy or God
Gen. 15:12-16 NIV As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
God allowed His own people to be held in Egypt for 400 years (enslaved and mistreated) until the cup of the Amorites reached its full measure.
They not only waited but also suffered while waiting!
As God was going to bring about His judgment He warned the children of Israel to keep their attitudes in check:
Deut. 9:4-5 NIV After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
RAHAB – HER CONDITION
Let’s observe the situation from another perspective (the other side of the fence).
In the Amorite city of Jericho was a woman whose life was demolished by sin!
Jericho was a walled city (literally a fortress) that needed to be taken.
MEET RAHAB – THE HARLOT
A life defeated and destroyed by sin
She was a prostitute, a harlot, a hooker, a call girl, an escort… you fill in the blank.
Besides how she earned her living (the oldest profession in the world) I can only imagine how weighted down by guilt she was.
* Helped destroy marriages
* Ruined homes and families
* Inflamed sexual addictions and fantasies
Why? All for the money!
A life doomed – judgment is coming (deck is stacked against her)
* She is part of a godless culture that God is bringing judgment against!
* She is a woman
* She is an Amorite (a gentile)
A life that was dead spiritually before God transformed her heart!
* Her culture only taught her about false gods and idols!
* She didn’t have praying parents, grandparents, friends or neighbors who told her of the ONE TRUE GOD!
She was literally without hope, without help, without Christ!
How many individuals like Rahab do we meet or pass by daily?
* Judgment is coming!
* They live in a pagan culture and are facing a Christless Eternity without God!
Watch what God can do?
“But God, being rich in mercy, because
of the great love with which he loved us…”
Eph. 2:4 ESV
II. AN UNEXPECTED ACT OF KINDNESS
Joshua 2:1-7
Josh. 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.
Two spies were sent to do some recon on Jericho (unlike the 12 Moses sent).
I personally believe this is a Divine Appointment (Joshua God’s power).
These men are directed by God to Rahab’s house:
* For their protection
* For her rescue
The spies go to her house to “blend in” and not for sin!
The spies need to practice their stealth tactics! They tripped an alarm somewhere!
Josh. 2:2-3 NIV The king of Jericho was told, “Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 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.”
The King of Jericho gets involved!
* The King sends a direct order to Rahab!
* Rahab goes against the King, Country and her own people
But the woman (Rahab) 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. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
Josh. 2:4-7 NIV
They went “thataway!”
Her act of kindness is amazing!
* She deceives the King’s men and redirects them in another direction
* She lied (but this is what she had learned as a pagan)
* As a person who likes making money; she doesn’t turn them in for a reward!
* She didn’t call crime stoppers or the neighborhood watch!
* She risked her life (this was treason).
The two spies owe their lives to her quick-thinking actions!
* Why would she do this?
* Is she simply trying to save her own life from the coming judgment?
* Is this an emotional decision because Armageddon is coming?
III. AN AMAZING EXPRESSION OF FAITH
Joshua 2:8-21
WHAT SHE BELIEVED: JOSHUA 2:8-11
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
What amazing faith!
WHAT SHE HEARD:
* I know God gave you this land
* I heard how He dried up the Red Sea (which some still do not believe today)
* I heard what you did to the two Amorite Kings (Sihon and Og)
WHAT SHE BELIEVED:
“for the LORD your God is God in heaven above
and on the earth below.”
Your God is GOD!
God of Heaven!
God of Earth!
LORD of ALL!
I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
Is. 45:5b
THE COVENANT MADE: JOSHUA 2:12-21
BINDING OATH:
Josh 2:12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.”
She wants to see her whole household saved!
This is hesed – God’s covenant keeping love, kindness (everlasting love)
Josh. 2:14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land.”
Josh. 2:15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 Now she had said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”
SCARLET CORD:
Josh. 2:17 The men said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”
Josh. 2:21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.” So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
This reflects the Passover instructions to mark your doorposts with Blood!
Some would say that the Scarlet Cord identified her past for all to see.
She and her family waited inside for seven days hoping and believing in the covenant that was made as the Children of Israel marched around the city until on the seventh day when they circled the city seven times and blew the horns on the seventh circle and shouted and the walls came a tumbling down!
IV. AN ENDURING LEGACY
Matthew 1:5-6; Hebrews 11:31; James 5:26
The Covenant was kept!
Josh. 6:25 NIV But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.
THE STORY GETS EVEN BETTER!
Rahab not only was rescued and redeemed.
* Her life was transformed!
* Who Rahab the Harlot was in her fallen, sinful, and desperate state did not define who she could be in God’s plan of redemption.
The woman with the Scarlet Letter from the Red Light district was made a new creation!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Cor. 5:17 NIV
Let’s see if this is true!
NEW RELATIVES
She got married!
Matthew 1:5-6a NIV Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon…”
By tracing Jesus’ lineage in Matthew (Joseph’s Line – legal right) and Luke (Mary’s line – biological right) we establish Jesus’ right to be King of the Jews! Rahab is part of our Savior the LORD Jesus Christ – God the SON becoming God incarnate in human flesh!
In the early days of Moses and the Tabernacle 12 Princes of Israel were set up for special offerings (one from each Tribe).
The first one to bring an offering was Nahshon.
Num. 7:12 NIV The one who brought his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah.
Nahshon the Great Prince of Judah was the father of Salmon.
* Ruth 4:20-21
* 1 Chron 2:11
* Some believe that Salmon by looking at the genealogies is the same person as Salma the ruler of Bethlehem.
1Chr. 2:51 NIV Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth Gader.
Rahab married a Prince of Judah!
The prostitute was now a princess!
NEW REPUTATION
Heb. 11:31 NIV By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
James 2:25 NIV In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
The Bible keeps her title from the past as a reference point so that all might see the glorious transformation in her life by God!
God delights in taking broken people and ruined lives to display His Glory!
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
Judgment is coming on the world!
God has already condemned the world. That is not our job!
The lost are not our enemies (satan is)!
* Yes we disagree with their lifestyles.
* Yes they do acts of evil!
* Yes sin makes a mess
* But they are prisons of war! They are held captive and in bondage by satan who as the god of this world has blinded their hearts and minds.
* They need to be rescued!
The power of God’s Word, The Holy Spirit’s working in their hearts and the Gospel message unshackles lives! It sets people free.
What would have happened to you if Christ returned in judgment before you became a follower of Christ?
We would be toast! Eternally punished and tormented!
Let’s not forget that many in our world are still looking for answers:
* They are watching
* They are listening
* They are allowing God the Holy Spirit to soften their hearts
How many more Rahabs or Ricks, or fill in your name,
does God want to rescue?
Perhaps you feel like your life is already ruined, you have made too big of a mess.
DO NOT BELIEVE THAT LIE!
I will serve Thee because I love Thee
You have given life to me.
I was nothing before You found me,
You have given life to me.
Heartaches, broken pieces,
Ruined lives are why You died on Calvary.
Your touch was what I longed for,
You have given life to me.
“I Will Serve Thee” by William J. and Gloria Gaither
God loves to show off His handiwork!
Let him transform your life!
* Rahab was rescued!
* Her family was rescued!
* Generations into the future were rescued.
* Jesus was born (God the SON in human flesh!)
* If you know Him as your Savior you have been rescued because of Jesus.
* Since you have been rescued, individuals you know (family, friends, neighbors) might also be rescued.
Judgment is Coming!
The Judge of all the world will do right!
Right now He has provided a way of escape for all who believe!
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 NIV
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NIV
Rahab was Rescued and Redeemed!
How about you?
