“Rahab’s Rehab”
Joshua 2
Let’s begin this morning with the definition of the word past….. Here it is: “having existed in a time before the present. Used in an earlier time. Done. Gone by. Elapsed in time.” Many people struggle all of their lives to overcome their past. Perhaps you’re one of them. Some live with the continuing thought, “if only... I had done this or had not done that... Life would be different.” This passage today is about a woman named Rahab; a woman who had made some bad choices in her life. All of us have. But God looks at this in a different way than man. The choices of the past are not nearly as important as the choices that you make today.
Chapter 2 begins with these words from Joshua: Joshua sent out two men to spy secretly saying, “go view the land especially Jericho.” Remember I said last week that 12 spies had already gone out to look at the land-only two, Joshua and Caleb came back saying that they should proceed into the Promised Land. The other 10 said it was too dangerous.
Now Joshua sends two men out to look again but if a group that already gone out and spied out the land and Joshua was actually in that group then why did they need to go again? The answer is really simple. God was working in the life of a woman named Rahab, leading her to faith, drawing her to himself; so these two men were sent as a part of God’s plan to save Rahab. Verse one says they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and they stayed there. Now of all places for them to stop first this one seems unlikely. But that brings me to the first big truth I want us to see today.
{1} The Promised Land is for everyone, regardless of your past sin. Now you and I do things different-we hide the things we have done that we don’t want people to know about. If we’re applying for a job we tweak our resume and send it in. It contains our background education, places we have worked in all of our amazing accomplishments. (I knew a pastor in a large church in KS who had never been to seminary but claimed he had) We may leave out a few things like
• Those two places we worked that didn’t give us such a glowing reference.
• We don’t list that one boss who fired us or the one that had nothing good to say about us. In other words we don’t share all of our mess ups.
Look at the people God chose to use... Look at their resume.
• Jonah... He ran to get away from God.
• The disciples... Could even stay awake to pray with Jesus.
• Martha was a worrier.
• Moses stuttered.
• The Samaritan woman was divorced at least four times.
• Jacob was a liar.
The Promised Land is for everyone regardless of your past and the reason is God uses real people. Paul said “all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. He says there is none righteous, not even one!” I’m in that group; you’re in that group and the first qualification to be used by God is that we recognize we are in that group. We are not perfect; we have not arrived-but we are moving forward. Don’t you want to be on that list of people in that group? You see God has a way of taking anything, any person and using them for his glory... If they are willing. The apostle Peter put it this way “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but rather accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” Acts 10:34-35. The Promised Land is for everyone regardless of your past.
{2} Moving to the Promised Land requires sacrifice. This may make you ask, how does it require any sacrifice to move out of the wilderness, the desert, from nothing to the Promised Land? But it does. For Rahab, her very life was actually at risk.
Look at what she did. She spoke to the men who had now shown up at her house….. She protected the spies.
Look at verses 4-5.
Rahab not only hid the spies, she intentionally directed these men in the wrong direction. She lied to protect them. If she had been caught protecting these men her life would’ve no doubt been snuffed out. But Rahab was willing to risk her life for her newly found faith. Verse 11.
We are saved by grace, not by works. Ephesians 2:8-9. But listen, that does not mean that we should not do these good works. In fact our good works don’t earn us salvation but they do prove we have salvation. Your life will either demonstrate that your profession of faith is real or it will demonstrate that it is fake. Do you have faith or do you have saving faith? There is a difference. If we have saving faith, then there will be a transformation that takes place. We will be changed. It is an extreme makeover.
So while the search party of the King is on their way to the Jordan River to look for the spies, Rahab went up to the roof of her house to speak with them. She says in verse 12... She is entirely honest with what she wanted from the spies-she wanted her family to be protected and spared.... From death.
Vvs. 14-21. Look at the agreement they had. The spies offered their very lives as a guarantee. They said if you don’t betray us, we will keep pour promise also and all of your family will be kept safe. Now her house was built into the wall so she let them down through a window by a red rope. She told them where to go to escape…into the hill country…Them spies agreed with her plan but with one alteration…they said we need you to do one more thing…..when we come into the land you must ;eave the scarlet rope hanging from the window where you let us down. And all your family members must be inside the house. And if anyone lays a hand on them while they are in the house, we will take responsibility and kill them. So she sent them on their way leaving the rope hanging in the window.
{3} Moving to the Promised Land requires real faith.
Vvs. 22-25. The spies went up to the hill country and stayed there for 3 days. This was a very dangerous move on their part. They were being chased but God took care of them and they were not hurt. There are manty times when God calls on us to demonstrate our faith, not just talk about it. Rahab’s family probably questioned her as to why they had to stay at her house. We don’t know how long the wait was. They were no doubt anxious. Their lives were in jeopardy. Look at verse 25. Rahab and all of her family were saved just as they had been promised. She was saved from death and she was now included in the community of God’s people.
{4} We see here that Rahab’s faith, in the end was rewarded. Look at 6:25. They were all saved, as promised. She and her family were saved. And the Bible says that “she lives among the Israelites to this day.” Even beyond that she married and had children. And here is a huge thing that took place….if you trace the lineage of Jesus, Rahab is listed as a direct ancestor of the Lord. Can you imagine? Amazing.
Christina lived in a small dusty village in Brazil. Her heart was empty and she felt like society had cheated her of any kind of joy or happiness in life. She had heard about Rio and wanted to move there. One morning her mother, Maria awoke to find Christina’s bed empty. Maria knew immediately where her daughter had gone. She also knew immediately what she must do to find her. She quickly threw some clothes in a bag, gathered up all her money, and ran out of the house. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janeiro.
Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. And when pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture—--taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note.
It wasn’t too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.
It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become; it doesn’t matter. Please come home.” And she did.
The same message is issued to all of us here today. Perhaps your past is not as difficult as hers….maybe you think your sin is somehow different. In God’s eyes it is the same. Sin is sin and forgiveness is forgiveness and he offers it to all who will receive it. Will you receive it today?
