"You've Been Made Righteous” Series

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.