Rahab’s Faith

Introduction

I invite you to please get out your New Testament this morning and make your way to the book of James with me this morning, please. Please go in your Bible to James chapter 2. James chapter 2 is where we’re going to be reading some scriptures in just a moment. As you turn there, I want to say good morning to you. It’s so good to see you this morning. It is indeed a blessing to be together, and it’s especially a blessing to be back home at least for a few days before I have to leave again for another meeting on the West Coast. But I was in Chicago last week with some of the good brethren on the west side of Chicago for a meeting. And I’m home for a few days, just enough time to do some laundry.

And then I’ll have to leave on Tuesday for a meeting that starts Wednesday through Sunday. So keep that in your prayers. But I am glad to be back with my favorite people, the people at the South Bunby Church. And it is a blessing to be able to worship together and to study and grow together. I’m so happy that we can share this time in the Word. And I’m in James chapter 2. In James chapter 2, and in verse number 25. In verse 25, the text says, in the same way. Was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Do you see the name of the person mentioned there? Let me ask you something. When is the last time you’ve done some serious Bible study on the person mentioned there in that verse? When’s the last time you’ve done some serious Bible study on Rahab the harlot? When’s the last time you studied about Rahab the harlot with a group of Christians? When’s the last time you studied about her with your spouse or with your kids? When’s the last time you were at home in your living room, sitting in your lazy boy, and you said, Well, you know what I want to do tonight? I want to get up my Bible and study what the Bible says about Rahab the harlot. When’s the last time you studied about Rahab the harlot?

I asked you that question because out of all the people that we can read about in the Bible, this person, Rahab the harlot, may be the person who makes us feel the most uncomfortable. She may be the person who causes us to wiggle and squirm the most. She may be the most controversial figure in all of the Bible because she was. Well, because she was a harlot. Because she was a prostitute. Because she was someone who engaged in sexual activity with men for money. Rahab the harlot lived an immoral life. There’s no doubt about that. And yet, notice how she’s still a big part of the New Testament. She’s still a big part of the gospel, in addition to being one of only four women who are mentioned by Matthew in Matthew chapter one as being in the genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is also described as a great woman of faith.

Rahab is also described as someone who rose above her immoral lifestyle, and she became a mighty servant of God. That is what James is telling us here about her. And James chapter 2, and that’s also what the Hebrew writer tells us about her. And one of the most famous chapters in all the New Testament, and that is Hebrews chapter 11. And Hebrews chapter 11, a chapter many of us are very familiar with. Rahab the harlot is mentioned alongside people like Abraham and people like Noah and Sarah and Moses and David and Jacob and Joseph. Rahab the harlot is mentioned alongside some of the most faithful servants of God that we can read about in all the Bible. And the question is, how? How? How in the world is that possible?

How in the world did that happen? How in the world does a harlot or a prostitute become a believer in God and develop a faith that is commended by the Holy Spirit over and over again. Well, if you don’t mind this morning, I want to encourage.

1. Her Faith Wasn’t Blind; It Was Based on Evidence

Instead, it was a faith based on evidence. It was a faith based on verifiable facts. And I know this because of what the Bible says in Joshua chapter 2. Go into your Bible, please, to Joshua chapter 2. The vast majority of our study will come from Joshua chapter 2. There are a lot of verses I want to read to you from Joshua 2. So you might just want to put your Bible marker there. But in Joshua chapter 2, we are first introduced to Rahab. And it’s important for us to understand that in the context of this chapter, the children of Israel have completed their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Moses, the great leader and shepherd of God’s people, he has died. And Joshua has taken on the mantle.

He’s taken on the responsibility of leading the people into the promised land. He has taken on the responsibility of leading them across the Jordan River and driving out the Canaanites and finally taking possession of this land that flows with milk and honey. In fact, the first group of Canaanites that they’re going to drive out were just across the river and the mighty fortified city of Jericho. Jericho is the first city that God’s people are going to conquer, but before just going in there and starting to fight, Joshua decides to first do something that Moses did 40 years earlier. He decides to first send some spies into the land. He sends some spies into the city of Jericho. In fact, when the two spies got within the walls of the city, through the providence of God, I believe, they were able to enter the house of Rahab.

God knew who Rahab was before those spies even went into the city. She was the first person they came into contact with. And when the king of Jericho found out that they were in her home, well, he sent some soldiers over there, and those soldiers demanded that they be brought out. The king of Jericho knew who these spies were. And he knew why they were there. And instead of just handing these Hebrew spies over to these soldiers, Rahab does something that we need to just be honest about this morning. She lies.

She tells a bunch of whoppers on this occasion. She does not tell the truth. After hiding these spies on her roof under stalks of flax. The scripture says that she told the soldiers that the spies are gone. She says they’re not here. She says they went that way, and if you hurry up, you might be able to catch them. She does not tell the truth in this situation. She is lying, she lies, she is deceptive, she is dishonest. And listen to me very carefully.

On this occasion, instead, what the Bible commends is her faith. It commends her faith and not her line, and that’s important. Because what that really shows us when we don’t water this down and try to make excuses for her, is it shows us that Rahab is just like every other person of faith that we can read about in the Bible. She’s just like every other person of faith that we can read about in Hebrews chapter 11, like all of those other ordinary and imperfect people that we can read about in Hebrews chapter 11. Rahab was also ordinary and imperfect. Rahab was also a sinner, just like we are sinners. She also was a fallible human being who needed a savior just like us. She lies on this occasion.

But this does bring about an interesting question, and that is why. Why? Why does she protect these guys? Why does she risk her life to hide a bunch of Hebrew spies? Well, the answer to that is found right here in Joshua 2. Are you there in Joshua 2? Look at verse 8, please. Verse number 8. After Rahab sends the soldiers in the opposite direction of the spies, she eventually goes up on her roof where they’re hiding. And verse 8 says, Now before they lay down, she came up on the roof, came up to them on the roof, and said to the men, I know, look at this. I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.

Now look at verse 10. For we have heard, for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, there it is again. Our hearts melted away, and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord. Says I have dealt kindly with you, that you will also deal kindly with my father’s household and give me a pledge and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters with all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death.

Those are critical verses. They’re critical verses. They’re critical because they tell us exactly why she hid those spies. Notice how the reason why Rahab hid those spies wasn’t because they offered her a bunch of money. They didn’t offer her a bunch of money. It wasn’t because they offered her a bunch of silver and a bunch of gold. Instead, the reason why she hid them was because she said she believed in God. She said she believed in their God. She says she believed in Jehovah, the God that the Israelites worshiped and served. She believed in the one true God because she says she had heard about him. She had heard about his love. She had heard about his grace. She had heard about his power and all the amazing things that he had done for his people.

She had heard about how he had delivered them from Egyptian bondage. And about how he had miraculously brought them across the Red Sea, and how he had defeated the kings of the Amorites for them, Sihon and Og. She had heard all of these amazing things about God, and that caused her to fear God. That caused her heart to melt with fear. That caused her to know with certainty that the God of the Israelites was in fact the one true and living God, and the gods her people worshiping and serving, they were phony. They were frauds. They were in fact no gods at all. That’s what Rahab says there in those verses. And brothers and sisters, that’s powerful. That’s powerful because that shows us that by bringing, by bringing judgment on all of these wicked people in Canaan, not only was God bringing about great victories for his people, and not only was he fulfilling his promises to the patriarchs, but he also was doing things that caused wicked people in Canaan to turn away from their sins.

He also was doing things that cause honest hearted people to repent. He also was providing evidence to the nations in Canaan that he was in fact the one true God. In fact, that’s exactly what happened in the case of Rahab. In the case of Rahab, she came to believe in God. Not because she was raised to believe in God. She wasn’t raised to believe in God. And not because her friends were serving God, no, her friends were not serving God. And not because she was trying to fit in with her culture and society, her culture and society wasn’t even thinking about God. No, Rahab came to believe in the one true God because of the evidence. Because she was sold on the evidence. She had heard and examined the testimony given by people who had experienced and witnessed the power of God, and she was convicted by that evidence.

She didn’t have a blind faith. She didn’t have a blind faith. She didn’t have a faith where she believed in God because she just wanted it to be true. Or she just hoped it was true, or because she just wanted it to feel like it was true. No, Rahab came to believe in God based on evidence, and that’s exactly why God wants us to believe in him today. Just like in the case of Rahab, God also wants us to have faith that is based on evidence. And I’ll give you some Bible to back this up. Look at Luke chapter 1, please. I’m going to show you several passages from the New Testament. Luke chapter 1. Look at how Luke begins his wonderful gospel here in Luke chapter 1.

In Luke chapter 1 is Luke begins writing to this man named Theophilus. He says to him in Luke chapter 1 and verse number 1, inasmuch, verse 1, as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses, notice, and servants of the word. It seemed fitting for me as well, having invested everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out to you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know, so you have confidence, the exact truth about the things you’ve been taught. Notice what Luke says to Theophilus. He says, When it comes to these things you’ve been taught. When it comes to these things, I’m writing to you.

I want you to know I investigated these things carefully. I spoke to eyewitnesses. I wrote these things down in consecutive orders. This stuff is here, so you can have evidence to know that what you believe is true. That’s what Luke says there in those opening verses. And Paul offered a similar thought in Romans, the 10th chapter. In Romans, if you go over to the book of Romans, I’m sorry, chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 and verse 4. Romans chapter 1 and verse 4, Paul talks about the resurrection. And he talked about the resurrection of Jesus and what that’s all about. And he says in Romans chapter 1 and verse 4, who was declared, talking about Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of Holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Notice how through the resurrection, through the fact that Jesus died and was buried and raised and seen all over the place, he was declared to be something. The Son of God, but not just the Son of God, the Son of God with power. Power to do what? Power to do everything he says he can do. Power to heal, power to save, power to deliver us, power to be our mediator, power to be our high priest. Paul says the evidence from the resurrection verifies Jesus. It verifies that he’s everything he claimed to be. Now you put that with one more place, please. Look at John chapter 20. Remember in John 20, towards the end of the chapter, we read about when Thomas was able to finally see Jesus.

Remember when Jesus appeared after being raised, Thomas wasn’t there on the first meeting. And he wouldn’t believe the other apostles. And I don’t blame him. He says, I’m not going to believe unless I see evidence. I’m not going to just take your word for it. And Jesus never criticized him for that. Never does. Instead, Jesus gives the evidence. He says, Look at me. Touch me. Touch where the nails were, touch where the spear was driven. He goes on to say, Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet they still believe. And then look at verse 30 of John 20. John 20 and verse 30. Therefore, many of the signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book, but these have been written.

Why? So that you may believe, so that you may have evidence to believe that Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Do you see the point of all of that? You see the point? Notice how, like Rahab, God doesn’t want us to have a blind faith. God doesn’t want us to have a faith that is unreasonable and can’t be backed up with verifiable facts. Instead, God wants us to develop a faith that comes from carefully examining the evidence. God wants us to carefully examine the evidence provided by eyewitnesses of Jesus and his resurrection. And then ask ourselves some reasonable questions. Questions like, why would they lie about this stuff? Why would they make these things up?

2. Not a Belief Only Faith, but an Active Faith

Why would they present a false narrative about Jesus, especially when all they received for preaching that was persecution and death in their time? Does that make any kind of sense? Does it make any kind of sense for them to knowingly lie about Jesus being raised when they received no riches, no fame in their time, only persecution. You see, like Rahab, God also wants us to carefully examine the evidence provided by people who have witnessed and experienced the power of his son and then come to believe in him from an honest heart. That’s what we learn about Rahab. Rahab’s faith should be commended because it wasn’t blind. She didn’t have a blind faith. Instead, her faith was based on evidence, but not only did she not have a blind faith, a second thing we need to say about her faith is it is worthy of imitation because it wasn’t belief only.

It wasn’t a belief only kind of faith. It wasn’t a dead faith, instead, it was an active faith. We learned that back in Hebrews. Remember Hebrews chapter 11 and in verse number 31? The Bible says, Here, by faith Rahab the harlot did not perish, along with those who were disobedient after she had look at that action word. Welcome the spies in peace. Notice how she does everything else the people in Hebrews 11 did. Her faith is the same kind of faith. Noah believed in God, then he built that ark. Abraham believed God, and he went to a place, a city that he had never been before. Moses believed God, and he left the glories of the Egyptians, the riches of Egypt, to suffer with God’s people.

Rahab believed in God, and she welcomed, she did something. She welcomed the spies in peace. Action. James echoes that in James chapter 2 and verse 25, when he says, in the same way. Was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, works of obedience. When she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For just the body by the Spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. We see this when we go back to Joshua again. Go back to Joshua chapter 2, please. Look at Joshua chapter 2. Let’s pick up the reading and verse number 14. In Joshua chapter 2, and in verse 14, after Rahab professes her belief in God, it says, So the men said to her, Our life for yours, if you do not tell this business of ours.

And it should come about when the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for our house is on the city wall, so they so that she was living on the wall. She said to them, Go to the hill country, so that the pursuers were not happen upon you, and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return, then afterward you may go on your way. The men said to her, We shall be free from this oath to you, which you’ve made us swear, unless condition when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and gather to yourself into the house, your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household.

It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood should be on his own head, and we shall be free, but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood should be on our head if a hand is laid on him. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath which you’ve made us swear. She said, According to your words, so be it. So she sent them away and they departed, and she tied the scarlet cord in the window. They departed and came to the hill country, and remained there for three days until the pursuers returned. Now the pursuers had sought them all along the road, but did not find them.

Notice carefully what the scripture is telling us. Notice how after professing her belief, and the one true God, God through the spies extended to her grace. He extended to her mercy and kindness and an opportunity to be saved from his wrath, but she still had to do something. She still had to take some actions. She still had to obey the specific instructions that were given to her by the spies. She had to tie a scarlet cord in her window, and she also had to gather her family together in her house. She had to make sure that her house was marked, and that it was full of the people that she loved when the army of God began to invade the city. And verse 21 tells us she does that.

She does it. She obeys their instructions. She takes the right actions. And when you get to chapter 6 of the book of Joshua, you see that the result of that is she is spared. She is saved. Her active faith leads to her salvation, and she teaches us that real faith, genuine faith, authentic faith in God is a faith that does something. It’s a faith that acts. It’s a faith that leads a person to doing what is necessary to get right with God. It’s not about just hearing the word of God. It’s not enough just to hear a bunch of sermons. It’s not enough just to hear a bunch of Bible. It’s not enough just to hear the things that we find in the scriptures. No, we also got to do what we find in the scriptures.

We got to act on the Bible. We got to live the Bible. We got to apply the Bible to our lives. The Bible doesn’t do us any good if we don’t obey it. We need to remember that. We need to remember that the Sermon on the Mount that we’re studying in our Bible class right now. And any kind of teaching and preaching from Jesus and the apostles, it doesn’t do us any good if we don’t act on it, if we don’t apply it, if we don’t allow it to change us and mold us and shape us into being more like Jesus. That’s the kind of faith Rahab had. The question is do I have that kind of faith? Do you have that kind of faith? Do we have the kind of faith right now that is leading us to act?

It is leading us to pray and pour our hearts out to a God every single day that we cannot see. It is leading us to trust God and be committed to God even during the dark days, even when life is not going well for me, even when I hear bad news from the doctor or I lose my job. It is leading us to live according to God’s moral standard, even on our jobs. And when we’re at school and when with our friends and we’re playing sports, and when we’re even in the privacy of our own home.

Some work in this church.

3. Her Faith Wasn’t Dependent on Others

Look for ways to serve the lost by teaching them the gospel, making sure that I worship God with zeal and with passion and with enthusiasm. Do I have that kind of faith? Do I have an active faith, or do I currently have a faith that is resulting in me doing nothing more than just filling a pew on Sunday? It results in me doing nothing more than just hearing a bunch of facts, getting smarter, getting a bunch of Bible knowledge, but I don’t act on anything that I learn. What kind of faith do I have? Rahab’s faith is worthy of imitation because he wasn’t blind. And it wasn’t a belief only kind of faith. But then thirdly, it also wasn’t dependent on others. It wasn’t dependent on others.

Let me ask you something. Do you think that the rest of the people in Jericho were like Rahab? I mean, do you think that everybody else in Jericho also believed in God? They trusted God. They wanted to start serving God because they had heard about all God had done for his people against the Egyptians. Do you think that everybody else is like Rahab? Absolutely not. Absolutely. You see, we got to understand that the people of Jericho are not being wiped out by God because they’re just so righteous. They’re not being wiped out by God because they were people who love to pray and they love to study God’s word and they love to worship and live by God’s moral standard. No, the reason why God is wiping out these people is because they’re wicked.

They’re wicked, they’re ungodly, they are defiled. But Rahab was different. She was different than the people in her culture in society. She was different than the people in the city in which she lived, while her culture in society, for the most part, rejected God and refused to repent. Rahab said, I’m going down a different path. I’m going to do something different. Instead of continuing to believe in the false gods of her culture in society, she made a choice to believe in the one true God. She made a choice to have faith in God. She made a choice to fear God and do what was required to be spared from his wrath. Instead of just going with everybody else and with what everybody else was doing in her society.

She chose to be different. She chose to have a faith of her own. And that’s a lesson, my friends, that we really need to take to heart. Living in a world today and in a country where the vast majority of people reject God and they reject Jesus and they reject the Bible. We need to make sure that we’re striving to be like Rahab. We need to be like Rahab. We need to be different. We need to think different. We need to live different. We need to talk different. We need to dress different. We need to treat people different. We need to have different kinds of priorities. It doesn’t matter if we’re the only Christian in our workplace. Or if we’re the only Christian in our school or in our family or on our sports team.

It doesn’t even matter if we’re only one of a few of only a few hundred Christians and one of the biggest cities in Florida. If Rahab could develop a real and genuine faith in God in the heathen city of Jericho, then guess what? We can do that right here in Orlando. We can do that right here in our little spot in the world. We can do that today. We can develop like Rahab. A genuine and authentic faith that is able to stand firm in a society that for the most part is rejecting God.

Conclusion

But let me close with this.

This time go to Joshua chapter 6. Joshua chapter 6 as we fast forward the story to the end of the story for Rahab. This is after God miraculously brings down the walls of the city, and the people of God are able to enter into the city, and they start conquering the people, bringing God’s judgment upon the people. It says in Joshua chapter 6 and verse 22. In verse 22, Joshua said to the two men, those were the two spies who had spied out the land, go into the harlot’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out of there, as you have sworn to her. So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all that she had.

They also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city with fire and all that was in it. Only the silver and the gold and the articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. Verse 25 is the key. However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all that she had, Joshua spared, and she lived in the midst of Israel to this day. That is from the perspective of the writer. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Notice how Rahab’s faith wasn’t something that she developed for just a short amount of time.

The wrath of God that was coming upon Jericho. It wasn’t something she developed just so she could be saved and her mom and daddy could be saved. No, Rahab, the Bible says, became a true believer. She became a true believer in God. She was truly changed by her faith in God after the city of Jericho was destroyed. Instead of just going about her merry little way, the scripture says she was incorporated into the people of God. She actually remained with God’s people for the rest of her life. In fact, you and I both know that she’s going to go on and become part of the family of Jesus. I think that’s a big deal, don’t you? That’s a big deal. Rahab may have been a harlot for a time.

She may have been a prostitute for a time. But she changed. People can change. She changed. She was converted. She started out life bad. She started out life wicked and immoral. But because of her faith and because of God’s grace and mercy, her story ends good. It ends very good. The question is, what about you? The question is, have you, have we been changed by sincere and genuine faith? I mean, have we truly been changed by faith in the gospel, or are we the kind of people who are currently coming up with all kinds of excuses as to why we can’t be what God has called us to be? Are we saying stuff like, well, you know what? I just can’t stop this sin. It’s too hard, it’s too much for me.

I’ve been doing it too long. Are we making excuses for our sins? Are we living a double life? Are we hypocrites? Are we on the verge of quitting? Are we the kind of people who develop faith in a time of crisis? But once things get better for us, after God answers our prayers in the way that we desire, after everything is okay and the storm is gone, then we start slacking. Then we forget about God. We don’t pray. We don’t pray anymore. We don’t pray as much as we did before. We don’t read our Bibles, we don’t spend time with other Christians. We’re hit and miss when it comes to attending the worship assembly. Our faith starts hanging on by a thread. Does that describe us?

Could that describe us this morning?

If it does, then I want to urge you to do something in love. I want to urge you to be like to be like Rahab. Learn from Rahab. Understand that God doesn’t want you to have a faith that pleases him for just a few days or a few weeks or a few months or even a few years. No, God wants you to have a faith that pleases him for the rest of your life. God wants you to have a faith that really changes your life. He wants you to have a faith that leads you to be committed to him all the days that you’re blessed to be on this good earth. White is once you just see there’s a reason why Rahab is mentioned so much in the Bible.

Do you see it? There’s a reason why James mentions her. There’s a reason why the Hebrew writer mentions her. God saved this woman because through her faith, she accepted his grace on his terms. The question is, do you need to do that this morning? Do you need to do that this morning? Do you need to follow in the footsteps of Rahab and accept God’s grace on his terms? If so, we’re going to get ready to sing a song of invitation and invite you to do that. You can do that. You can accept the grace of God according to what the scriptures say. That requires believing in his son, believing that he’s the Son of God and the Savior. Repenting of your sins, turning away from your sins, confessing Jesus as Lord, and then be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins according to Acts 2 38.

That’s how you begin your walk with God. And if you’ve done those things before, but you haven’t been living right, you haven’t been living a life of faith. If you repent, God will forgive you and we’ll pray for you. Because we’re your brothers and sisters in Christ. If there’s anyone here who needs to respond to the gospel invitation, we’re going to sing this song and invite you to the front. Let’s stand. Let’s sing.