The sermon by Jason Dohm presents Rahab as a profound example of a godly woman despite her past as a harlot. It explores how Rahab, living in an environment that rejected God's word, believed in God and His promises to Israel, which led her to protect the Israelite spies at great personal risk. Rahab's faith is recognized as genuine because it was demonstrated through her actions, aligning with the biblical principle that faith without works is dead. Her story is highlighted in the New Testament as an example of faith, showing that redemption is available to all, regardless of past sins. Rahab's faith, albeit primitive and simple, was genuine and saving, leading to her inclusion in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The sermon emphasizes the transformational power of the gospel, which can redeem and renew, offering a new identity to those who believe.

The title of this address is Rahab, a profile of a godly woman. The first two addresses were pointed at the theology of Psalm 23 and what the heart of a godly woman looks like from that Psalm. Now in the next two addresses we'll really be fleshing that out through Bible examples And Rahab is actually set forth by the scriptures as an example of a godly woman. Listen while I read 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 15 through 18. First Corinthians 6, 15, Paul writes, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him, with the Lord.

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. All sin offends God. God has told us in His Word how to live in a way that brings honor to Him. Sin is what is contrary to that.

It's what dishonors Him. It's what's contrary to how He says He's to be honored in the patterns of our lives. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul speaks of a sin that is unique in ways. And Then he describes in which that sin that he is speaking of is unique. Marriage is designed by God to be a picture of the gospel, meaning it is a gift.

The marriage relationship between a man and a woman is a gift from God to be a picture of the world, of the gospel, of the gospel love of the Lord Jesus Christ for a sinful people that He gives Himself for, cleanses, and then lives with in love. And consistent with that picture, there are physical expressions of love and affection that are only appropriate to the marriage relationship. And here's an example of that. Okay, if girls, if your mom and dad are in church tomorrow and your dad comes up and he he gives your mom a big hug and he gives her a kiss. Nobody's gonna give a second thought to that.

They're gonna say, wow, things are well in the Santles home this morning. Look at that, just like the bear hug and the kiss. If someone who's not Jim Santles comes up to Tracy Santles and gives the same hug and gives a kiss like there's going to be a fistfight in the middle of Sovereign Redeemer Community Church, There are physical, we have an amen already, there are physical expressions of affection and love that are so obviously and only appropriate to the marriage relationship. And it's because God has designed marriage to be this picture of particular and unique affection. And so the physical expressions of affection and love are just the outward manifestations of that.

In environments where the Word of God has been thoroughly rejected, certain women sell those physical expressions of love and affection, just like we were married, just as if we're married, but we'll never be married. I just offer that for the money. And these certain women who live in these environments where the Word of God has been thoroughly rejected are called harlots. So Rahab is going to be called a harlot throughout the text of Scripture that we're in. She's a woman living in an environment that has thoroughly rejected the Word of God, the standards of God, and so she's willing to trade the physical expressions of love and affection that are only to be for the marriage relationship for dollars, for money.

And this is very dishonoring to God and this is very destructive in unique ways to those who engage in it it sears the conscience in a unique way any Any environment where you find the Word of God so thoroughly rejected, you find consciences that are so thoroughly seared that There's nothing the people there won't do. There's nothing they won't do. They're very far down the death spiral of sin and where sin will take you. So that brings us to the starting point of the history that we're studying in this session. I'd like before we go to text or scripture, I'd like to ask the Lord to help us.

God, I thank you for the gospel of your Son. I thank you that even in the environments that have most thoroughly rejected your ways in your Word, That your gospel can break in and save and redeem and cleanse. That the people coming out of those environments can be as white as snow. They can be like wool. Thank you for Christ in His work.

I pray as we study this woman, Rahab the harlot, that our hearts would be brought to praise you for the work of your son. Pray in Jesus name, Amen. Please turn to Joshua chapter 2. Joshua chapter 2. We're introduced to Rahab the harlot.

The one who comes from this environment that has thoroughly rejected the ways of God and who this culture, this environment has certain women who are willing to sell their physical expressions of love and affection that are only to be in the marriage relationship for dollars for money and Rahab is such a woman. I'm going to begin by reading all of Joshua chapter 2 so follow along. Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho saying, Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country.

So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying, Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country.' Then the women took the two men and hid them. So she said, yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut when it was dark that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them.

But she had brought them up to the roof and had hidden them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan to the fords, and as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint-hearted because of you. For 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 the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted.

Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death." So the men answered her, "'Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be when the Lord has given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with you.' Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall, she dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned.

Afterward you may go your way." So the men said to her, "'We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, unless when we come into the land you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if a hand is laid on him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear.' Then she said, according to your words, so be it. And she sent them away and they departed and she bound the scarlet cord in the window.

They departed and went to the mountain and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain and crossed over. And they came to Joshua the son of none and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are faint hearted because of us.

Now turn to Joshua chapter 6. I'm going to be reading 15-17 and then 20-25. Joshua chapter 6 beginning in 15. But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about the dawning of the day and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times.

The seventh time it happened when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, Shout for the Lord has given you the city. Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction. It and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all who are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent.

Skipping to verse 20. So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets and it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has as you swore to her. And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had.

So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. But they burned the city and all that was in it was fire. Only the gold and silver and the vessels of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's house, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Now what has happened in these texts? People of Israel have been wandering because they wouldn't go into the promised land the first time God has kept them out of the promised land for 40 years of futility and until that generation everyone who was 20 years old and older has died off in the desert and now there is a new generation and God is bringing them into the promised land. Moses has just died and Joshua has been consecrated as Moses' replacement to lead the people into the promised land. And Joshua is ready to bring the people into the promised land, but he's gathering intelligence. And so he sends two spies and the text says he sends them into the land especially Jericho.

So at this point of entrance into the promised land, geographically Jericho stands as the armed city that is the gateway into the promised land. The terrain funnels you in and through Jericho to enter the promised land. This is the way in if you're going to come into the promised land from this direction. Jericho is the gateway so he's especially interested in gathering intelligence about Jericho. So these two spies they come into the city and immediately they're coming into the house of a harlot.

Now why a harlot's house? Because secrecy is the name of that game. Everyone who comes into the harlot's house is interested in the secrecy of the activities. Because even those with a seared conscience knows that you don't trade the physical signs of affection and love that are only to be in the marriage relationship for money. Okay so everyone who's going there wants their mission to be secret and since so it is with the spies That is why they seek out the house of a harlot.

What happens at Rahab's house stays at Rahab's house. But the king learns anyway. It's almost like they're looking out for them. How would the king know? Because a nation is on the doorstep.

They're the gateway into the promised land, the fortified gateway into the promised land, and a nation that has just destroyed two Amorite kings. Now Jericho is an Amorite city, and a nation that has just destroyed two Amorite kings, now Jericho is an Amorite city, and a nation that has just utterly destroyed two Amorite kings and their people are A day's walk away. Numbers chapter 26 says that there are 601, 000 men of war. Men age 20 or older. So there are a couple of million people here.

If you just double it saying there's twice as many women then you're up to 1.2 million and then you start giving them children and you have several million people on the doorstep of the promised land and Jericho is the doorstep of the promised land. So to say that the city of Jericho is on high alert, okay, that's how they know spies are in the city because Jericho is on high alert. So Rahab gets a knock on the door and it's the Kingsman and she tells a series of whoppers. Now nowhere in scripture are the lies of Rahab commended, but the faith of Rahab is commended. She sort of acts like a new believer in Joshua chapter 2 and 6.

And she saves their bacon. Okay, surely, surely these spies, had they been discovered by the king's men, would have forfeited their lives after, through terrible means, giving up any information they had. She saves their lives and they're allowed to return to Joshua with very important intelligence. Not only details about the gateway to the promised land, Jericho, but also that the people are filled with fear, which is half the battle, and now Joshua knows it. So what do we learn from this historical account?

I'd like to offer four things that we learn. There are many more but here are the four I'd like to draw attention to. Number one, Rahab has been living a life in bondage to sin. That's number one. Rahab has been living a life in bondage to sin.

That's number one. Rahab has been living a life in bondage to sin. She's a slave to sin. Just listen to how the text describes Rahab. Chapter 2 verse 1, so they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab.

Chapter 6 verse 17, only Rahab the harlot shall live. Chapter 6 verse 22, go into the harlot's house. She's not even Rahab in chapter 6 verse 22, she's just the harlot. Chapter 6 verse 25, Joshua spared Rahab the harlot. Rahab's entire identity is bound up to this marking sin.

She's been marked out by the sin of harlotry, by the sin of being willing to sell off the physical expressions of love and affection that are only to be done, only to be given and received in the context of marriage, but she will sell it to you. It's her identity. She is one of these women who has seared her conscience. And my guess is there's probably nothing Rahab won't do. Listen to Ephesians chapter 2.

We've been memorizing this together at Sovereign Redeemer. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1-3. And as a side note, Ephesus probably has a culture much like Jericho. Ephesus is just a Gentile city plunged into sin, plunged into rebellion, having thoroughly rejected the Word of God how many harlots were there in Ephesus I don't know but I guess the number was big Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 just listen and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath just as the others. Ephesians chapter 2 could have been written about Rahab, A woman of the world, a woman walking according to the course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, by nature a child of wrath.

But Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 makes it so clear, it's not just Rahab, it's not just the harlots. It's Paul. Paul throws himself right into the same bucket with Rahab and says just like us maybe having more sins that more respectable sins that have enslaved us and dominated us but not a separate category at all. More respectable in each other's eyes but not more respectable in God's eyes. By nature, children of wrath.

That was number one. Rahab has been living a life in bondage to sin way down the death spiral that sin takes you on. Number two, Rahab believes in God and his plan to do for Israel what he promised. That's number two. Rahab believes in God.

Somehow, Rahab believes in God. We don't know how. We don't get told all the things we would like to know. That's one of them. How?

How does she believe in God like this? Like she expresses it. Rahab believes in God and his plan to do for Israel what he promised. Somehow Rahab knows that God is a covenant-keeping God, a promise-keeping God who makes promises and then keeps every single one of them. Listen again to Joshua chapter 2 verses 9 through 11.

This is what she says. And Rahab said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land are faint hearted because of you. For 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 the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things our hearts melted. Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." Oh, the people in American churches had such a steadfast proclamation that God is and that he keeps his promises from the lips of a harlot.

She's familiar with the now distant history. Forty years ago, God dried up the Red Sea and the people passed by on dry ground and the Egyptian army was swallowed up when the waters returned they heard about that and they said Rahab said that was God God did that they've heard about the other Amorite Kings they have their own king in Jericho another Amorite King they've already heard that there's been two of them that have been utterly destroyed with their people and Rahab looks and says that's God keeping his promises there is a God in heaven and he is able to do everything he's promised to do, and he promised to give these people this land, and surely he will give Jericho over because God promised it and he keeps his promises. Listen to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6. We are going to spend more time in Hebrews but for Right now just listen to Hebrews 11.6. This is the great faith chapter.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For He who comes to God must believe that He is. Does Rahab believe that He is? You better believe it. From her own lips you can tell she believes that God is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Does Rahab believe that God is the rewarder of His people. Her land is about to be given over to these people. She believes that God is going to keep His promise. She meets the definition. That was number two.

Rahab believes in God and His plan to do for Israel what he promised. Number three, we know that she isn't faking it because she bets her life on it. That's number three. We know Rahab can't be faking it because she bets her life on it. What she does in Joshua chapter 2 is treason.

People have been hung for so much less than Rahab does. Okay, the security of her people rests on the capture and torture for information and execution of these spies. And she hides them, she lies for them and she provides for their escape in both her actions and her counsels. She risks everything in doing what she did. A lot of people say a lot of things but there's no change in how they act.

Rahab bets her life. That was number three. We know that she isn't faking it because she bets her life on it. She proves that it's real. What she said, she really believes.

It changes how she lives and she's willing to bet everything on it. Number four. She abandons her people and becomes part of the people of God. She abandons her people. And she becomes part of the people of God.

Listen again to the last verse of all of what we read. Joshua chapter 6 verse 25. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's house and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out the Lamb. At the end of the story she doesn't just go her way and they go their way.

She is absorbed into the people of God. She betrays her own people. She commits treason against her own people in order to come into and be part of the people of God. A while back Sovereign Redeemer went through the book of Ezra. The book of Ezra is about return from captivity.

The sins of Israel have caused God to judge them and as a result they're carried into captivity to Babylon. And Miraculously after 70 years and God said it would be 70 years. This is God keeping his promises again after 70 years God unexpectedly if you didn't know the prophecies and miraculously sets his people at liberty to return to Jerusalem from captivity and 50, 000 do so. And when they come back they begin to rebuild things. They start just with the altar.

Okay, there is no temple. There's just some foundation stones left. It's rubble, so they rebuild the altar because they do what they can do. And so they just start. And in Ezra chapter 6, they're celebrating the first Passover together.

So in many ways the Passover is the pinnacle of the year's calendar of worship. There are some other points you could point, maybe there are other peaks, but this is one of the peaks on the worship calendar, the Passover. And you're only part of the... You're only welcome to participate in the Passover if you're part of the people of God. This isn't for everybody, this is for the Lord's people in the same way that the Lord's Supper is only for the Lord's people.

If you're not one of the Lord's people, you're not welcome to the Lord's Supper. If you're not one of the Lord's people, you're not welcome to the Passover. The ones who had returned from captivity, they're Jews, they're real Jews, they're provable Jews. They have the right genealogy, but the people who are left in the land are half-breeds. Because in the intervening 70 years, other kings have brought in other captives from other nations, and they've just all jumbled up together and you're several generations down now and in dog terminology you got mutts.

The purebred are elsewhere. Some of them have come back but the people who are living in the land, they probably have some Jewish blood and they most likely have some non-Jewish blood too. So are they part of the people of God or aren't they part of the people of God? Can they participate in this observance of the Passover Supper or can they not participate in this observance of the Passover Supper? Here's what we read in Ezra chapter 6 verse 21.

These are precious words. If you're a Gentile, You should love these words. Ezra chapter 6 verse 21. Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity, okay Jews, the right bloodline, then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel." So to participate in this Passover observance you didn't have to be pure bread but you did have to separate from the filth of the nations in order to seek the Lord God of Israel. It's always been possible, even if you didn't have the right bloodlines to come into Israel.

It's always been possible. What did it require? Forsaking, committing treason against, abandoning the filth of the nation, separating yourselves from the filth of the nations turning your back on that in order to embrace The worship of God in order to seek the Lord God of Israel There is a turning from and a clinging to it's always been how you got into the people of God. No matter how defiled your history, no matter what your family tree looked like, this was the way to get in. You forsake the filth of the nations and you turn and you cling to the worship of God.

That was the fourth thing. She abandons her people and becomes part of the people of God. Just like in Ezra chapter 6, She separated herself from the filth of the nations. She had been wallowing in the filth of the nations. She had been the poster girl for the filth of the nations because she was a harlot and becomes part of the people of God.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Rahab resurfaces in the most unlikely place, the great faith chapter, Hebrews chapter 11. It's sometimes called the hall of faith. Like all the professional sports leagues have a hall of fame. Where their most accomplished, most famous athletes after their retirement, they're ushered into, they're inducted into the hall of fame.

Hebrews 11 is the hall of faith. It inducts into this one chapter some of the great people of faith across scripture. I want to read Hebrews 11 verses 1-3, verse 6 and verses 30 and 31. We'll start at the beginning of the chapter. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 1 through 3.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Skipping down to verse 6, but without faith it is impossible to please Him for He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. The chapter begins in 1-3 with the definition of faith.

It's believing and holding firmly to things that you cannot see with your own two eyes. You didn't see God speak the worlds into existence, but believers know that God made the worlds that way. Verse 6 says what characterized people who have faith. They come to Him believing that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And then in verse, well in verse 4, it started the list of people by Abel And then in verse 7 we have Noah then in verse 8 we have Abraham and in verse 11 we have Sarah Then we end up getting down to Moses There are many other people in between and then in verses 30 and 31 we read this Hebrews 11 30 and 31 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

By faith the harlot, Rahab, did not perish with those who did not believe when she had received the spies with peace. How many people lived in Jericho we don't know. We only know that all of them perished except for Rahab and her household and it was because she believed God. She came to God believing that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him and it saved her and it saved her household and It made her fitting to be part of Hebrews chapter 11. There are only two individual women named in this chapter Sarah in verse 11.

We get it. It makes sense to our minds why Sarah is there and Rahab. Two comments about Rahab's presence in Hebrews chapter 11. First she is still the harlot Rahab even in Hebrews 11 she's the harlot Rahab verse 31 by faith the harlot Rahab did not perish there's no whitewashing of Rahab hey there's no There's no cleaning up and airbrushing out the past of Rahab and what she was before the gospel came to her. This is one of the things I love about the Bible, It's truth.

There's no photoshopping out the defects in the Lord's people. And thereby the grace of God is exalted in what he's able to reach into and do with that. The author of Hebrews wants to reinforce the starting point for Rahab. She is Rahab the harlot. Secondly, I would call Rahab's faith three things.

One I would call it a primitive faith. We saw what her profession was in Joshua chapter 2. If anyone of you gives me that in a baptism interview, like you're going back to your dad for more instruction, It's a really primitive faith. There's not a lot of knowledge behind that faith, but it's real. She really believes in God.

It's a primitive faith. A lot of knowledge needs to be added to it. I think over time I'm sure a lot of knowledge was added to it. But it was sufficient. Even in its primitive state it was sufficient.

Number two, I would call it a simple faith. A simple faith. Jesus said unless you have the faith of the child you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. Here is Rahab and she has childlike faith. We saw God do these things we know only God can do it.

God has promised to give these people this land therefore they're going to get the land. It's that simple. She doesn't need the nuance. She doesn't need the complicated arguments God said it it's going to happen I'll bet my life on it it's childlike faith Rahab's faith is a simple faith three it's a saving faith listen if Rahab's faith isn't a saving faith, she's not in Hebrews chapter 11, period, amen. Okay, there's no reason to debate.

Was Rahab become a Christian, or was it just she had the ability to see what was happening? No, no, no. Rahab, if you're privileged enough to be in heaven, you'll be there with Rahab. The only way you'll be separated from Rahab in eternity is if you don't go to heaven. She'll be there.

She had a primitive faith, yes. She had a simple faith, yes. She had a saving faith. She's in Hebrews chapter 11. Now turn just a couple of pages to James chapter 2.

She surfaces again in James chapter 2. James chapter 2 gives us the relationship between faith and works. How do these things relate to each other? You have believing and that's what's saved, but then works, does this play into it? And James just explains it in great clarity.

Even though people won't believe him, James explains it. I'm going to begin in James chapter 2 verse 14 and I'm going to read through the end of the chapter. James 14, James 2, 14 through 26. What does it proffer at my brethren if someone says he has faith and does not have works? Can faith save him?

Many translations say can such faith, can faith like that save him? 15 if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart in peace be warmed and filled But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body. What does it profit? Thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead But someone will say you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that there is one God? You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, oh foolish man, what faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way.

For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. Here in James chapter 2 we're given side by side two kinds of faith. An alive faith and a dead faith. A genuine faith and a counterfeit faith. A saving faith and a damning faith.

Yes, words only faith is a damning faith. The example of it is demons. We're given two examples of saving faith, genuine faith, alive faith. Who are they? Abraham, again, I get it.

And Rahab. This is getting ridiculous. Okay, we have all of this historical narrative to pick from. And how many examples are given to us in Hebrews 11? I didn't bother to count, but it's a lot.

There's a lot. Okay so Rahab sneaks in to Hebrews 11. Now in James 2 it's whittled down to two. One of which makes sense to us, Abraham, Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham.

You belong in James chapter 2. But the other one of all that you can pick from out of the whole Bible, it's Rahab. Saving faith. Genuine faith. Alive faith.

And James says both were justified by their works. That's the argument that he makes. Abraham justified by works. Rahab justified by works. Careful.

Careful. Work space salvation is the furthest thing from in view in James chapter 2 This is not talking about law keeping to be saved at all in any way There are two definitions for the Greek word that is translated justified here The first is to render or pronounce righteous If he means that then the whole passage doesn't make sense. You don't even have to go outside of James chapter 2 to be troubled. None of the chapter will make sense Okay, because he tells you how Abraham was saved Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness That's right here in James chapter 2. You don't have to go outside of James chapter 2 for this So it can't be this sense The second definition of this Greek word that is translated justified means to show to be righteous, to exhibit evidence of being righteous.

Meaning our two examples, Abraham, he believed God and it was accounted to him in righteousness. When you go back to Genesis and see when that happens in the sequence, it's way upstream. He believes God and it's accounted to him as righteousness. He's saved by faith alone long before Jacob is put on the altar. It's the evidence that there's something real in the heart.

Rahab believed God and it was accounted to her for righteousness and then The acts of her life proved it. She had the evidence that she believed God. She bet her life on it, right? The point of James 2 is that Abraham and Rahab both gave outward evidence of an inward condition. Abraham gave an outward evidence of his inward condition of being in the faith and being saved by faith when he put Jacob on the altar.

Rahab had outward evidence of her inward condition of saving faith when she bet her life and sent those spies on their way in safety. They were both born again and it showed up in their conduct. And it always shows up in your conduct. If you are born again, it will show up in your conduct. In Galatians chapter 3, Paul says that the children of Abraham are those of saving faith.

Galatians 3, look it up. Paul says, here are Abraham's true children, believers. Children, believers. So Rahab, though a Gentile harlot, is in the most profound way more a daughter of Abraham than purebred Jews of faith. The Gentile Harlot is really a daughter of Abraham in a more profound way than the people with the purest bloodline who can trace it back without defect.

Now finally we are going to end in Matthew chapter 1. Turn to Matthew chapter 1. Rahab surfaces in the New Testament again. I'm going to read Matthew chapter 1, verse 1, and verse 5. Matthew chapter 1, verse 1.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now verse 5. Salmon Begot Boaz by Rahab. Boaz begot Obed by Ruth. Obed begot Jesse.

And Jesse begot David the king. Remember Joshua chapter 6 verse 25 so she dwells in Israel to this day and in the Old Testament we don't get any more. She's not mentioned again in the Old Testament at all. Now, the man identified as her husband, Salmon, is mentioned in the book of Ruth, but her name never appears in the book of Ruth. Here at the beginning of the New Testament we do learn more.

She married. Not only did she not go her own way, she was brought into the people of God, and she married into the people of God. She was absorbed into the people of God religiously and familially. Is that a word? I think I might have one too many I L's in there but in there, but family wise.

Salmon took this former pagan harlot and he built a life with her. And they had children together. This couple has a son, Boaz. And when you read Ruth, it strikes you how godly this man is And you say how could this man have been raised by a pagan harlot How could this man have come up on the knee of a pagan harlot? And so when a Moabitess widow named Ruth comes to Israel with her mother-in-law, there's a man ready to be her husband.

Another Gentile comes from Moab. She's a dutiful daughter-in-law. She won't be pried from the side of her mother-in-law, Naomi. And where is a woman like that going to find a husband? There's one ready because he knows something about Gentile women.

He's the son of a former Gentile pagan, Harlot. He's ready to marry a Moabitess widow and to make a life with her. Have children with her. Sovereign grace. We read the historical accounts we say this happened, that happened like it's a history lesson.

God is weaving Scott said that last night. God is weaving. God is glorifying himself. Oh worship the Lord for sovereign grace that He doesn't just let all the pagan harlots go down the path of destruction and get what they deserve, he reaches into it to make them trophies of his grace to show what he's able to do. A few generations later, King David.

A few generations later, the son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ. Make no mistake, this genealogy teaches us something about the nature of the gospel. It's not for the well, it's for the sick. Applications as if they weren't obvious applications daughters I have two applications for you one consider mark chapter 2 verse 17 that's the first application. Consider Mark chapter two verse 17.

This is what Jesus says. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Here's what's unspoken there. There are no righteous. No not one.

But the point of what Jesus is saying when he says I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance is that Those who feel the need are ready to come to Christ. If you don't feel the need, you have no place for Christ. You're not even ready. You have no footing for repentance. Oh, you're calling sinners to repentance.

Sinners like Rahab? Sinners like you! Sinners like me! Listen to what Charles Spurgeon says. A person comes into a church one morning.

He's one of the most reputable men in London. He has never committed any outward vice. He has never been dishonest. He is known as a staunch upright tradesman. Now to his astonishment he is informed that he is a condemned lost sinner and just as surely lost as the thief who died for his crimes upon the cross.

Do you think that man will believe it? Suppose however that he does believe it simply because he reads it in the Bible. Do you Think he will be made to feel it? I know you say impossible. Some of you even now perhaps are saying, well I never would.

Can you imagine that honorable, upright businessman saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner while he stands side by side with the harlot and the swearer. Can you imagine him feeling his own heart as if he was guilty as they and using the same prayer and saying, Lord save or I perish. You cannot conceive it can you? It is contrary to nature that a man who has been so good as he should put himself among the chief of sinners. But that will be done before he will be saved.

He must feel that guilty before he can enter heaven. Now I ask who can bring him to such a leveling experience as that except for the Spirit of God. You know very well that his proud nature will not stoop to it. We are aristocrats in our own righteousness. We are aristocrats in our own righteousness.

We do not like to bend down and come among common sinners. If we are brought there, it must be the Spirit of God who casts us to the ground. Why I know that if anyone had told me that I would ever cry to God for mercy and confess that I had been the violest of the vile I would have laughed in his face. I would have said, why I have not done anything particularly wrong, I have not hurt anybody. Yet I know this very day that I can take my place on the lowest form and if I can get inside heaven I will feel happy to sit among the chief of sinners and praise the almighty love that has saved even me from my sins.

Now what works this humiliation of heart? Grace. It is contrary to nature for an honest and an upright man in the eyes of the world to consider himself to be a lost sinner. It must be the Holy Spirit's work or else it will never be done. Daughters may you know this painful work of the Holy Spirit.

May the Holy Spirit so work in your life to Lay yourself low that you will not be ashamed to stand side by side with the harlot and the swearer and say, God have mercy on me a sinner. If God does not bring you that low you will not be in heaven. Number two. Application number two. Understand what the gospel does.

Understand what the gospel does. Listen to Revelation chapter 2 verse 17. This is the letters to the churches. Revelation chapter 2 verse 17. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. Understand what The Gospel does. It gives you a new name. Rahab the harlot is no longer Rahab the harlot.

She's new. She's a new creation. She's born again. We can, with a straight face, give an address on a profile of a godly woman, Rahab and we'll just leave off a harlot. She's not a harlot anymore.

She's as white as snow she's like wool. She's in heaven. It remains to be seen if you and I will be fathers an application do not settle for word only faith in your daughters. Do not settle for word only faith in your daughters. Don't be happy that she's simply outwardly compliant and has learned how to behave herself.

Has learned how to be a good citizen. What are the affections of her heart? It's the heart. Is it a heart turned towards the Lord? They can be so outwardly exemplary.

Any nation would want them as a citizen, But the affections of their heart can be so far from God they could be so far from the kingdom of heaven Go for the heart Fathers and daughters one final application to all of us When God brings a Rahab among us, will we despise her deficits or embrace her graces? Is there even a place for a Rahab among us? That's a searching question. What would we do with Rahab? Could she marry one of our sons?

You better think very carefully if you think my son will never marry a girl like that with a background like that. She's good enough to be in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. There better be a place for Rahab among us. Oh, she'll have deficits? Oh, it's going to be a mess.

When God brings Rahab among us, it's going to be a mess. She's seared her conscience. Saving faith doesn't just wipe all that away in a day as if it never happened. She didn't grow up in the homes we grew up in, most of us, many of us, and she certainly didn't grow up in the home that we're trying to establish. She's gonna have so many blind spots, so many glaring things that we're gonna, we're gonna try to keep a straight face at the time, then we're gonna go home and we're just gonna laugh okay because she's so oblivious to things that we've taken for granted for decades okay there are gonna be many decades there are gonna be many deficits will we despise her for those or will we embrace her graces here's what I mean In Luke chapter 7 there's a woman like Rahab.

It doesn't say that she's a harlot but my guess is she is. She's just called a sinner and she can't stop weeping. And she's crying on Jesus's feet and then she's wiping his feet with her hair. It's sort of an odd story really. You picture it and you think what is this?

Well, That's exactly what the host thought. Simon the Pharisee was very uncomfortable with what was happening there. Here's what Jesus ends up saying. So she's weeping and she's wiping his feet with her hair and then she anoints his feet with oil and that was really for his burial he explains that but then he says this her sins which are many are forgiven for she loved much but to whom little is forgiven the same loves little. Now like the unspoken from the last verse, there really aren't righteous people but the question is do you feel your sins?

Are you ready for Christ in that you have been made to feel your sins? The same unspoken thing is here. Little is forgiven, the same loves little. There's no one who's been forgiven who's been forgiven little. Just it feels like little to some.

And God has to bring a sinner weeping and anointing the feet of Jesus to make you feel your sins. That's what it means to embrace the graces of a Rahab. To be pushed along in seeing how much, in feeling how much you've really been forgiven and growing in loving by growing in the sense of what you've been forgiven. If you feel like you've been forgiven a little, you just don't love very much. We need to love the Lord more.

May God send us Rahabs to help us love the Lord more. He probably will. If he loves us, he'll send us Rahabs to help us love him more. God, I thank you for this profile of a godly woman. What an unlikely candidate for Hebrews 11 in James chapter 2, but you are wise and we are fools.

Thank you for the grace of the gospel, the glory of the gospel. Pray that it would penetrate our hearts like never before in Jesus name, amen. Thanks for watching!