RAHAB – FAITH THAT DELIVERS and WINS

Tithe and Offering

It is time for us to give to God our tithe and offering. I want to talk to you about “giving with grace.” Grace is attractive and an energizing and inspiring force. Grace in its highest form is a gift of God’s favor, and sincere giving to God reflects grace and reveals some things that make grace so attractive. Our giving to God reflects grace because grace enables us to link with God’s supply line. Paul reminds us that God is the source of abundance and is all-sufficient. Our giving to God will ultimately bring glory to God, giving bears fruit, blesses others, and helps our church to do ministry. May we all give to God this morning with Thanksgiving and a cheerful heart. Ushers, please pass around the offering plates as we collect our tithe and offering. Please follow the instructions on the screen on how to give.

Welcome

Welcome to church, everyone, and to our online viewers; welcome to our Sunday Worship Service. We are happy to have you with us today and hope your time with us will be blessed.

Announcement

Bible Study is on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. I encourage you to join us for our weekly WEDNESDAY NIGHT CONNECT BIBLE STUDY. Every Saturday at 8:00 a.m., we meet at the church for prayer. If you have a special or personal prayer request, please drop it in the prayer box. To all the men, our next Men’s Breakfast is Saturday, May 25th. It is the last Saturday of the month, and we meet here at the church at 10:00 a.m. Also, on Saturday, May 25th,at 1:00 p.m., we will do a baptism ceremony at Lakeview Park in Lorain, Ohio (1800 W Erie Ave, Lorain, OH 44052). Next Sunday, we will have a guest preacher, Pastor Rich Henry, from Amherst Church of the Nazarene. Let’s continue to pass out the kindness cards; we are working on getting more of them.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Heavenly Father, You are the God of creation, and today, we recognize that You are the Creator and we are the creation. We pray that the Holy Spirit teaches and leads us as we bring forth Your faithful word, which is full of power and truth, to Your people. May Your word encourage those who are down, inspire those who need inspiration, and strengthen those who are weak. I also pray that You bless the tithe and the offering as we honor You with our giving, and may our giving be used to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth. We pray all this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Declaration of Faith in God

Let us stand and say the Declaration of Faith in God together.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Hello again, and happy, happy, happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers. You deserve not only today and a day but every day. Where would any of us be even in our existence or our development without all that mothers have done to impart what God has given them to us? And so, I am so grateful for you today, all the mothers.

We pray that God will bless you and surround you with the love, value, protection, and appreciation from your children and grandchildren, especially your extended family, for all you have given and continue to provide for their wellbeing. So, as your pastor, it is a joy to minister to you on this special day as we go to God’s Word together.

SERMON EXPOSITION

Today, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, I want to talk to you about the name Rahab. Her name is Rahab. In the Bible, we are not given much details and information about Rahab, but we are told that in Chapter 2, verse 1 of Joshua and Hebrews, Chapter 11, verse 31, “Rahab was a prostitute.” She was a harlot. Rahab’s profession has many different names, but I will not go through all the various names this morning. Whatever name you pick, we all know what that means. She made herself available to men for pay and had made a career out of it. She was a professional lady of the evening whose job was to serve men and make a living.

Let’s look at the name Rahab. The first part of her name, “Ra: for Rahab was the name of an Egyptian god.” So, as you can see, Rahab was raised in an ungodly environment by pagan parents and, for one reason or another, had adopted a lifestyle of dishonor.

A lifestyle of reproach. A lifestyle that is frowned upon. We are told her place of business was well situated in Joshua chapter 2, verse 15, which says, “Her house was on the city wall so that she was living on the wall.”

So, Rahab was well planted and positioned for travelers, citizens who made their way in and out of the city, and visitors who made their way in and out of the town to make her services well-known, well-advertised (if you will), and well-available.

But one day, unbeknownst to Rahab, she is visited by two strangers (two men). We are told who they were according to Joshua chapter 2 verse 2: they were spies sent by Joshua to spy out the land of Jericho. The spies wanted to be as inconspicuous (quiet) and safe as possible. And so, the spies found a place where strangers would go: the local place, that is, Rahab’s house, to look as inconspicuous as possible.

However, somebody saw them go into Rahab’s house and reported to the king that we had two Jewish men in the house of Rahab who came to spy on the land. The king sends some messengers to Rahab’s house, and they tell her to bring the men out. And failure to obey the king’s order (command) is a death sentence.

But Rahab refuses to obey the king’s order, and although she and her family’s lives are threatened, she hides the spies on her roof and tells the king’s messengers that you just missed them. They had left five minutes ago. If you hurry up, you might catch them. So, she tells a bold-faced lie.

Rahab got around the king’s demand by engaging in some righteous risky business: she hid the men and lied to the authority, according to Joshua 2 verses 4 to 6. That raises the question of when it is okay to lie. I know what some of you are saying. Rahab was confronted with two sinful options: the first option was to lie to the authority, and the second was to help the authority execute God’s messengers. And Rahab chose the option to bring God the most glory by protecting God’s people.

So, let me help you out: whenever you are faced with two sins, either way, it is a sin to put the men up for murder or to lie, you have to choose the least of the two sins or spin it another way; which decision will bring God greatest glory? Rahab decided that she would risk the lie to protect the lives of God’s people.

And so, Rahab sends the folks away who are trying to seek out these men's lives and then goes up to the rooftop to where she has hidden the two spies from Israel. She says to them, according to verse 9, “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 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 …”

Rahab goes on in verse 11, “We heard it, our hearts melted. No courage remained in any man any longer because of you, for the Lord your God He is God of heaven and on earth beneath.”

She says we know about what God did for the people of Israel. We have heard about your great testimony. We have known about you all for 40 years because we knew about you when God opened the Red Sea 40 years ago. We have been afraid of you all for 40 years, and your reputation has followed you. So, I hid you on my roof because the Lord, your God, is the God of heaven and earth. In other words, my faith controlled my choice. I chose to hide you rather than satisfy the government, the kings, and the rulers of this world because I needed to decide between God and authority.

Now, what I just told you is very interesting. Rahab says that for 40 years, all of Jericho has known about God. You see, the people who lived in Jericho were like many people today. They know and learn about God but don’t want to deal with the living and true God. Rahab said, our hearts melted because of your God, but we still follow our god with little “g.” Many people are like that; they know about God but have never entered a relationship with God. But Rahab says, as for me, your God is the God of heaven and earth. And to let you know I know who the real God is, I hid and protected you from the enemy.

When Rahab confessed that the LORD….. is God and dealt kindly with His people, she expressed personal faith in God’s true and living ability to work for those who align with God’s plan and purpose. Now, in the New Testament, in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 31, you will read these words: “By faith Rahab, the harlot took in the spies and saved her household.” According to the author of Hebrews, Rahab’s decision to take in the spies was a faith move. Here is what you need to understand about faith: Faith for the believer is more than a feeling. Faith for the believer is a function.

Illustration

In other words, don’t look at how you feel to know whether you have faith in God because you can be a man of faith and a woman of faith without the feeling of faith. So, how do you know when you are full of faith? Check your (action) because your action will prove your faith, not necessarily your feelings, on a given day or time. It says Rahab received the spies by faith. In other words, she took action.

Now, Rahab may have been scared to death. The text doesn’t tell us about Rahab’s emotions or feelings, but it does tell us what she did: She acted in faith. When you read the entire chapter 11 of the Book of Hebrews, it says, first by faith, then it will give you the name of an individual, whoever it is, in this case, Rahab, and then it will always tell you what they did because you measure faith by function not first by feeling.

You see, sometimes you won’t feel you have faith in God, but are you functioning in faith? But you have faith even if you don’t feel it. Rahab makes a request. It is a fascinating request. She says in verse 12 of Joshua chapter 2, “Now, therefore, please swear to me …” “… by the Lord since 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, my mother, my brothers and my sisters with all who belong to them and deliver our lives from this death.”

Last Sunday, in our sermon, we talked about doing “AN ACT OF KINDNESS.” We said God’s kindness is great, “His kindness brings you comfort, and His mercies are new every day. We also gave you a Kindness Card and asked you to pass out those cards by showing an act of kindness. Rahab demonstrated kindness, and God wants us to do the same: show kindness to strangers. And so, Rahab says, will you deal kindly with us? I want God’s covering over my family because I functioned in faith.

And so, Rahab is given to us in the Bible as an illustration of the power of faith. One of the greatest lessons on faith in the Bible is given by a woman who is a prostitute. Because she is called Rahab the prostitute over and over again in the Scripture, what is this lesson about faith that you and I need to learn from a prostitute? A woman who does not go to church. An ungodly woman. A woman who lives her entire life doing things that are an abomination to God.

I want you to open your Bible to James chapter 2, where we find Rahab the prostitute again. Rahab is covering the pages of Scripture. In verse 14 of James 2, James says, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but has no works? Can that faith save him?”

James is not talking about going to heaven here because these folks are already saved. That is why James calls them “my brethren.” But James is talking about another kind of saving. He is talking about God’s delivering power in history, not His saving power for eternity. You see, a person is saved by faith alone in Christ for eternal life that will get you to heaven. But many of us know people who are going to heaven who are no good in history.

Many of us know folks who will make it to glory, but they have never seen what happens when glory comes to Earth. They never have a testimony of how God broke into a situation and turned it around supernaturally with His saving power. They look forward to heaven because they don’t have a testimony to share with others on Earth.

James says, what use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith and has no works? Can that work deliver him? That is in history. And then he brings up the name Rahab in verse 25. “In the same way was not Rahab …” Who is she? “… the prostitute …” “… also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.” In other words, when this lady took in the spies, protected the spies with a lie, and then sent them out safely, James, like the author of the book of Hebrews, says this woman is making a major point. This woman is making history and history. The major point is that she was delivered on Earth, saving her family and her own life because she operated by faith, and her faith was proven by her work. Rahab’s faith was the basis for her justification before God. Rahab demonstrated the reality of her saving faith when she protected the messengers of God at significant risk and danger.

So, we know that Rahab had faith in the work she did, and the work she did delivered her in time. And today, one of the reasons many of us are not seeing God come through for us in our situation is that God can’t find faith. God knows He can’t find faith because He doesn’t see works. The only way you can validate that you have the right kind of faith in God as a believer is that you are doing the right kind of work. That is, you are doing what God demands, which validates that you have the faith that God expects.

Now, don’t get me wrong, to get to heaven, it is faith alone in Jesus - the Son of God, but to get heaven to join you in your line of work, to get heaven to turn your situation around, to get heaven to work out that relationship issue, to get heaven to address that career challenge that you are facing. Getting to heaven to reverse your circumstances on Earth takes faith that works. James says, like Rahab, who had faith that she put to work, and what happened? Rahab got delivered. She saw God enter history. She cut a deal based on God’s covenantal love and saw the supernatural enter the natural. God is interested in letting you see heaven while you are still on earth, so you won’t have culture shock when you arrive in glory.

For some Christians, going to heaven is going to be a culture shock because we had no clue about heaven because we lived all of earth without seeing eternity interrupt history. Rahab saw eternity interrupt history by a faith that was put to feat; therefore, it was a functioning faith, not a feeling faith, a walking faith, not a talking faith. It was a faith that did something out of the ordinary in time, even though Rahab was a good-for-nothing woman.

Application

God wants you to know today that no matter how wretched your past can be, there is still a place for you in His Kingdom if you will come to Him by God by faith. This low level of a good-nothing-woman has been placed in Hebrews chapter 11 next to Moses, Abraham, and Sarah. Rahab is placed next to Noah, Enoch, and Abel. And God tells you what she was so that the folks under the sound of my voice who have sinful pasts, bad experiences, wretched pasts, negative pasts, and evil pasts still have a place in His Kingdom and can be used.

Look at Matthew Chapter 1. That is the first book in the New Testament. I love this: Verse 5: “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the King.”

See, sometimes people relist the name in the Bible and turn the page too quickly. So, you see that, that is boring stuff. That stuff has no action to it… so and so begot so and so begot so and so. There is so much action in the list of names in the Bible. Let me give you one action here. It says to wait a minute and watch this now. Salmon had a baby boy, verse 5, “… named Boaz by Rahab.” Okay, now see, don’t read that too fast. We are introduced to a character you have never heard of before. Salmon. Salmon marries Rahab, the prostitute. Watch this now.

In verse 25 of chapter 6 of Joshua, we are told that when Rahab and her family got delivered, she dwelt in Israel. So, she has a new family now. She is no longer hanging out on the corner. She is now hanging out with the people of God. She has got a new family now. A man named Salmon, for whatever reason, sees her, falls in love with her and marries her. So, a prostitute got a husband. (good husband who believes in God). But she doesn’t have any kind of husband, she has a Jewish husband, even though she is a Gentile girl. Because now she is hanging out, it says, with Israel.

Conclusion

So, I don’t know what your past is. I don’t know how bad it is. I don’t know what you did in the past. All I know is that there is a woman named Rahab, found in Joshua chapter 2, which is also in Hebrews chapter 11. The woman in Joshua chapter 6 is in James chapter 2. In the New Testament, she is an illustration of faith, godliness, power, and victory because God knows how to take lemons and make lemonade. God knows how to take a mess and turn it into a miracle. That is all I know. All I know is that God is not interested in your past; how bad your past is. All I know and can tell you is that God is interested in your future.

I don’t know about your past, and I don’t care how bad it is. If you connect with the Kingdom of God, I know that God can turn your bad past around. But if you don’t connect with God's purpose, you will miss out on God's delivering power. And so, God was able to do something special in Rahab’s life. Today, God wants to do something special in your life, but you must have faith in God.

Faith Appeal and Call to Action

As we close this message, I encourage you to rev (accelerate) your faith in God, His Son Jesus Christ, and His unshakable kingdom. Following Jesus Christ is worth it. Rahab is a rebuke to unsaved folks who give excuses for not trusting Jesus Christ. You will hear folks saying, “I don’t know very much about the Bible,” which is an excuse we often hear. But Rahab, the subject of our message today, knew very little about spiritual truth, but she acted on what she did know. “I am too bad to be saved” is another excuse.

Rahab was a woman who was a condemned heathen prostitute, but her name was listed with the heroes of faith in the Book of Hebrews. Another excuse is, “What will my family say and think about me.” Rahab’s first concern was saving her family, not opposing what they said and thought about her. Rahab stood as one of the great women of faith in the Bible. And today, God wants you to stand as a woman or a man of faith.

God bless you.

Altar Call

Well, 2,000 years ago on the cross, Jesus Christ shed His blood for your sin and my sin, and when Jesus sees the blood that was shed for our sin, that is the root of our salvation. Your salvation comes from the blood that was shed, but the blood was shed because of our sin. So, today, when we confess our sins to the Savior who shed the blood, we are told we will go to heaven because we are covered with the blood of Jesus.

Today, if you accept Jesus into your heart, God can start your life all over again, but you must be willing to come to Jesus by faith. You must first confess with your mouth that you are a sinner and need a Savior. I messed up, but I trust God’s grace to fix me. I have failed, but now I have faith in the Son of God, and by faith, I trust God to make my heart right today. And even if your sin is worse than Rahab’s, God can put you in the New Testament and write a new chapter for your life. He can start you all over again.

I want you to stand up and praise His name so that He can start you all over again. Jesus can be your savior. I want you to bow your head right now. No one is moving, but those who need a new start need a new chapter. I want to pray for you right now.

And so, Father, we pray for each one who comes. As we pray with them, we pray that You will give them the experience of a lifetime, that yesterday is yesterday, and even if folks remember where they were, new stories of faith will come as they take the steps to see Your delivering hand. And we will give You the glory and honor in the name of Jesus.

Let us pray and close with a celebration today.

Benediction

Lord, we thank You so much for a wonderful, precious day. Mother’s Day has been rich, and we are grateful to You. Father, we thank You for the consistency of Scripture and how it sweeps over the extensive ages of history without wavering from its integrity and the message that a relationship with God is always based on faith, and faith will triumph where works must fail. I pray that You strengthen our faith through the life of Rahab’s example. Use us this week as we serve You, and may we, in every sense, live lives overwhelmed with gratitude for the blessings that are ours both now and forever. For which we thank You in the name of Christ, and everyone says… Amen.

Thank you so much for spending time with us today. We will see you next week at 10:30 a.m. Until then, have a great week, and God bless you.