“Family Line of Grace”

Intro: Dr. Paddock and his view of my Dad.

Last week we ended with James reminding his readers of the story where Abraham heard from God and enters into a covenant with God. God gave a promise, Abraham believed.

His trust in God carried over years to come, even to the point where he was told to sacrifice his only child. Now even though Abraham did not have to follow through he was still willing.

What we learned last week is that we should be acting in obedience, even when it seems crazy. It’s that act of radical obedience to God that begins a maturation of our faith.

Faith led to works in this case, and the act of works completed the faith of Abraham. So the main thing we should have learned last week is that the more you obey God the more your faith grows.

When our faith leads us to obedience then our faith grows. When your faith grows it leads to maturity.

So the point: works are good when they are the fruit of our faith. Today we come to the end of Chapter 2. We only will be covering a couple of verses so lets dive right on end. Read James 2:25-26

James 2:25–26 ESV

25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

So last week I jokingly shared the Father Abraham song and I am sure you either had the memory of singing that as a kid in church.

Or if you had never heard that song before you thought that I had gone a little coo coo. Solid chance both of those were correct statements, but none the less it is easy to connect with Abraham.

But Rahab? Rahab the prostitute? I don’t remember any songs centered around her. And you know what, her story is such an important role in the line of our story.

I love that James added her to this passage. Rahab is one of those stories that we cannot ignore, and a lot of people like to because it feels so messy.

Rahab did not grow up dreaming someday to enter into the profession that she did. She did not set her sites into becoming used and abused.

In a time and place where women were already treated as not even second-class citizens, imagine the outlook of her life and the abuse she endured.

I really want to encourage you to read her story in Joshua 2-6, but today I am going to give you a summary.

So a summary story of Rahab looks like this. That section of Joshua describes the conquest of the city of Jericho by the Israelites.

In its day, Jericho was the most important Canaanite fortress city in the Jordan Valley. It was a stronghold directly in the path of the advancing Israelites, who had just crossed the Jordan River.

Before entering the land west of the Jordan, Joshua had sent two spies to look over the land. The king of Jericho heard that two Israelite spies were within his city and ordered them to be brought out to him.

Rahab, the woman with whom the spies were staying, protected them by hiding them on her roof.

She told them how the citizens of Jericho had been fearful of the Israelites ever since they defeated the Egyptians via the Red Sea miracle (some 40 years prior).

She agreed to help them escape, provided that she and her family were spared in the upcoming battle. The spies agreed to her request, giving her three conditions to be met:

1) she must distinguish her house from the others by hanging a scarlet rope out of the window so the Israelites would know which home to spare;

2) her family must be inside the house during the battle;

3) she must not later turn on the spies.

Safely escaping the city, the two spies returned to Joshua and reported that the "whole land was melting with fear." The Israelites crossed the Jordan into Canaan where they laid siege to the city of Jericho.

The city was completely destroyed, and only Rahab and her family were spared. Ultimately, Rahab married Salmon, an Israelite from the tribe of Judah.

Her son was Boaz, the husband of Ruth. Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is her direct descendant. So why is James talking about this prostitute of the OT in the NT?

As we look at the life of Rahab we will find that she was the recipient of something scandalous, she more than feared God, and she risked everything for one reason. First we find that ...

1. Rahab was a receiver of scandalous grace

So we ended last week seeing how Abraham was an example of faith that produces works. What a great example of faith, but take note in the transition verbiage of verse 25

“And in the same way...” is showing us that James is not introducing a new thought, but that he is showing another example of saving faith.

So let's look at this contrast between Abraham and Rahab, and to be honest it may not seem like a big deal as you read past their names.

But when you look at their backgrounds it really does put things into a new perspective.

You have Abraham who is the patriarch father of the Jews, last week we learned that he is called a friend of God.

He was a great leader with a radical and bold faith, and if you remember he was the top of the social order in the whole scheme of things.

Now we have Rahab who is a prostitute living in the middle of a gentile nation, not only that but she lives among the enemies of God.

Theses were enemies who had been trying to destroy his people for years. She was a common citizen with a sordid past, and clearly the bottom of the social ladder.

So when James brings her into the picture you can almost hear him saying with a bit of shock to his readers, "Look, even Rahab was like Abraham. She was radical. She was obedient!"

Now I know that sometimes people don't like to think about this part of Amazing Grace, but now I have always been fascinated with the Lyric, "saved a wretch like me..."

This is exactly what happened to us, well many of us. We have the story of Rahab in us. It is in our blood. Look at the earthly genealogy of Jesus.

Ruth, a Moabite woman who was spliced into the people of God in the OT and is listed in His genealogy. Ruth married Boaz who is the the son of Rahab.

Now this is big because Rahab was Ruth's Mother-in-Law. Ruth was the mother of Obed who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of David.

David is the direct family line of Jesus. What a family tree friends! God, creator of all the universe, took the story and life of a prostitute and added her to His genealogy.

Not only did He add her to His family, but He also put her into the line that would lead to His son Jesus. Friends this is what I mean by scandalous grace.

Look I am not saying that this is an immoral thing that took place, but more of a shocking situation.

God reached down into the least likely of people, poured out His unyielding mercy and wrote an incredible chapter to the story of grace. Illus: Bill Graham family tree and My family tree

I give God glory over and over that He reached down into my past, and I ask you to praise Him for reaching down into yours as well.

As he reached past our immorality filled lives, reached past our sinfulness, and brought us into His story, we see we are receivers of this scandalous grace too.

As we dive further into the life of Rahab we find that she not only feared the Lord, but also ...

2. Rahab revered the Lord

Now as you dig into her story a little bit further you see that she revered the Lord. In Joshua 2:11 it says … Read Joshua 2:11

Joshua 2:11 ESV

11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Now think about this for a minute, Rahab did not have a lot of information when it came to this incredible God.

When you consider her background and where she was from, all she would have ever had was nothing more than hearsay.

But you know what, she still believed with just the little bit she had heard, and not witnessed. Not only did she believe but she proclaimed it.

She said that He was both God in Heaven and God on earth. In her statement she proclaimed the strength and sovereignty of God.

She knew in the end that she would have to answer to Him, and she knew this by faith.

She did not fight that judgement that was coming on the land and while she feared the Lord in a healthy way, she also revered Him as sovereign God.

Because of this attitude and faith, she was willing to be obedient, and radically at that, because she believed in God.

As we finish out this story this morning, we will see that Rahab risked a lot, but she did not do this on some sort of whim, no ...

3. Rahab risked for God’s glory

Here is what was on the line. If the rulers, or the king would have found out that Rahab was hiding these Jewish spies in her home she would have executed for her treason.

James points to Rahab as a hero of faith, but she is not one because of her church background, or religious activity. She did not have this in her. So how can she be a faith hero?

Honestly, it is because she put it all on the line, her life, her family, everything that had importance to her, and she put it all on the line without a second thought.

She trusted God without hesitation. It went against everything going on around her. She risked it all so that the people of God would take Jericho and that it would bring glory to God.

This story of Rahab is so crucial because she acted when she did not know how things would end. She did not know this Jesus. She did not know that she would be in Jesus's lineage.

She risked it all out of pure faith in God. Are you willing to do that with your life? You have the info. You know the story. You know Jesus or at least about Him.

Are you willing to take some risk? Are you willing to consider obedience because you revere the perfect God who saved you by this grace, this scandalous grace?

Every week we give you this opportunity to an invitation. For some it is to give your lives to Christ for the first time. For others it is to give your lives back to Christ.

For some it is to come to a posture of repentance, but the truth is that most of us walk out of here dismissive to this because it is uncomfortable.

Will you ask God to help you past that today? If God spoke to you today or is tugging at you today in some way, would you please respond? Let's pray.