Answers in Genesis--Fall 2016--Lesson 2, God Uses Rahab

Good morning, everyone. It's good to see you this morning and it's 9:02, almost 9:03, so you better go ahead and get started. But it's good to be here and let's open in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, you are, so good to us.

Give us another day, give us another, chance to, to live life, to be with one another, and Lord, I ask that you would bless our time and, and lead our thoughts, direct our minds as we look into your word and, and may Your Spirit, teach us, help us to be, ready to hear and to learn the things you have for us in Jesus' name, Amen. OK. For some reason I'm not Advancing my, my slides. Well, We are going to be going into.

Probably the battery. Well, let me see if it'll work. Where's the laptop? You think it's working now.

We've got into a new section that Mike started last week called Obedience and Disobedience. And we're looking at really God working through people and how people conformed to his work at times and how people resisted his work at times. And we're in the seven seas of history. we're in the one that's in the middle called Chaos.

Which is pretty much how my mind is right now after having studied this material for today. that describes me pretty well. today, we're, we're looking at rehab, how God used rehab, and, And really what we're gonna be looking at are some ethical questions that come up with rehab. This is a way of review, we've studied Genesis from the creation of the universe, the earth, and all the creatures, including mankind.

And now, to the exodus of the Israelite slaves, we've looked at how they failed to trust God. And to, in, in going into the promised land. And so they had to wander 40 years in the wilderness waiting for that time. God had said that no one from the age 20 and up would go into the land with the exception of two men.

that would, was Joshua and Caleb. When Moses died, the the mantle of leadership passed to Joshua and Today we'll be looking at stage 2 of God's fulfillment of his promise to give this land to His people. Stage 1 was the preparation of the people. God had to prepare the people to get them ready to go into the land.

So, let's look at Joshua chapter 2. We're gonna read the account. And And then, look at some of the elements of it. Joshua chapter 2 verse 1 says, then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men as spies secretly from Shaim, saying, go view the land, especially Jericho.

So they went and came into the house of a harlot named, whose name was Rahab and lodged there. It was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, the men from the Sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land. And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab saying, Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, where they have come to search out all the land. But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.

It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark that the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan, to the Fords, and as soon as those who were out, who were pursuing them had gone out, she, they shut the gate. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, 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 who are beyond the Jordan, to Sahan and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

When we heard it, our hearts melted 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, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household and give me A pledge of truth and spare my father and my mother and my sisters and my brothers with all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death. So the man said to her, our life for yours, if you do not tell this business of ours, and it shall 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 her house was on the city wall, so that, that she was living on the wall. She said to them, Go to the hill country so that the pursuers will not happen upon you and hide yourselves there for 3 days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you may go on your way. The man said to her, We shall be free from this oath to you which you have made us swear unless 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 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 shall be on his own head, and we shall be free. But anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall 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 we have, which you have 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. Let's look over in Joshua chapter 6. Verse 22. So Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, this is after Jericho or when Jericho is about to be, to fall.

go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all 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 gold and articles of bronze and iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. However, Rahab the harlot in her father's household and all she had, Joshua spared. And she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. So that's the story.

We, what we have is the spies being sent. To, to, to, survey the land around, and, and really to enable Joshua and his leaders to, to make plans for the invasion. And as part of that, Joshua explicitly said, check out Jericho. So they did.

And, and what we find in the story is in coming into the city, the two spies went into the place where information was readily available. Usually it was a, a a bar or a a house of, of a, a brothel. that's where people tended to gather. And in, in those days, it's very common in, in the ancient world that a hotel and a brothel were a mixed business, where, people who traveled would stay there and and in order to make extra money, they, had added benefits that you could pay for.

And so that's, that's the way the business was. So, they're there and, someone in the city sees them. Who's of an official nature and lets the king know the king then sends people to go and and arrest those men and but Rahab has hidden them. And then she lies for them and and on they go.

We find in this story, at least I see them, three moral quandaries, quandaries or ethical quandaries. the first one that, that, we want to look at today is, was Rahab's lie a sin. the second one is, is it OK for a good Jewish boy to marry a Gentile and or a prostitute? and the third one is, does moral wreckage reconcile, or how does moral wreckage reconcile with God's holiness?

And if you think the term moral wreckage is a little bit harsh, you haven't heard my confessions yet. and we don't have time for that. Not today or any day. and, and I don't feel like making a PowerPoint either, so, But, but really, that is what the picture is about.

And, as we'll get down to the end, I, I think it's pretty easy for us to see ourselves. a whole lot in, in this, lady rehab. So we begin with this. Was Rahab's lie a sin?

There basically are two views, yes and no. So I hope that answers the question for you. First of all, let's look at what sin is. from, Gruden's, theology book, he says, any failure to conform to the moral law of God.

In act, attitude, or nature. Strong and his theology, his systematic theology has pretty much the same. definition. And so that's what we're looking at.

Any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature. Sin is something that We should be sorry for who we committed. we have violated God. it's something that we repent of.

And it's something that, that after we have seen it in it's, it's real light, we wish we had done otherwise. And that's what sin is. So, there are those, we're gonna first deal with those who, Say that it, that yes, it was a sin. And there are, are 22 camps with this.

One of them is, this one isn't around much, but it has been in existence and has played a curious part in history. that yes, she, what she did was sin and she should definitely not have done it, that, in fact, it was a great violation. One of the, the people who would take this, this point of view in history was King James. King James, was made king at the end of 1602.

And by the middle of or a few months into 1603, probably late summer, was having a meeting with the leaders of The, the organized church in England. and what they're trying to do is settle some things that have been going on. The, the, there had been some great in, in England through the 1500s, from the time King Henry the 8th, went away from the, from the Catholic Church and established his own Church of England. from, from that time forward, there's, there's these great movements, shifts back and forth.

And you have the Puritans that rise up. And so in this, this, meeting that King James had, the first part of the meeting was with, the bishops of, of the, Anglican Church, and then he had a, a second meeting, in a couple of days later with, these, these Puritans, and the Puritans were always trying to push the Reformation further. In the, in the Church of England, wanting to see more and more reforms and so on and And one of the things that they proposed was a translation of the Bible, an English translation of the Bible that would be used by everyone.

And one of the, the translations that was already around at that time.

was the Geneva Bible. The Geneva Bible was generally regarded as the best English translation at that time, but was not accepted by everyone in the, in the English church. And so, but they were, this was their way of trying to push the king, hoping that he would be receptive to the Geneva Bible. His response, however, is really interesting.

His response to, to their request was, yeah, we do need one translation. But the worst one that exists right now is the Geneva Bible. And he went on to explain one of his biggest issues with the Geneva Bible was that it had a center or it had marginal references and, and comments. It had commentary that went with it.

And so, in this commentary, He referred to Exodus 1. Where the midwives were commanded by Pharaoh to to kill the baby boys and they disobeyed. And the commentary in the Geneva Bible was that They, they're in their lie, their deception to Pharaoh, that they were, that their disobedience was lawful. But their disobedience was still evil.

So that it was, it was wrong to lie, but it was still lawful to do. Now King James believed in the divine right of kings. That, that the king had the primary authority. God had given, God gives to a king that authority and it's absolute.

That was what he believed. And so, so he took great exception with it and demanded that if a translation is done, there would be no, commentary at all with it. Because he took that view. And so, this, this view, Is, is one of the, King James would be one of those people who would say that yes, her lie was a sin and she definitely should not have done it.

There are others who actually take a more biblical view, who, also say that, that lying is a sin, it's always a sin, and what she did, there was a sin. John MacArthur in the, in the study Bible, he says, lying is a sin to God, for he cannot lie. God commended her faith, but not her lie. He never condones any sin, yet none are without sin, some sin, needing forgiveness.

And this view is probably from, from what I can tell, with doing, doing the research I did was, is probably the majority view. It was the view of Augustine. it was the view of Calvin. and it's been the, the, the view of many others since.

And if you were to, I did this this morning just cause I, it, it only occurred to me this morning to do it, but went on my, went on Google and asked the question, is, did Rahab sin when she lied? And by the way, it pops up before you even finish, keying it in. I'm not the first one to ask that question. And there are some, some, there's actually some pretty good articles on there to read on this subject.

I would encourage you to go to it. So, but anyway, a lot of them, it will take a, a view very, very much like this. And there are good, good, solid people, good people who take this view and and, if you're ever gonna disagree with John McCarthy, you better bring your lunch, right? It's, he's, he's, he knows what he's talking about.

I don't do it, lightly. And, so, I, I think it's, it's something that really needs to be, to be wrestled with. That, that God commended her faith. I'm just, I have a little difficulty though separating out her action from, from her faith as I will explain in a little bit.

Ephesians chapter 4 in the Bible is, has a lot of verses, on lying and how destructive it is, how, how it is evil, how it is a sin. there are verses about liars being cast into hell. and so, we do take the truth. And, and falsehood, we take it seriously, as we should.

The Bible takes it seriously. Ephesians 4:25 is, is just an example of how we are to relate with one another. And so it says each one of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. And so if we're gonna have a relationship, a relationship has to be founded on truth.

Truth is something that we need and, and a relationship doesn't work if it's not founded on the truth. and so that's, it, it has to be that way. And, and there are some examples, That, of, of what falsehood. I, deceit.

is, is, hiding or covering up the truth or creating a dishonest impression, exaggeration. is embellishing or stretching the truth or using the words never and always. These are ways that we lie. evasion is another one, not really answering the question or changing the subject.

these are very dangerous in, in relationships amongst a, a group of people like this, it's highly dangerous in a marriage relationship, where the truth is something we depend upon with each other. Disguised messages, hoping the other person will get the message by making a comment that's maybe about someone else and trying to indirectly import that upon, upon, this person we're talking to. conflicting messages, saying one thing, but the tone of, of our voice or body language says another.

And the person that we're talking to.

is not really sure what we're saying. It's meant to create uncertainty with the other person. So there are, are many ways of lying. And, what Paul in writing to the church in Ephesus is, is saying is that what we need to do is put it off.

And speak truthfully to each other, that our relationships depend upon that. Furthermore, we know that not only does lying do great damage to a relationship. That it usually destroys the person who is, who's speaking the lie. It's destructive to the liar.

every time we lie, We lose a part of our soul in a way. There, there, there's something that chips away at our character, at the person of, of who we are. And lying is destructive. And so, for, for great reason, God condemns it.

God wants us to walk in the truth. Jesus himself declared, Jesus declared himself to be the truth. God is about the truth, and God is one who cannot lie. and, and we depend upon that fact that God does not lie.

And so, the truth is very important. But moving on to the other side, It says this, and no, her lie was not a sin because the truth is due only to those who are worthy of it. And so, and there are people who, who take this point of view. I would, this, this, statement actually, I listened, I got this from RC Sproll several years ago, who was talking about, rehab and, and, and, using her as an example that, that, the truth is something, that in certain occasions, creates damage.

And so therefore we have to be careful with it. Other people who would support this, Luther was one. and so, would be Bonhofer. And so if you read, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book on ethics, the very last chapter is a chapter called Truthfulness.

I'd encourage you to read it., just for the expansion of your mind. It's difficult reading. One, because it's, translated from German, but two, it was written before 1950 and for some reason they used more complex sentences back then. I have that same problem with CS Lewis.

I have to read this stuff over and over again before I finally get it. However, the, the concepts are pretty interesting and he, and Bonhofer raises some issues, in there. That make you realize that That truth actually, one of the issues he raises that truth can actually be used as a weapon. And in so doing, we become the, the instrument of Satan rather than of God.

And so there are, are ways of, of, of really what we're supposed to do is, is grow in wisdom. And, and so that is The idea here. one of the examples in, in scripture, of course, is the midwives that we've already talked about. And when you really think about it, Rahab's lie was actually part of a bigger crime.

That crime is treason. That's what she was committing, was treason. And consider, there, I think there's some things to consider with Rahab. As we look at this situation, one of the things to consider is her alternative.

What's her alternative? Well, our alternative is to turn them in, right? To have them be arrested. That's her alternative.

Which leads to, That she is killed along with everyone else in the city. So her, her family is not saved. that's, that's her alternative. She could have used the Jedi mind trick, waved her hand and said, these droids are not the ones you're looking for.

and, and they look at each other and said, oh, these droids are not the ones we were looking for. And they walk out. That's still a lie, isn't it? so, so it doesn't really solve the issue.

And we also should consider this. Rahab had a righteous reaction to the terror that was coming. Exodus 23:27, God tells Moses. That he's going to send his terror ahead of them upon the people.

And that is exactly what has happened. And so when Rahab is describing to these two men, What she is feeling, what she is, she describes is the terror of the people coming to them and her reaction to this terror is a righteous one. It's, it's one of saying, of saying, I don't want to be killed and I actually want to go to your side. I want to go to your side.

Think about 2, and this is probably gonna be coming up next, in the next lesson because we're looking at actually Jericho being being taken over. But Jericho had a whole week of the Israelites marching around. Their city, 7 days. Why didn't they send out a delegation, with a white flag and come out and, and say, what can we do here?

How can, how can we negotiate this? There, there wasn't that, that wasn't given to them. In fact, it was God's plan to destroy that city. And all of its occupants.

But Rahab's reaction to the terror was a righteous one. I want to change. I want to, to, To, I wanna come over to your side. You see, she exercised a choice in wartime.

And this is significant to the issue. This is wartime. And So considering that, In wartime, does that mitigate Her dealings in this issue, somewhat. I believe.

So she exercised the choice. Another thing to consider is that wisdom chooses carefully its loyalties. If you look at any list of virtues, You'll find loyalty on that list, that loyalty is a virtue. Yet She committed treason.

She violated loyalty. And wisdom. Actually will drive us to choose those loyalties carefully. You probably all know people.

who have been stuck in their loyalty and continue to make poor decisions in their relationships. And loyalty is something that needs to be guided by wisdom. One of my favorite quotes by RC Sproll is that iniquity is virtue run amok. And that's, this is a good example of that.

And what Rahab did was chose. She made a choice as to which side she's gonna be on. She chose the sight of God, the sight of godliness. And so, this, this is another item to consider.

However, if, if you're anything like me, when, who I tend to be a somewhat of a black and white person. I like to have things set in, in place. And so the thing that jumps out to me is What about the guard rails? That's the question I ask.

What about the guardrails? If there are exceptions to this, if this is not purely a black and white issue, what will keep us from losing control? And if you're a parent, you're teaching your children values and so on. It's, that's, that's a, a very important issue.

and, and so what about the guardrails? I, I would submit this, That it, it maybe ask it in a question, is the day of judgment too slight a restraint for us? See, what God is over and over again, even with, with all of his laws, he's not trying to get us to focus on his laws. He is, our focus is to be on him.

And our responsibility to him, our relationship with him. And someday our accountability before him. Matthew chapter 12 verse 36, Jesus said, every idle word will be judged. So if we're making decisions about our speech, About what we are going to say.

we need to make it Make those decisions in light of the fact that I'm going to answer for this. I'm going to stand before God and give an account. That needs to impact my, my language, what I say, the position I take. And it is a very thorough judgment.

this judgment isn't to be taken lightly. Jesus described himself. In the parable of the talents in Matthew chapter 25. I A judge who is so thorough that he's like a farmer who harvests outside of the planting zone.

Goes past the planting zone into the edges to make sure nothing is missed. Very thorough. If every idle word is judged, if, if it goes down to that level, then I will have to give an account for those words. And so the guard rail is not just a, a black and white.

law that I have. But it's the idea that I will stand before God and give an account. I must comport myself wisely. I need to, to, do what he wants me to do.

And so, that is, One of the things that, that we have to look at. Our respect for God's law must be accompanied by wisdom of application. Jesus dealt with this with the Sabbath day. And so you, if you remember, he healed on the Sabbath.

He was accused of, of breaking the Sabbath when his disciples were stripping the, the wheat off of, off the stalk and eating of it. And his, Jesus' comment was, don't that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath? It, it is a way of viewing the law. It, it, it's a, it's a perspective that Jesus was trying to turn their head with.

There, so there is the the Sabbath challenges. There's what Paul wrote in Galatians. Because the laws can become such a heavy thing. And what Paul was writing was, you need to walk in the spirit.

This is what we need to do. We need to learn to walk in the spirit and be led by the Spirit. And so, that is something that we, that we take into mind as we look at this and, and, and actually we're gonna see it underneath. this, this next issue.

How can this marriage be allowed? Rahab went on to marry. a man by the name of Salmon. Salmon was, as I saw described in 11 thing I read, a prince of the tribe of Judah.

His father Nashon was the principal leader of the tribe as they were going into the land. Salmon, his son, is the one who marries Rahab. And how can this be allowed? When we look in, in Exodus 34:16 and then in Deuteronomy 7:3, which I have up there, it says this, You shall not intermarry with them.

You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. The they and the there. To them, I should say. Are the, are the Canaanite people, the people they will encounter in this land.

In the very first stop, which is Jericho. comes out rehab and she marries a prominent young man in, in the tribe of Judah. How can this be allowed? Not to mention That she's in the hospitality business.

you don't get that, do you? Oh, OK. It's just not funny. OK.

OK. So, so, so how can this be? The laws of God have a purpose. And we are to look beyond the letter of the law.

God's concern with intermarriage was with the potential for idolatry, not with ethnic purity. And that's an important part of, of, of understanding that law. And so when God gave that law, he also gave them the purpose. So in Deuteronomy 7:4, that's what he explains.

And when he gave his laws, he almost always gave purpose behind it. Because he, he wasn't a god who, who, just gave out some rules and said, and, and you do this because I said so. He wasn't a just because I said so, of leader or deity. No, God always gave purpose and he, he expects men and women to think, to be thinking people and to comport their lives in a way that understands the purpose of the law.

When Jesus challenged the understanding of the law in, in the Sermon on the Mount, it, it was always their misunderstanding that he was challenging. Because they didn't understand the purpose, the point of it all. The third one, which this is, I, I think maybe my favorite point here and one I, I really wanted to spend the most time on. I don't know if I will.

But, how can Rahab be brought into the covenant province bestowed upon Israel? Rehab Is a Gentile. She's a harlot, that's, that's her background. How is it that a person like her can be brought into that covenant province?

It's given to Israel. Well, the same, same way Israel received it. By grace, it's by grace that Israel was chosen. It's by grace that Israel was brought into this covenant relationship with God.

God could have picked. Instead of Abraham. The most righteous man on the earth, who is Job. But he chose Abraham, who came out of idolatry.

And chose Abraham to go down and be the, the heir of the promise. It's all by grace. the most impressive Christians and usually the most happy Christians are those who know how much they have been forgiven. And One of the biggest dangers.

that the children we raise in church face. is not knowing how much they've been forgiven and not really facing up to their own sinfulness, their own sinful attitudes. That is something that every human being needs to face if they're going to follow after Christ. That every single one of us is a person who Who needs the grace of God.

If you were to go to Ezekiel chapter 16, Read the 1st 66 verses. Ezekiel 16. I'm not asking you to go there right now. But you get a very graphic account, a description.

That God gives of what he saw. When he chose Israel. And what he saw wasn't pretty. I remember the very first time I read that.

That passage Getting this sense of Wow, what did God see when he saw me? And that is really probably supposed to be a right reaction. That's the reason why. God gave that to Ezekiel.

And It is by grace that you were chosen. at this time of going into land, Israel is, is actually in a pretty good place. they've gotten a lot of stuff straightened out. Culturally, they've come together.

they've gone through this 40 years of wilderness, the A lot of the resistance is all died away and, and as you read the account of, of the book of Joshua as they go into the land, they take the land, you see a lot of righteous, action and activity. it, it, it's really good. Yes, they still made some mistakes, but for the most part, they were doing really well. They're in a good place spiritually.

And so when they come into the land, to Jericho, they look pretty good. they're pretty cleaned up. But let's not forget. Where they came from.

And all that they, all that it took to get them to that point. And it's the same way with us, we, we, we can get here and we look pretty cleaned up, right? But let's not forget where we came from, no matter who we are. one of the most famous parables that Jesus told.

It was about rule keepers and rule breakers. You can read it in Luke 15. Jesus is confronted By the Pharisees for spending time with, enjoying the company of and eating with publicans and sinners. the same political parties we have today.

Jesus' response to, to their, their questioning was to, to give three stories. the, the man with 100 sheep, one is lost, and that there's great rejoicing when he finds that sheep. And, and, then there's the one with the 10 coins, one is lost and she cleans her whole house to find that one coin and there's great rejoicing when she finds it. And how Jesus says there is great rejoicing in heaven when one sinner Comes to repentance and His third story.

It's about two sons. I'm not gonna tell the whole story. You're familiar with it. And I would encourage you to, if you have not ever done this, to get MacArthur's book, The Tale of Two Sons, or you can listen to his series of sermons online.

It, it gives you a great perspective. I really encourage you to do it. It, it's very helpful. It's very helpful to me.

The point of what MacArthur brings out. is at the end of the story. You have this, the The lost son who represents the publicans and sinners. Who is brought into a great celebration.

They killed the fatted calf, it's, and, and he goes outside and the other son who's angry, doesn't understand it. He, this son, the one who stayed home and did all the good stuff, obeyed the rules. He represents the Pharisees. The Father who represents Jesus.

In this parable, goes out to this older son, trying to talk him into coming into the celebration. That MacArthur's point in the story is It's that older son. Representing the Pharisees. Who, if you were to continue the story.

To how it actually happened in real life. In his resentment. For all of this celebration for his wayward brother. Picks up a club And beats his father to death.

That's what the rule keeper does. Because it was the Pharisees. Who conspired To have Jesus killed, who said, crucify Him. At the trial It was the rule keepers.

Who went off the beam and did the horrible, most horrible thing of committing murder. And for us, some of us. are out and out rule breakers. We have that in our past.

Some of us are out and out rule keepers, and we're so meticulous about everything, but understand that deep within our core, every one of us is a, is a wickedness and evil. That we, that all need to have forgiven. We all need the grace of God, equally. And we all need to understand who we are.

And if we're going to understand rehab, And her being brought into this. we need to look at ourselves and see who we are. OK, an application. By faith, Rahab chose against her own people and culture to embrace the God of Israel.

They put that word in there, culture on purpose. culture is such a hang up for people. Culture is so overrated in its importance. But man, it is something that people will hold on to forever.

And culture is something. That, that we should understand it will, is resistant. To the claims of Christ. The only culture that matters really is the culture of Christ.

Everything else needs to be messed with. in, in China, in the early 1900s was a Boxer Rebellion. what the Boxer Rebellion was about? The Christianity was changing the culture.

To protect the culture. They killed the Christians, almost completely wiped them out. In China, all for the culture. And Anyone who says that, when we take the gospel to another country, you don't need to change the culture.

We just need to give them Jesus. what? Jesus always messes with the culture. Because the culture always comes from our corruption, and their culture needs to be messed with.

And doesn't our culture need to be messed with some? you drive around, you look at at at what we have. our culture needs to be messed with by Christ. we need to have that.

Rahab was choosing against her own people and her own culture to embrace the God of Israel. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 31 says, by faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. She made a choice To embrace something new.

To go a different direction. She was making a choice in wartime, yes. She was making a choice for, not just against what she was, but for this God, the, the one who, from whom the terror of, of that God was spreading through the land. But for her, it was a ray of hope.

And so she was choosing. something new, something better for herself. By faith, rehab protected the spies and sent them on their way. Look at James chapter 2.

James, in making the argument that faith without works is dead, uses Rahab's action. as an example, he says in the same way. Was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works? When she received the messengers and sent them out another way.

For me, I can't separate. The, the, the lie that she told from the works. Others can. I'm not gonna tell you what to think on that issue.

there's good people on both sides of that. But I would say this, that she took action, that her faith produced action, and she then was, She was saved and her whole family. They were saved. so, That was the position she took.

There was a question. That's, that's a good question. And in fact, that is something that does get addressed by Bonhofer. You could, could also read, Yeah, I, I, the, the guy escapes the Francis Schaeffer.

Francis Schaeffer, gives is, I was reading him a little bit yesterday and especially this, this section and it's called the Christian Manifesto is the book. And he's a section on there on, on how Christians relate to civil government, civil authority, and that, that whole thing. And very provocative and, and a good A good resource for, for, banging through the issue. Yeah, she, she went against her.

Her city, her government, she, that's, she chose a different path. Some would call it, call it treason. The people of Israel called her a hero. And they accepted her that way.

That's how they viewed her. And so, She chose that what she ended up doing was choosing God. Because of her face, Rehab was the instrument for saving her family. Because of her faith, she was enveloped into a new nation.

And then she was married to the son of a prominent family. By faith, she became the mother of Boaz. And it's been a few months ago, but Pastor Carlos did that wonderful series through the book of Ruth, and we became acquainted a little bit more with who Boaz was. But what an amazing story.

she became the second mother-in-law to Ruth. That just blows my mind thinking about the relationship. There's gotta be a Hallmark movie here somewhere in this. this is so cool, that, that interactions and, and what did the community around them think?

They settled in Bethlehem. A small village, but this had to have reached out to a lot more people as they come in and settle down. what was that like? I, I, I thought about that a lot yesterday.

what was that like settling into that village after they conquered the land and, and Solomon comes back home from war and, and, he marries Rahab and, and, they settle down in, in Bethlehem and And what is that like? Then they have Boaz as a child, and raised Boaz and, and look what man Boaz was. As, as Pastor Carlos described his, his character, his, his qualities. She raised him to be a generous, thoughtful man.

very observant of the law, was Boaz. As is demonstrated in the book of Ruth. So, So that's the kind, that has to speak a little bit at least to her as as a parent, as his mother. She became the great, great grandmother to David.

The, the esteemed king, probably the, the most famous king in history. And is included prominently in the ancestry of the Messiah. what an amazing story. And, I, I I cringe every time I read, her name when it calls her the harlot, Rahab the harlot.

That's how she's known, Rahab the harlot. And, I, I, I want it to be, I don't know. I, I still want her to have that for her last name, but, the reminder is really not of her past. But of God's grace, and it's a reminder to us.

It's, it's actually meant to tell us something. To tell us how much God cares about us. And how much, how generous God is with His grace. So let's close with this.

And look at it this way, we are rehab. We start outside of the covenant with God. We're enslaved to the systems of man. Then awakened to a deliverance by God.

Given a new family with a glorious destiny. See, see, we have this connection, this great connection with Rahab's story. There are a lot of people who, when they come to faith, They have to leave a lot behind. It wasn't that way for me.

I, my parents were, were Christian. I literally went to church from the, from the cradle, from the first week. and that's what I grew up with. But I've known people and I'm sure, and maybe even some of you here.

When you became a Christian, It actually pushed you out of everything that you were comfortable with. Maybe you were disowned by your family. There are a lot of people who go through that. That, that what you experience.

is, is a dramatic and drastic change. And yet it's brought to something good, something deep and something rich because it's with the Creator God, the one who made us. The God of heaven and earth. And he's the one who adopts us into his family.

Calls us his child. And gives us an amazing destiny. And this is why when John Newton wrote his song about grace, he called it amazing. God would let us know that we needed help and would draw us into his family.

This is the story of Rahab. This is in many ways our story too. All right, let's pray. Holy Father, I thank you so much for your grace, for your mercy, your kindness to us.

And not just leaving us where we were, but reaching into our lives. Even as you did with rehab, awakening within her. The, the, the sense of, of responding in a righteous way to the terror of the Lord. And Lord, you have brought us to a place of faith.

Just like you did her. And may we not take it for granted, but may we be filled. And even drenched. With the richness of it, of your grace as it pours upon us.

Thank you so much for it and may, may our thoughts and our focus and even our worship today be enriched because Of, of how we view what you have done for us. Amen.