Evening Sermon

September 2, 2007

Faith in Action

Text

Joshua 2

The turbulent history of Israel and the Palestinians is rooted in ancient history. With the book of Joshua, we are studying a part of that history. In Joshua's day, the nation of Israel was identified as the people of God. Today, however, the people of God are not identified by their nationality, but by their relationship to Jesus Christ. And, while the spiritual distinction between Jew and Gentile has been removed by Christ, it was very real in those days. And the Jews had been promised the land, then called Canaan. And that promise was about to be fulfilled. Israel was about to cross the Jordan River, traveling from the east to the west. They were about to enter the West Bank, and the city of Jericho.

But first, Joshua sent out two spies to check out the situation. He wasn't doubting God's promise, he was simply making preparations to conquer the land. Somehow, those two spies secretly traveled the 7 or 8 miles to Jericho, a two day journey at the time. They wanted a place where they could remain undetected, so they chose to go to a brothel. Certainly, there would nothing unusual about two men entering a house of prostitution. There they could go without raising any suspicions.

They met woman there. Her name was Rahab. It is her story that we will study today. And it is a story of faith.

I hope that it doesn't bother you to study the godly example of a harlot. Some commentators are so uncomfortable with that idea that they interpret the situation as a normal hotel, with Rahab as the innkeeper. But that is not what the words mean. I hope it doesn't bother you to know that God used a prostitute to demonstrate faith. I hope that you are not so self-righteous that you think somehow you are better than Rahab. Everyone of us comes to God the same way--as a sinner. And though we can assume that she gave up her life of sin when she gave her life to the Lord, still she was running a brothel when God came to her.

And God came to her in the form of two Israeli spies. She was a Canaanite woman, a pagan, an unbeliever in the midst of an unbelieving nation. She was the last person you would expect to find as a hero in Israel's conquest of the promised land. But a hero she was!

For us, she is a hero of the faith. Her name found its way into Hebrews 11, that long list of heroes of the faith. And James uses her example as a parallel to Abraham, who was perhaps the greatest example of OT faith.

So who is this woman, and what exactly was her faith? First of all, she shows us that:

I. FAITH IS THE COMMITMENT TO BELIEVE GOD'S WORD. And Rahab believed God's word. ` We don't know quite when she heard it for the first time. But she believed what she had heard. It was no coincidence that those two spies found their way to her home. God had arranged all the details.

After she had hidden the spies, she said to them, v.8-9

Imagine how amazed those spies must have been. They were probably fearing for their lives! They were probably fearing that this woman would turn them in. They were probably wondering how they were going to scout out the city of Jericho and report back to Joshua without being caught.

But Rahab tells them what to report. She tells them that God's word has already come to Jericho, and she, for one, has believed it. God is going to give them this land! And remember, for Rahab, it was her land. God was giving them her land!

Rahab's faith was the commitment to believe God's word. And that commitment gave her,

A. The conviction that the Lord has absolute power and authority. Because she believed God's word, she didn't doubt his ability to do what he had promised! That is faith. v.9

God has the power to induce fear! God will see that his name is honored. v.11a

She must have known some of the Scripture, also: Exod. 15:14 "The people will hear and be afraid; Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; The mighty men of Moab, Trembling will take hold of them; All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. 16 Fear and dread will fall on them; By the greatness of Your arm They will be as still as a stone, Till Your people pass over, O LORD, Till the people pass over Whom You have purchased."

Rahab knew that God had such power. What a testimony of faith!

So what about you? Do you have the conviction, the sure and settled conviction, that the Lord has absolute power and authority? Do you really believe that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ever ask or even imagine?

That is the conviction of faith. Also, Rahab's faith included,

B. The conviction that the Lord has acted in history. v.10

Rahab saw God's power manifested in history, and she believed.

It still amazes me how blind people can be. There are floods and earthquake, droughts, fires and hurricanes. All those are signs of the end times. God's power is absolutely evident, yet people harden their hearts.

And God continues to act in all of history. But people will not believe. Yet Rahab the harlot has much to teach all of us! And she has something to teach us about the nature of God, also. For faith includes:

C. The conviction that the Lord is the only true God. What a marvelous statement in, v.11b

Again, she is familiar with Scripture: Deut. 4:39 "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other."

Remember who this woman is. She is an immoral, Canaanite woman, living among a people who believe in many gods, whose lives are filled with idolatry. Her statements here go against everything she has ever been taught, it goes against her entire culture and religious background. And yet, what a profound theological truth. The Lord, Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is the only true God.

For us today, we are taught that theological truth, but sometimes I fear that it has little to bear on our lives. We keep our religion separated from the rest of our lives. That's the American way. But for Rahab, this conviction about the one true God changed the way she lived. Rahab's faith was a faith in action.

That is my great concern for our society today. Today, there are many people, most people, in fact, who say they have faith. But only for a very few is it a faith in action. In our society, very few who say they have faith really have the commitment to believe God's word and to believe that he is the absolute ruler over every area of our lives.

People of God, learn from this woman of faith. Learn how she put her faith in to action. Learn from Rahab's example, that:

II. FAITH PRODUCES COURAGE. Rahab was a woman of courage. Since courage is the theme of this entire book of Joshua, her story fits in very well. She demonstrates her courage by the way that she responds to those two spies. And for Rahab, her faith produced:

A. The courage to take personal risks. v.1-7

Let's analyze this a little bit. She let those men come to her house, she received them in peace, knowing who they were! Word got back to the king. He sent for Rahab to turn them in.

This was a matter of extreme bravery on Rahab's part. She was putting her own life on the line. The reason that she was willing to do that was her faith. Her faith produced good works. And she is commended for that. Hebr. 11:31 "By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace."

And, James 2:25 "Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?"

Courage, but not perfect courage. Look at how she avoided the king. v.4-6

She lied. It was an out and out lie.

But was she justified? Was it OK to lie under those circumstances? Tough question. Some say yes, protecting the lives was a higher good than telling the truth. OK to break one commandment to keep another.

I don't agree with that line of reasoning. I don't think that we should ever play one commandment against another. I don't believe that we are ever justified in breaking one of God's commands in an effort to keep another. That opens the door to the Machiavellian idea, that "the end justifies the means."

In other words, many people justify their bad actions on the grounds that they are trying to do something good. That is dangerous. Dangerous! The end does not justify the means. You cannot break one of God's laws just because you believe you are doing something good. The 9th commandment forbids all lying, and the 6th commandment forbids all murder.

I believe that it is possible to keep all of God's commands. They are not in conflict. They do not contradict one another. God treasures life, but he also treasures truth and truthfulness. And Rahab lied. So I believe that she is praised for her conduct and her courage, but not for her lying.

But what, then, should she have done? 1. Not required to tell everyone everything. She didn't have to tell the King everything he wanted to know. She could well have evaded his questions by not saying anything. But whatever she did say, should have been truthful. True for everyone of us. Truth is sacred, it must be protected. Whatever you say must be truthful. Absolute, no exceptions!

2. And if you say, that lying was the only way that she could have saved those two spies, then I would say that you are underestimating God's power! God didn't need her to lie in order to save those spies!

Please don't use Rahab's example as an excuse for lying. And whatever you speak, please don't speak untruth, for that violates the 9th commandment. Yet having said that, let me reemphasize, Rahab did show real courage by her actions of receiving those spies and sending them off. Her imperfection does not reduce the extent of her faith nor the expression of her courage. And courage really is faith in action.

Taking risks is an element of faith. Stepping out in faith is a necessity for us as Christians. Very different from putting the Lord to the test, when we recklessly challenge the Lord to perform. But we must take risks.

No greater illustration of that than what was about to happen to these people. They were about to cross the Jordan River. Jos. 3:13 "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.".

That is exactly what happened, Jos. 3:14 "So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho."

The priests had to get their feet wet before God would dry up the river. Do you see the significance of that? They had to step out in faith, literally, before God would perform his miracle. That is what we must be willing to do, also.

When it comes to investing money, I am very conservative. I take few risks. I am not cut out for high risk, high yield investing. Some people are cut out for that, because of their temperament and their ability to survive the possible loss of money in such an investment. I have neither, so I invest rather conservatively. With my money, I can afford to take very few, if any, risks. I expect many of you are exactly the same way.

There is a danger, however, when we bring that mentality over into our spiritual lives. Because I believe that an important element of faith is the willingness to take risks. Not foolishness and not testing of God, but real risks. We must be willing to step out in faith. The willingness to walk by faith, not by sight. The willingness to obey God, to do what is right, to follow God, no matter what the risk might be to your own comfort

And to speak somewhat symbolically, there are times in your life that unless you get your feet wet, God won't part the waters. Until you take the first step of walking by faith, God won't show you the way you should go. And that willingness to trust God takes great courage!

Rahab's faith produced just such courage.

But how do you know when to take risks for God? How do you know when what you might think is a risk of faith is actually presumptuous folly? I think that Rahab's example answers that question, also. For her courage had a definite purpose. She clearly shows us,

B. The courage to promote God's purposes. In other words, if you are promoting God's purposes, if you are doing something that you know is part of God's will, then you should have the courage to take risks. For Rahab, that was clear as day.

Rahab knew that she was promoting God's purpose. She knew that she was part of God's plan for the life and success of his people. And so she acted in faith with great courage. v.9a v.15-16

That is exactly what they did. v.22-23

Because of Rahab's courage, the spies knew that God had given the whole land into their hands! v.24

Do you see how the courage to promote God's purposes produces more courage in others? Rahab's courage gave the spies courage. Undoubtedly, their report gave Joshua courage.

Let me emphasize over and over again our need for courage. Faith produces courage, which is the willingness to take personal risks to promote God's purposes. And that is a calling that God gives to everyone of us, as we studied in chapter 1.

Jos. 1:6 "Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 "Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

There is one more aspect of Rahab's faith that I want to study this evening.

III. FAITH PRODUCES A DEEP TRUST IN GOD'S PROTECTION. On a practical level, what Rahab wanted was protection. She knew God had given her land into the hands of the Israelites, and she wanted to be protected from that danger.

So she struck up a deal with those spies. v.12-13 v.14

But Rahab was not simply depending on these two human beings, for those two men represented the whole nation of Israel, and if fact, they represented God himself! And so when Rahab struck up this deal with those spies, she was really trusting God for his protection. And so, her faith was again an example for all of us of,

A. The trust that God will protect our lives. In many ways, trust is the opposite of fear. There is much to fear in this world, many dangers. Rahab's life certainly proves that, though the dangers we face are very real also.

So think about it? How do you generally respond to danger? Fear or trust? Faith, real faith, produces a deep trust that God will protect our lives.

Psalms are full of such faith: Ps.18:1 "I will love You, O LORD, my strength. 2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. 4 The pangs of death surrounded me, And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 5 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears."

Ps.27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this I will be confident."

Ps.116:1 "I love the LORD, because He has heard My voice and my supplications. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. 3 The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. 4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD: "O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!" 5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. 6 The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. 7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling. 9 I will walk before the LORD In the land of the living."

But let's not think only about our earthly lives. We also need,

B. The trust that God will protect our eternal lives. It is not just physical protection that Rahab is seeking. It is also spiritual protection. Look at what the Lord includes in this story: v.17-21

The thing that will protect Rahab is the scarlet cord hanging in her window. You have to believe that those two spies remembered well the night that they came out of Egypt. It wasn't a scarlet cord that night, but it was scarlet. It was blood. That night it was the blood of the lamb that protected them from the destroyer who would take the life of every firstborn male in Egypt.

Exod. 12:13 'Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 'So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance...23 "For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you."

There are so many spiritual implications of that blood of the lamb. Obviously, the passover lamb is a type and symbol of Jesus Christ. Obviously, the blood of the passover lamb isn't what protects our eternal life. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that secures and protects our eternal lives.

And it is the blood of Jesus Christ that protected the life of Rahab, both her life in Jericho and her eternal life in heaven. Rahab has a wonderful testimony, and we will see her in heaven! She became a treasured member of the family of God, of Israel.

Josh. 6:25 "And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, 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."

But there is much more. Not only did God spare Rahab's life when Israel took over Jericho, but she married an Israelite man, a prince from the tribe of Judah named Salmon.

Salmon was the son of Nahshon. Num. 7:12 "And the one who offered his offering on the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah."

And Matthew tells us that Rahab and Salmon are included in the blood line of King David, and therefore in the line of Jesus Christ.

Mat. 1:4 "Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah."

And of course, that line is trace to Joseph, Mary's husband, by whom was born Jesus Christ.

Why is that significant? Because it raises this story above the simple affairs of human life. God was providing for the eternal life of Rahab, and God was providing for the line of his son. Rahab, the woman of faith, is one of those whom God chooses to be in that human ancestry of Jesus, who would be the only redeemer of his people, the only one to deliver them from their sins and from the curse of the law.

Faith to trust that God will secure and protect our eternal lives is the deepest expression of faith.

You can't protect your own eternal life. Your eternal security, the assurance of eternal life, does not depend upon yourself. It depends upon God's mercy.

It is by faith that we are saved, and it is by faith that we can be assured that we have eternal life.

And that faith is a faith in action. For faith without works is dead. Rahab the prostitute didn't remain a prostitute. She became Rahab the woman of God. She became Rahab, the woman of faith.

May each one of you be like Rahab, making the commitment to believe, to really believe God's word. And may that faith build in us great courage and a deep trust in God. And may each one of you, like Rahab, put your faith into action.

That is what James means when he declares,

James 2:24 "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only."

Works are not the ground upon which we are justified, or declared innocent before God. Rather, they are the validation and attestation of a true and lively faith. They are not the instrument by which you are saved, for the alone instrument by which you are justified is faith. But true faith is never alone in the person who is justified. It produces evidence, Works. And so, says James of this godly woman granted the great privilege of being in the human ancestry of Jesus Christ, we read,

James 2:25 "Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?"

Yes she was. She showed herself to be a woman of God, by putting her faith into action.

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