Sermon
# 711 Hebrews
Notes
Title: “The Harlot Rahab”
Text: Hebrews 11:31
Subject: Rahab’s Faith in Christ
Date: Tuesday Evening –
Tape # W-76a
Introduction:
When the Lord God sent Joshua and the children of
Though the inhabitants of Jericho prospered in the world, though they worked and played, labored by day and partied by night, though they filled their lives with every amusement, comfort, and pleasure they could find, though they were utterly ignorant of it, they were a people cursed of God, a people whose numbered days were up, and a people about to be forever damned!
I cannot help wondering who
in this assembly those words describe! They were as sure for hell as if they
were already there when Joshua and the children of
The
Scriptures tell us that the children of
Why? Why
was that house preserved? The answer is found in Hebrews 11:31. There was a
woman in that house who believed God. There was a woman in that house who was
sheltered by a scarlet cord, which represented the precious blood of Christ.
(Hebrews 11:31) By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with
them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
Let’s read her story
together
(Joshua
Joshua 6:20-25 "So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and
it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people
shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people
went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. (21) And they utterly destroyed all
that was in the city, both man and
woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. (22) But Joshua had said unto the
two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring
out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her. (23) And the young men that were spies
went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her
brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left
them without the camp of
Proposition: Though all of
When I
read that, being the kind of curious, inquisitive person I am, I want to know
why? Why was this one house left standing, while all the other houses were
destroyed? Why, when the entire wall surrounding the city collapsed under the
weight of God’s wrath, was this harlot’s house left standing?
Divisions: Give me your attention, and I will show you five reasons why this
one house upon the wall could not fall.
1. Rahab was the object of
God’s sovereign, electing love.
2. Rahab’s house was under the
blood.
3. Rahab believed God.
4. Rahab had the promise of God
for her security and the security of her house.
5. Rahab stayed in the house.
I.
Rahab
was the object of God’s sovereign, electing love.
What a picture this woman is of God’s sovereign
mercy and grace in Christ to sinners like us! Rahab was a sinner by birth, and
a notorious sinner by choice and practice. Religious moralists and legalists
try their best to make us believe that the word “harlot” simply means that Rahab was an innkeeper. But the kind of
inn Rahab kept was a brothel. The only women in those times and countries who
kept public houses and inns were prostitutes.
I do not
understand why people have so much trouble with that. The Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world to save sinners., real sinners.
1 Timothy
Matthew 9:10-13 "And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down
with him and his disciples. (11) And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said
unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? (12) But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick. (13) But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance."
Romans 5:6-8 "For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. (8) But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Mercy is
for the miserable. Grace is for the guilty. Redemption is for the ruined.
Righteousness is for the rotten. Rahab was a cursed woman, in a cursed
profession, dwelling in a cursed city, from a cursed race (An Amorite); yet she
obtained mercy.
Illustration: Barnard and the Pastor on Visitation
Why
did this cursed, woman obtain mercy? It was not because of anything in
her, or anything done by her, but because the Lord loved her and chose her as
the object of his grace. It is true, that she and her house were saved because
she received the spies, hid them, and sent them out another way. But that was
an act of faith, faith which God gave her, not to get mercy, but because she
had obtained mercy.
Note: Faith is not the product of
natural religion, logic, or human reason. Faith is the gift of God (Eph.
2:8-9). Faith s the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.
It was not by accident that the spies stumbled into
Rahab’s house when they came in to spy out the land. They came to Rahab’s house
because God had purposed it from eternity.
If you
will read her conversation with the spies in chapter two, you will see how this
harlot’s experience of grace is described (Jos. 2:8-19).
A. By some means or another, this woman heard the
gospel of God’s salvation.
Joshua 2:10 "For we have heard how the LORD dried up
the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did
unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were
on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed."
B. Rahab’s heart withered before the august, sovereign
majesty of the one true and living God.
Joshua
The other
inhabitants of the land withered in the dread and fear of God’s wrath and
power; but Rahab’s heart withered in repentance and faith, as is evident from
verse nine. Here we see that when she heard the report of God’s wondrous works…
C. Rahab believed God.
Joshua 2:9 "And she said unto the men, I
know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is
fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of
you."
II.
Rahab’s
house was under the blood.
Not only was Rahab an object of God’s amazing, free,
and sovereign grace in Christ, her house could not fall under the wrath of God
because it was under the refuge and protection of the precious blood of Christ.
That is what was symbolized by the scarlet cord hanging from her window (
Joshua 2:18-21 "Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet
thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy
father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home
unto thee ... (21) And she said, According unto your
words, so be it. And she sent them
away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window."
This
scarlet cord which Rahab dropped from her window was, like the blood of Abel’s
lamb, like the blood of the passover lamb upon the
houses of the Israelites, like the blood of sin-offering in the tabernacle, a
picture and type of the precious blood of Christ.
Let others
mock and deride us as being outdated in our religion, if they must, but in this
house of worship the precious, sin-atoning, redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not only prominent, it is everything! God helping us, that is the way
it will remain! How I thank God for the blood! I never tire of hearing about
it. I never get tired of singing about it. And I never grow weary of preaching
it.
A. It is by the blood that we are redeemed.
1 Peter 1:18-20 "Forasmuch as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold, from your
vain conversation received by tradition
from your fathers; (19) But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for
you."
Revelation 5:9-10 "And they sung a new song,
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for
thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (10) And hast made us unto our God
kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
B. It is by the blood that we have forgiveness.
Ephesians 1:7 "In whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his
grace."
C. It is the precious blood of Christ that gives us
access to and acceptance with the Lord our God.
Hebrews 10:19-22 "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us,
through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
(21) And having an high priest
over the house of God; (22) Let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."
D. It is the blood of Christ, sprinkled upon our hearts
that gives us the blessed peace and full assurance of faith that under it we
are safe and secure from the avenging wrath and justice of God.
Romans 8:1-4 "There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Romans 8:33-34 "Who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth. (34) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us."
The Lord
our God declares, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you!”
Rahab believed him. Do you? When Joshua saw the scarlet blood hanging in her
window, when he saw the blood upon her house, “Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive”. This one house on the wall
could not fall because it was protected by grace. It could not fall because it
was protected by blood. It could not fall because it was protected by faith.
III. Rahab believed God.
Rahab is held up before us in faith’s hall of fame, in Hebrews chapter eleven, along side Abraham, Moses, and Joshua, as an eminent example of faith (v. 31). James uses her, side by side with Abraham, as an example of what it means to prove our faith by our works.
James
Hers was not an empty, unfruitful, meaningless profession of faith. Oh no, Rahab believed God and proved that she did by her works of obedience. Let me remind you of how this woman proved her faith by he obedience.
A. She believed the report she heard of God’s salvation (2:9-10).
B. Rahab received, cared for, and protected God’s
messengers in her home, at the risk of her own life.
C. Believing God, she also sought mercy for her
household (
Joshua 2:12-13 "Now therefore, I pray you, swear
unto me by the LORD, since I have showed you kindness, that ye will also show
kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token: (13) And that ye will
save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all
that they have, and deliver our lives from death."
D. Rahab hung everything upon the blood of the covenant
represented in that cord hanging from her window.
E. Rahab the harlot so thoroughly believed God that she
brought all her family into her house and thus into the pail of grace!
1. This old harlot, who had
been the shame of her family, was made in the hands of God the primary
instrument and means of eternal salvation to her family!
2. Rahab the harlot, believing
God, obtained a place in the family tree of the incarnate Son of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:1-5). – Matthew identifies her as the wife of Salmon (a
prince of the tribe of
Note: In the genealogy of Christ
only four women are mentioned. All four of them have a specific taint upon
them. Tamar was guilty of incest. Rahab was a harlot. Ruth was a cursed,
unclean Moabitess. Bathsheba was an adulteress. Thus, even in his genealogy and
birth, our Savior associated himself with sinners! The Son of God came to save
sinners.
Rahab’s
house could not fall because it was protected by grace, protected by blood,
protected by faith, and protected by the promise of God.
IV. Rahab had the promise of God for her security and the security of
her house.
If you read Joshua chapter two again (vv. 12-21),
you will see that the messengers of God made a solemn promise to Rahab. They
said, You go get your family, bring them into your
house, bind this scarlet cord to the window, and stay in the house. And when
the Lord gives us this city, “We will
deal kindly and truly with thee”.
Child of
God, this is our security, too. We have the promise of God. This is what he has
promised.
John
Romans 8:38-39 "For I am persuaded, that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, (39) Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
1
Thessalonians
Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye
have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
1 John 5:11-13 "And this is the record, that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (12) He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (13) These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
Romans
I want you to see one more
thing. The house on the wall that could not fall could not fall because…
V.
Rahab
stayed in the house.
God’s faithful messengers told her that if she went
out of the house, she would perish with all the rest of
Under the blood of Jesus,
Safe in the Shepherd’s fold,
Under the blood of Jesus,
Safe while the ages roll,
Safe, though the world may
crumble,
Safe, though the stars grow
dim,
Under the blood of Jesus -
I am secure in Him!
AMEN.