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What if the people society discards as irredeemable are the very ones God chooses to highlight for His greatest purposes? In the opening moments of Israel's conquest of the Promised Land, a story emerges about a woman on the fringes who risks everything for a glimpse of hope, raising the question of who truly qualifies for redemption. Join us as we uncover how this unexpected encounter reveals a side of God's character that challenges everything we assume about worth, judgment, and grace.
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/the-gift-of-grace
#mlcc #church #churchonline
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/the-gift-of-grace
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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LearningTranscript
00:00Agostino D'Antonio was a sculptor in Florence, Italy.
00:06He came across a real large piece of marble.
00:11And he decided that he was going to try his hand at getting a sculpture out of this piece of marble.
00:17So he brings it back to his workshop and he begins looking at it.
00:20And a couple of hits there and there with a mallet and chisel.
00:24And finally kind of throws up his hands in exasperation and says,
00:28this marble is too flawed for anything good to come out of it.
00:33So he throws it aside.
00:36Soon thereafter, another sculptor came, found the piece, a large piece of marble,
00:41brings it to his studio, again begins visioning what it could be.
00:45A couple of hits of the mallet and a chisel says, this piece of marble is too flawed.
00:52It's not good for anything.
00:54Throws it out.
00:55The piece of marble sits 40 years on a rubbish heap, abandoned.
01:02One day, Michelangelo was walking past this rubbish heap and sees this large piece of marble.
01:10And in his mind, he sees within this marble what could be.
01:15And he asks his servants or his helpers to bring this piece of marble back to his studio.
01:21And in so doing, he begins hammering and chiseling away on this, what two sculptors said, flawed piece of marble.
01:28And when he was finished with this flawed piece of marble, out of it came one of his greatest pieces of work.
01:39What we know is the statue of David, viewed by millions of people or perhaps tens of millions of people every year who go by to see this masterpiece carved out of a large block of what two sculptors said were flawed pieces of marble.
01:58You know, far too many times, if we are not careful, I see it in my life, you probably do as well.
02:08If we're not careful, we begin classifying humanity into those who are flawed and those who look good.
02:17And once we've made that classification in our mind of those who are flawed and those who are look good, those who are the flawed of humanity that are sitting on the rubbish heap of society,
02:29then we make the determination, I don't have time to spend with these flawed people because they're flawed.
02:36I'm going to spend the amount of time I have with the people that seem to be nice and good and whole.
02:42And to say it honestly, it's easier that way for us.
02:50We don't have to spend the time it takes to interact with that flawed piece of humanity on the rubbish heap of society.
03:01We just continue on with our lives.
03:03I mean, hey, listen, we're busy people anyway, right?
03:05So we say we're going to invest our time in those people who aren't so flawed in society so that we can get a greater harvest for the time that we have.
03:17I am so glad God is not like that.
03:22I am so glad that God does not put people, humanity, into flawed category and the not flawed category.
03:29But God looks at humanity and says, I love them and I've demonstrated my love for them in that Christ went to the cross.
03:42I mean, think about it.
03:43He takes a murderer in Moses and raises him up to be one of the greatest prophets of the nation of Israel.
03:53We throw murderers away.
03:57God doesn't.
03:59The story that we're going to see today, this is a story of such a person in society considered a flawed human being on the rubbish heap of society.
04:14And yet God does not view that person this way here in chapter two of the book of Joshua.
04:20I think far too many times when we're reading through the book of Joshua, we're reading so quickly through.
04:25We don't pause at chapter one.
04:26We're normally reading multiple chapters at the same time.
04:29And so when we buzz through chapter two, we automatically think, okay, it's about the nation of Israel.
04:35They're going in to possess the land.
04:36That's chapter one we just read last week.
04:38And so they're going to do these things.
04:40And then it's all about possessing the land.
04:43It's all about God's promises to Abraham.
04:44And then you buzz right through chapter two.
04:46And I think you miss the most critical story in the first half of the book of Joshua.
04:52We associate it with simply just the possession of the land of the inheritance of Israel.
04:58But in so doing, I think God is setting us a standard right now at the very up front.
05:02Yes, Canaan will be destroyed because they have walked away from the living God and ignored him for centuries.
05:09So now judgment's coming.
05:11But yet in the midst of the judgment that's going to come, he wants us to know right up front,
05:16those flawed pieces of humanity who turn to him by faith will be redeemed.
05:22That's the story up here, right here.
05:24The very beginning of the book of Joshua, those who turn by faith to him will be saved.
05:30It's not just this mass destruction that we think about coming into the promised land,
05:34but he gives us an upfront story.
05:36Listen, there are flawed pieces of humanity.
05:38You say, rubbish heap of society.
05:41You say, I have a value on their lives and I care for them.
05:46That's chapter two of Joshua.
05:48Let's see if we can go through chapter two.
05:50Let's start with verse number one.
05:52In this verse number one, we see the mission.
05:54We see what's setting the plot for the story.
05:57And the bulk of the text that we're going to see today is revolving around this one person.
06:02It's not about the spies that we're going to see here in verse number one,
06:06nor necessarily about Joshua or the children of Israel.
06:08The whole bulk of this text is about a person.
06:12It tells us it's important that God recorded so much to tell us right up front what he wants us to know.
06:17So verse number one.
06:18And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying,
06:25Go view the land, especially Jericho.
06:29And they went and came into a house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
06:36So we see these two spies that are going to be sent out.
06:39Now, originally Joshua and Caleb were sent out to spy out the whole land.
06:44These two spies are sent out not to spy out the whole land, but simply one city in that land, just about Jericho.
06:51And this really was a good military strategy for Joshua.
06:57It wasn't a question of faith whether God was going to give him the land.
07:00That wasn't it.
07:01You have to remember, Joshua was a military leader.
07:04And any good military leader wants to know the lay of the land,
07:07wants to know how to get in, how to get out, how to conquer,
07:11how to save the most people from their side alive in a battle.
07:14So he wants to know what the lay of the land is.
07:16We can't raise the head in the story.
07:18Hey, they don't know the walls are going to fall down.
07:21They haven't got that information yet.
07:23They think they're going to have to go into the city and conquer the city,
07:26whether that's punching a hole in the wall,
07:28climbing over the wall with ladders or ropes or building some siege work against it.
07:33They don't know the story like we do.
07:35So he's sending them into spy out the city of Jericho.
07:38How can we best take this?
07:39Great military strategy on Joshua's part.
07:42Small recon unit sent into the city to bring back valuable information to the troops
07:47so that they can keep the most people alive in a battle.
07:50Great military strategy.
07:53Now, they would really gather or not very much attention would be given to them
07:58going into the house of a prostitute.
07:59I mean, you think about it.
08:01House of a prostitute, traffic's pretty high.
08:03In and out, constantly on a regular basis.
08:05So you can imagine they chose the house of a prostitute in their mind
08:09for the reason of anonymity.
08:11We can be anonymous here.
08:12We can gather information within this place, but also we can be anonymous.
08:16So we're not going to gather attention to ourselves.
08:19Now, what we need to do is be careful not to minimize Rahab's profession.
08:24It plays a very vital role in the whole story.
08:27Some commentaries try to take us away from the idea of Rahab being a prostitute
08:32by saying she was simply an innkeeper.
08:35She had a house where people lodged at.
08:37She was just a person that put up travelers on their weary way.
08:43We can't minimize her profession.
08:45She is a prostitute.
08:47Some translations will say she was a whore.
08:50The New Testament two times calls her also a prostitute,
08:54using the Greek word to define a prostitute, not an innkeeper.
08:58We cannot minimize who she was as a person.
09:01She was a prostitute.
09:02Now, in the inn, she did have a housing place,
09:06but in the housing place was her brothel, if you want to say it like that.
09:09They could gather valuable information to take back to Joshua.
09:13Something that we need to see right up front here,
09:15what we need to understand, and that is the key to the story is,
09:19it was not an accident that these two spies went to Rahab's house.
09:24It was not an accident.
09:26I guarantee you there were other brothels in Jericho.
09:29There were other places they could have gone.
09:33But I want you to know it was not an accident they ended up at Rahab's house.
09:37No, it was a divine appointment by God in His sovereign act of grace.
09:42It is God's will that they're at this house.
09:46In their mind, they thought,
09:47we'll just seek out any prostitute's house.
09:48We'll go there.
09:49I believe God directed them to Rahab's house.
09:53It was a divine appointment.
09:55Now, let's look at verses 2 through 21.
09:57We see now this person, Rahab.
09:59Now, I'll make some comments as we're going through
10:02and try to go by paragraph by paragraph instead of reading the whole thing.
10:05It makes it easier.
10:07Verse number 2.
10:09And it was told to the king of Jericho,
10:11behold, men of Israel has come here tonight to search out the land.
10:14Somehow the king finds out.
10:15We don't know if someone from inside her brothel goes and tells the king
10:20or whether they see them going in.
10:22Bottom line is somebody in the city profiled these two spies and said,
10:26they're not like us.
10:27They must be the people that are out here to spy out the land.
10:31So they're profiled.
10:32Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying,
10:37bring out the men who have come to you and entered into your house
10:39for they have come to search out all the land.
10:42But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.
10:45So she hides them and she says,
10:47true, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
10:51And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out.
10:54And I do not know where the men went out.
10:56Pursue them quickly for you will overtake them.
10:58But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax.
11:03And she hid them in the order on the roof.
11:05So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan,
11:08as far as the fords and the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.
11:12So we see now that Rahab takes these spies and hides them from the king's guards.
11:18She wasn't too concerned about her own life for if they were truly found within her house,
11:22she would have been killed.
11:23So she puts her own safety aside to protect these two men.
11:26Now, as we read on, we're going to see later on.
11:30And what we need to understand is that no one, not God, not Joshua, not the spies,
11:37no one condoned her lie for it was truly a lie.
11:42She lied.
11:44Now, some would say it's okay to lie to save the life of a person in that sense.
11:48It's okay to save these spies' lives by lying.
11:51But I want you to know in the text, no one condones that lie.
11:54God never said it was a good thing to lie.
11:57Joshua never said, great, I'm glad you protected my people by lying.
11:59No one condones this.
12:02It was a flat-out lie.
12:05No classification of white, black lies.
12:07It was a lie.
12:08She hides them among the flax.
12:10Now, the flax are simply stalks that grow up about three feet high,
12:14and they chop them down, put them in water for a while, and then they dry them out,
12:17and they make linen out of these flax stalks, or they make wicks for oil lamps.
12:22We would make linseed oil out of flax today, or if you like to bake bread,
12:26you would put flax seeds, perhaps, in your bread.
12:28That's what flax was used back then for, linen and wicks and oil candles.
12:32We would use it today, perhaps, for linseed oil.
12:36I want you to see in verse number 11 here now.
12:39Let's read on.
12:39Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them,
12:43I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us,
12:48and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
12:51For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt,
12:56and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan,
13:00to Sion and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
13:03And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you.
13:08For the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
13:13Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you,
13:17you also will deal kindly with my father's house and give me a sure sign
13:20that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters,
13:24and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.
13:28And the men said to her,
13:29Our life for yours, even to death.
13:31If you do not tell this business of ours,
13:33then when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.
13:38What I want you to see in verse number 11 is this.
13:42Verse number 11, we see Rahab's confession.
13:45I don't know if you caught that or not.
13:46Look what she says.
13:48God is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
13:52In her confession, she is basically saying this.
13:55Listen, God is unique.
13:58He is not like us.
14:00I am different than this God, Yahweh, that you are serving.
14:03He is not like.
14:04He is unique.
14:05That places me in a separate category.
14:07I am a creature under the creative God.
14:10He is unique.
14:10He's not like us is the first thing she said.
14:12He's other than we are.
14:14And the second thing she said in this confession was this.
14:16God is on the earth below, on the earth beneath.
14:20God is very present.
14:23He is imminent.
14:24He is close.
14:26He is not a God on a journey.
14:27He's actively involved with his people is what Rahab is saying.
14:31So God is on the earth beneath.
14:33Has the idea of he is constantly working for his people.
14:36He's very close to them.
14:38So he is unlike any other God we have ever heard about.
14:40For the gods that we serve are not gods like this at all.
14:44The gods that we serve, we make them out of stone or rock or wood.
14:47And we bow down to them.
14:48Yeah, but we have the power over them.
14:49We control them.
14:51This God is not one to be controlled, Rahab is saying.
14:55And in this story here, Rahab, we have to understand she's not delivered because she's a shrewd woman.
15:02She's not delivered because she lied to the guards.
15:05She's not delivered because she hid the spies, because she made a business transaction with them to save her life alive in her father's house.
15:13She's not delivered because of her shrewdness.
15:16No, she's delivered by her faith.
15:19That's what's delivering her.
15:21It's her faith.
15:22And we read about that in Hebrews chapter 11, our Bible verse for today.
15:25Verse number 31.
15:27By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
15:34It was her faith that delivered her, not her shrewdness.
15:38It was not something that she had done.
15:40No, it was her faith in a great God that saved her.
15:43That's what delivered her.
15:45I like this Hebrews 11 31.
15:47I don't know if you've ever thought about it before, but listen, it says she did not perish with those who were disobedient.
15:54Notice the text does not say uninformed.
15:58Do you understand the difference?
16:01To be uninformed means I do not know.
16:03I cannot make a decision upon that.
16:06To be disobedient means I have all of the information.
16:10What did she say?
16:10We know what your God did to those kings.
16:14We know how you were delivered from Egypt.
16:17Our hearts melt because of you.
16:19What does that tell us?
16:20The whole city knew about this God.
16:24She did not perish with those who were disobedient.
16:25What does that mean?
16:26It means they had the information and they willingly chose not to receive it.
16:31That's the difference.
16:32They had all the information.
16:33It wasn't that they were uninformed.
16:36They did not receive the information that they got.
16:40In risking her life, she saves the spies.
16:43And in so doing, she becomes a demonstration for James of what a person is who has great faith.
16:49As a matter of fact, in James chapter 2, he talks about Rahab.
16:52He talks about Abraham, the father of the Israelite nation.
16:55And then he talks about Rahab and says, Rahab, this is a woman who had great faith.
17:00And he talks about her in James chapter 2, verse 25.
17:03He says, 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.
17:11Here, just like Abraham.
17:13Abraham heard the word of God, responded by faith to the word of God, and did what God asked him to do.
17:19That's the works part.
17:21So we see Rahab now heard about God, believed the message about God, and now acted by saving the spies.
17:29So James said, what a great woman of faith.
17:32And her faith is demonstrated by her works.
17:35It's the same way for us.
17:37We can claim to have great faith, but if there are no works accompanying our faith, then one would say, you know what?
17:43You may claim to have great faith, but I don't see any works that are accompanying your faith.
17:47How could your faith actually mean anything to you if it doesn't change who you are?
17:52Good argument.
17:54Rahab was a woman with great faith.
17:57And in verse number 12, do you notice her first concern after she gets the message of deliverance?
18:04The first concern after she gets the message of deliverance is this.
18:08What about my father and his household?
18:11What about my family?
18:13Will you save my family too?
18:17I know you promised me deliverance, but what about my family?
18:21So her greatest concern after she gets this promise, after she exercises her faith and gets the promise of deliverance, is that, what about my family, God?
18:29Please take care of my family too?
18:32So the two spies said, listen, bring all of your family, your father's household, brothers and sisters, mother, bring them all into your household.
18:41And if they stay in your household, let's read that.
18:43Then she let them down by a rope through the window.
18:46For her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall.
18:50And she said to them, go into the hills or the pursuers will encounter you and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned.
18:58Then afterward, you may go your way.
18:59Then the men said to her, we will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear.
19:05Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down.
19:11And you shall gather in your house, your father and mother, your brothers and all your father's household.
19:17Then if anyone goes out by the doors or out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head and we shall be guiltless.
19:25But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head.
19:31But if you tell this business of ours, then we will be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.
19:37And she said, according to your words, so be it.
19:40Then she sent them away and they departed and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.
19:45So we see now this place becomes a refuge for house.
19:50Everyone that's inside of the house will be spared according to the word of the spies who made an oath by the living God.
19:57This will truly happen.
19:58This is refuge here.
19:59This is the place that is safe.
20:01Everyone who is in it will be saved.
20:03If you leave outside, there's no hope.
20:06We cannot promise you that you will survive.
20:10And a scarlet cord then is used as a symbol to show the troops when they come.
20:16This is the woman who had great faith.
20:18Save her alive.
20:19A scarlet cord was tied outside the window.
20:21What an appropriate color, huh?
20:23Red, scarlet cord symbolizing the blood of her household that will be saved, delivered because of a promise, because of her great faith.
20:32And not only that, the blood of, it reminds me of the Passover, doesn't it, you?
20:36Taking the blood and putting it over the doorposts and on the lintels and everyone who remains inside the house is what?
20:41Safe?
20:42If you go outside of the house, what's going to happen?
20:44Death, destruction, stay inside the house.
20:46Here are the scarlet cords tied.
20:48What a wonderful picture and color of both the blood of the family and the blood of redemption.
20:52And in a real sense, think about this.
20:57Rahab's house was like Noah's ark.
21:00Think about it.
21:02Rahab's responsibility was to go out and get her father, her mother, her brothers, and her father's household, bring them into her house, which then safety would be there.
21:11If you were outside, there was no safety.
21:13If you were inside, there was safety.
21:14That was Noah's job, wasn't it?
21:16He preached about righteousness.
21:18He preached about the judgment of God that was coming and said, come into the ark with me.
21:21Here is safety.
21:23We know the story.
21:24Only eight people survived that, but her house was just like Noah's ark, a place of refuge to be safe in.
21:33Great thing about God is that he will always reward great faith.
21:38Whether it's Rahab, whether it's Joshua, whether it's you this morning, God will always reward great faith.
21:47It's not that we necessarily have great faith.
21:50I like what Hudson Taylor said.
21:52No, it's not that we have great faith.
21:54We have faith in a great God.
21:56And he always will reward that.
22:01Through this act, this is where it gets exciting.
22:04Rahab, Rahab, a flawed piece of humanity, on the rubbish heap of society, exercise faith in a great God.
22:17She has promised deliverance.
22:19And then on top of the deliverance, not just saving her alive, on top of the deliverance, now Rahab finds a place in the midst of God's people.
22:29She comes a proselyte.
22:32And on top of that, not only does she find a place in the midst of God's people, she marries an Israelite.
22:41But Rahab, Rahab, who is the father of Boaz, who married Ruth.
22:52And Rahab now becomes the great, great grandmother of King David.
23:02A flawed piece of humanity on the rubbish heap of society, who exercises faith in a great God, is taken from there and placed into the line of the Messiah.
23:16A prostitute.
23:20That's fascinating to me.
23:24Matthew chapter 1 verse 5 tells us exactly how she fits.
23:28Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David.
23:37Now this flawed piece of humanity, as far as the world thought, belonging on the rubbish heap of society, is placed in the line of the Messiah.
23:46Who will come to redeem the world.
23:49God looks at people different than we do.
23:52He doesn't see them like we see them.
23:55And I'm so glad.
23:58She immediately, according to the text, takes a scarlet cord and ties it to the window.
24:02She doesn't want any time lapse.
24:04She knows they still got to go back to the troops and the troops got to come.
24:07She doesn't want to take any chances.
24:09Her faith is acting again.
24:10Ties a scarlet cord up.
24:13Look at verses 22 to 24.
24:15The messengers come back now to Joshua.
24:19They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing.
24:28Then the two men returned.
24:29They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua, the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them.
24:35And they said to Joshua, truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands and also all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.
24:45This is the message they come back to Joshua with.
24:47Now, as a military commander, you're thinking great news.
24:50That's going to help us in the battle.
24:52But they come back now with a message that's full of faith.
24:55They said, God's going to give it to this.
24:57Definitely.
24:58Joshua, I'm sure, reminded him of himself.
25:01I came back with the same message.
25:03Now, here's a great message coming back.
25:06Now, you can imagine what possibly took place in a conversation with the wives of the spies when they got back.
25:14Honey, how was your trip?
25:18Well, it was great.
25:18We left camp and we swam over the Jordan River that was flooded at this time.
25:22It was a bit scary at first.
25:23The current was pretty strong, but we made it across the other side, kind of dried ourself off a little bit.
25:28We approached Jericho wondering, you know, what's the best way to get into this place without being noticed?
25:33And so we kind of hemmed and hawed around and watched people a little bit.
25:36And then we entered into the city and we went to a prostitute's house.
25:40You did what?
25:41You went to a prostitute's house?
25:45She was a really nice lady.
25:47Nice lady, my foot.
25:48I'm never going to be nice to you again.
25:50You can imagine the conversation that the wife, she doesn't know what's going on here.
25:54And then he says, no, wait a second, honey.
25:55Listen, she was a nice lady, but not only that, she spared our lives from the king's guards.
26:02And then she hid us.
26:04And then she told us that she is a believer also in our God, Yahweh.
26:07And not only did she hide us, she let us down by this cord to save us, to deliver us, that we can make it back here at this time.
26:14And you know what, honey?
26:15Just wait a few days.
26:16You're going to get a chance to meet her.
26:18She's a great woman.
26:21Perhaps something like that.
26:22Here's what God has for us tonight.
26:26This is for our instruction.
26:28If you remember Joshua, Joshua sends out the two spies.
26:31Why?
26:32As a military leader, he wants to know the lay of the land.
26:36It is a wise thing to do.
26:37It is a good thing to do so he doesn't get his people killed.
26:40So he goes to spy out the land.
26:42That makes sense to me.
26:44He's going in as a recon unit to get information about how they can attack Jericho.
26:51So the principle that I get out of that, this is a man that had great faith.
26:54So it wasn't a lack of faith that he sent the two spies in.
26:57No, it was a wise decision on the basis of a military commander to find out what's happening.
27:01So here's the principle I see out of that is, listen, when God calls you to a ministry,
27:06he called Joshua to the ministry of being the leader of his people and the deliverer of the nation of Israel
27:11and possessor of the promised land.
27:13When God calls you to a ministry, he expects you to do it.
27:20They could have sat on the other side, the east side of the Jordan River
27:23and expected God to rain down fire and brimstone on all the land of Canaan,
27:27just like he did Sodom and Gomorrah.
27:28And they could have just sat back and waited after everyone was dead.
27:31They could have gone in, cleaned up and then set up their houses.
27:35God says, no, Joshua, you go in and possess the land.
27:38You do it.
27:39And so God was saying, Joshua, I made you a military leader.
27:42Here, I prepared you for this.
27:44Now I want you to use what I gave you.
27:46It's the same way for us in ministry.
27:48Whatever ministry God has called you into, he expects you to do it.
27:51He expects you to exercise the gift that he has given you.
27:54He expects you to exercise the intellect, the reason that he has given you,
27:58and to do the ministry that he's called you to.
28:00He doesn't want you to sit back and say, God, do it for me.
28:02No, he wants you to do it.
28:04Now, the great thing about it is, as we are doing it, he empowers us and leads us.
28:08That's a great thing.
28:09But he wants us to step out.
28:12Second thing I see is this.
28:14God is gracious, and he always rewards faith.
28:17Bottom line.
28:19You exercise faith, God will reward you.
28:21I don't know what the reward is going to look like.
28:23Maybe it's not until you get into his presence.
28:25I'm not sure.
28:25I do know that he will reward you.
28:27It's a promise.
28:29He always rewards great faith.
28:30That's the story of Rahab.
28:34The third thing I see is this.
28:36There was a conversation one time between Abraham and God about Sodom and Gomorrah.
28:41And Abraham says something like this to God.
28:43He says, God, listen, are you going to destroy the righteous along with the wicked?
28:48You're the God of all, the judge of all the earth.
28:51How could the judge of all the earth do wrong?
28:53How could, I can't picture in my mind that you, the righteous judge,
28:56would destroy the righteous along with the wicked.
28:59That's not your character.
29:00Abraham is saying to God.
29:03And the story here is simply this.
29:07God will not judge the righteous along with the wicked.
29:12It was not an accident.
29:14He sent these two spies to Rahab's house because here is a woman he knew that believed.
29:20He sent those two spies so that she would be delivered from the wrath that was going to come upon the city.
29:26God will not judge the righteous with the wicked.
29:28The fourth thing is this.
29:35This is important for us to understand because there's a lot of questions and you're going to get questions from unbelievers about this.
29:42The judgment of God does not come from lack of information.
29:47Catch this.
29:49The judgment of God upon mankind does not come from lack of information.
29:54It comes because the information received has been rejected.
29:58That's why judgment comes.
30:02Every person who has ever lived and who ever will live knows that there's a God.
30:07You say, wait a second, how can that be?
30:08They're in the jungles.
30:09They don't know anything about God.
30:10They've never even heard about white people before.
30:13How could they possibly hear about God?
30:15Romans chapter 1 tells us that every human being understands God through the creation.
30:23That God's invisible attributes, His mighty power, His Godhead has been displayed through the creation.
30:29And every human being knows by looking at the creation that there is a God.
30:33No one can say there is no God because creation displays God.
30:37Now, mankind has taken that truth and suppressed that truth and pushed it down and rejected that truth.
30:43And from that comes the rest that we read in Romans chapter 1.
30:47But judgment of God does not come from a lack of information.
30:51Every human being has at least that much information about God.
30:54That God exists.
30:55That He's powerful.
30:56That there's a Godhead.
30:58That He is the creator.
30:59But it comes because that information that has been given is rejected.
31:05And like Rahab, when you respond to God by faith, God is always faithful to either send you more light or send you the answer to what you're looking for.
31:17That's the kind of God that we serve.
31:18So many stories of missionaries have said the exact same thing.
31:21They come into a village, come in bringing, at that time, a big black Bible.
31:26And the villagers say, it's about time you got here.
31:30And the missionaries say, what are you talking about?
31:32Well, we got word somehow that the great God, the creator of all things, was going to send us the answer to what we've been looking for.
31:41And the answer was going to come in a big black book.
31:44What took you so long to get here?
31:45Every time man responds to the light that God has given to him, God is always faithful to give him more light.
31:53That's Rahab.
31:56Now, here's the one I like the best.
31:58This is the one that I like the best and is really the essence, basically, of chapter 2 of Joshua.
32:03And that's this.
32:05No one is excluded from the grace of God if they will turn to Him by faith.
32:10No person who is deemed a flawed piece of humanity on the rubbish heap of society will ever be turned away from God who exercises faith in Him.
32:23No one is excluded from God's grace.
32:27What kind of God do we serve?
32:32Good answer.
32:33Awesome God.
32:35What kind of God do we serve?
32:36Let me tell you a story and I'll tell you what kind of God we serve.
32:38Tony Campola is a writer, an author, speaker at seminars.
32:44He's also a sociologist for Eastern College.
32:47He's written a lot, talked a lot.
32:48He had this story happen to him.
32:51He was in Honolulu, Hawaii.
32:54And because of the six hours time difference, he went to bed, but he woke up, he couldn't sleep.
32:58So he decided to go get something to eat.
33:00So he leaves his hotel and goes down the street to a diner.
33:03It's 3 o'clock in the morning.
33:05So he says, goes up to the counter.
33:06There's a guy working behind the counter.
33:08His name is Harry.
33:09Can I have a cup of coffee and a donut?
33:11Tony says.
33:12So he gets a cup of coffee and a donut and sits down.
33:14It wasn't too many minutes later, perhaps 15 minutes later, eight or nine boisterous women
33:19come walking through the door who were dressed very obviously as prostitutes.
33:25They come in.
33:26He's thinking, how do I make a quick escape out of here?
33:28They come in, basically sit around him.
33:30He can't really even move.
33:31And they began talking about their work.
33:35And he said, I wish I would have had something to cover my ears.
33:37I mean, there's this stuff that you and I should never, ever hear in our lives.
33:40And they're talking about it.
33:41And one of the prostitutes said, hey, tomorrow's my 39th birthday.
33:46And the second prostitute said, what's that to me?
33:48What do you want me to throw you a birthday party?
33:51And the third prostitute said, don't be mean to her.
33:53She was just saying it was her birthday.
33:55I mean, don't.
33:55I mean, be nice to her.
33:56Come on.
33:57And so the first one who said it was her birthday, Agnes, said, why should you throw me a birthday?
34:02I've never had a birthday party in my life before.
34:04Why should you throw me one?
34:06So they do their eating and get up and leave.
34:10And Tony walks up to Harry afterwards and said, do they come in every night?
34:15And he said, yeah, they come in here every night, three o'clock in the morning.
34:18And the one that said that she's going to have a birthday, does she come in here every night?
34:21He said, yep.
34:21She comes in along with the rest of them, three o'clock in the morning.
34:24So Tony looks to Harry and says, how about if we do this?
34:27Let's throw her a birthday party.
34:30Harry said, I like that.
34:31That's a good idea.
34:32And so Tony said, I'll get the crepe paper stuff and make the signs and hand the banners.
34:36And then I'll go buy a cake.
34:37And Harry said, no, no, I'm a baker.
34:38I'll bake the cake.
34:39Let me do that.
34:40Tony said, great.
34:41So he goes and buys the stuff.
34:43And Harry bakes the cake.
34:45And at 2.30 the next morning, he's there decorating the place up, getting ready for a birthday party for Agnes, the prostitute.
34:51Word must have got out because soon before three o'clock, the place started filling up with prostitutes and it was packed.
35:00At three o'clock, the door opens up.
35:02In comes Agnes.
35:04And they all yell happy birthday.
35:06She almost fainted.
35:12Her knees went weak.
35:13Her two friends had to hold on to her and escort her over to the table.
35:16Harry brings out the birthday cake and sets it down in front of her.
35:20She lost it.
35:21She just started sobbing.
35:22She said, no one has ever done anything nice like this to me before.
35:25She looks at the cake and she goes, Harry, I don't want to be rude.
35:32And this may be weird, but can I take the cake home?
35:35I don't want to eat it right now.
35:36Can I just take the cake home?
35:37Harry said, sure.
35:38Go ahead, Agnes.
35:39Take it home.
35:40So she gets ready to leave.
35:42She just leaves a couple houses down, a couple apartments down.
35:44She leaves the place.
35:46And so here's Tony Campola in a diner full of prostitutes.
35:51The head person that they're celebrating on birthday is gone at this time.
35:54And he's thinking, what do I do?
35:55And so he just says, how about if we pray?
35:59So right in the middle of all of the prostitutes, he bows his head and starts praying for Agnes.
36:04That God would protect Agnes.
36:06That Agnes would come to a faith in Jesus Christ.
36:08That Agnes wouldn't get some disease by being on the street.
36:11That Agnes would come to know God in a personal way.
36:15When he was done praying, Harry said, hey, wait a second.
36:18And you didn't tell me you were a preacher.
36:21What kind of preacher are you anyway?
36:24What kind of church do you belong to?
36:26And Tony says, it's one of those moments that God just gives you the right answer.
36:31And he responded back to Harry.
36:34I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at three o'clock in the morning.
36:41Harry said, no way.
36:43There isn't a church like that.
36:44If there was a church like that, I would join it.
36:52What kind of God do we serve?
36:55We serve the kind of God that would send two spies to a prostitute.
37:00A flawed, flawed piece of humanity on the rubbish heap of society.
37:06And deliver this woman, place her among his people, and place her in the line of his Messiah who will redeem the world.
37:15That's the kind of God we serve.
37:18He doesn't put distinctions on people saying, flawed, I can't spend time with you.
37:22Not flawed, you're okay with me.
37:24He's the kind of God that takes a woman like this and places her among his people.
37:29Places her in the very hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11.
37:32And that's the kind of God that we serve.
37:35Worship team, would you come up now, please, to continue on our service.
37:47This story we just read tonight, really, it's not about Joshua.
37:52The story is really not about the spies.
37:55It really, it's not about Israel.
37:57And the story really isn't really about Rahab.
38:02And you're saying, wait a second, you just said it's all about Rahab.
38:04Well, it is, but it's not really in the essence of the story about Rahab.
38:10This chapter in Joshua, Joshua chapter 2, this chapter is really about the character of God.
38:19He is a God who honors great faith.
38:21He is a God who takes what someone calls a flawed piece of humanity on the rubbish heap of society and redeems and delivers a person like that.
38:33It's really about the character of God.
38:36And it gives us a great lesson to look at people through God's eyes, not our eyes.
38:42To love them like God loves them and not classify them as flawed and not flawed.
38:49For this chapter is about how gracious God is and how he redeems when one turns to him by faith.
38:59A prostitute or any other person.
39:02It's about God.
39:04Let's pray together.
39:08Dear Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that you placed in your word the story of Rahab.
39:15It is such a demonstration of your awesome grace who redeems when we turn to you by faith, for we are truly all flawed pieces of humanity.
39:27None of us are perfect.
39:29We are all flawed to some degree.
39:33And you took us when we responded to you by faith and you delivered us and placed us in your family.
39:41You gave us your Holy Spirit that lives within us and promised us one day we will be with you forever.
39:49Us flawed pieces of humanity.
39:53Help us to look at people through your eyes.
39:58Help us to reach out to those that society has cast off on the rubbish heap.
40:03And to say they have value because they are created in your image.
40:08Help us to see with your eyes tonight.
40:11I pray in Jesus' name.
40:12Amen.
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