Road To Emmaus: Rahab

Laptop: Welcome, welcome, welcome. Today is what day today, Javon? Today is Wednesday. Wacky Wednesday, yeah. August the watch says August fifth. Man, it's been a weird week. Last week Javon and Matt took care of the podcasting duties 'cause I was away and it seems like I still haven't been able to get my whole Head and body all back yet. Everything still on vacation mode, Javon. Everything's a bit weird. But today, today we're back and we're talking about Rahab. Right. As we continue along in this series, looking at some of the types and shadows, some of the characters and events of the old testament that pushed forward and and kind of gave a hint, gave an idea about who the Messiah would be. the Messiah who we know now is Jesus. Right. So today we're talking about Rahab, kind of one of those a minor character but whose name actually pops up a lot in the New Testament, even in a couple of ways that I had forgotten were there. Likewise. yeah, so this is where we're at today and I hope that what you hear and what you recognize is that Jesus Christ has opened the way for everyone to come to the Lord if they will respond in faith. Right. And so this is where we're today. Javon, you've done a little bit of history work, a little bit of background work. Right. Tell me Rahab where What we talking about today? Yeah, so I honestly I don't know that w we don't have a a huge thing to go through here with Rahab, but just a couple of highlights to kind of point some things out. So to begin, the the main reason we're talking about this is because Rahab appears in Matthew in in Jesus' genealogy. Yep. And there's there's a lot of people that could have been listed right now, and and maybe the other spouse or this or that, and not a lot of women right in that geneology, and yet she is one of them. Right. Tamar, Ruth, and Rahab. Two women of interesting stories. One of them we'll look at today and one one with one is more of a seen as a you know very pure, integrous, loyal woman, which we preached about last Sunday. But so in particular Rahab, I find interesting that we talked about Ruth and I actually didn't realize I did not realize how closely connected Rahab and Ruth were. That Rahab actually is Boaz's mom. generation. Which I think furthers the the story of Ruth a little bit, because you've already got this story of how God is working out the providence to bring about Jesus and right before Ruth is also the story of Rahab and Jericho, how the family line is coming through and including people into it that would not we would not expect to be included into these into these stories. So And it makes me wonder how how Boaz may have been shaped by his mother. And her experience by his family. His family's experience. How might he have been shaped in his sensibilities for how he looked out for others? And how did that then affect the way that he would have dealt with Ruth and with that situation? Because, you know, we are affected by our family. For for better and for worse. And if you've got a if you've got a Rahab who's been through this Who's been through this harrowing experience, who's been redeemed and saved, and who recognizes that the Lord is God. She's talking about that to her discipline. Yeah, that's interesting. what you're seeing here is a man whose mind just got blown. just gonna tell anyway. Yeah, that's awesome. all right. This is this is our Bible. Well, that's it's been nice talking to you. we'll see you next time. no. Anyway, yeah. So Rahab prost was a prostitute in the city of Jericho, and Joshua sends two spies in and they end up in her house and she protects them from the king who's coming to search after them. And because of that protection, they promise that she will be protected when the Israelites come and conquer the city. And we know the story that they they came, they got her out of the city and her family before the whole city collapsed. and so God was faithful, faithful to her and her family, and she lived among the Israelites. Actually, that that passage says she lived among the Israelites to this day. So it's just her inclusion into the family of God in all of that. And in some ways that can sound charming to us. Like, isn't it nice that she's included in the family of God? But think about who she is. I mean, she's a foreigner. Right. Right? She she's a person who is part of a nation of their enemies, a nation that was so wicked that the whole city needed to be destroyed. Right. God is bringing using Israel as a judge judgment tool there. And so she's a people from a foreign nation who had experience with foreign gods. Who was wrapped up in prostitution. You know, and at this time every Israelite would have been very well aware of the Ten Commandments. Right. You know, don't commit adultery and just all of the law and all that kind of stuff. And so here's a person with a lot of strikes against her. Yeah. And exactly. And yet. And yet she finds herself in in this in the family in the family of God. And one of the key pieces to this story is in Joshua two ten through eleven, she talks about how I I'll I'll read it actually here. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for for you when you came out of Egypt, that she's talking about the Israelites, and what you did to Sihon and those are two kings that they would have come and come in across coming into the land. when we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear. For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below. So she's acknowledging that she there is a fear of the Lord in her, that this God, this is not just some. Some God out there that doesn't matter to me. This is a God, a God to be feared, a God to be honored. And not only that, but she says in heaven above and in earth below. You better recognize. Right. Yeah. And in in the old testament, when when writers often talk about heaven and earth and earth, when you see that contrast, recognize they're saying total. Everything. Because they didn't top to bottom. Right. Right. Yes. It's the whole like heavens was the sky. There's the same word for sky. Like it's like they meant everything. So anyway. So here she is making this just profession of faith, declaring that God's sovereignty, declaring that this this is the God, Yahweh. so she's having a conversion experience. And and and demonstrates she demonstrates that faith by acting on it and protecting. It's not just what she says, it's not just, hey, I I I can see there's truth here. I mean there is truth, but it's not just a knowledge thing. Right. Right? It's that she puts her she puts herself on the line. She acts, she follows through, exactly. And her her life reflects that truth. Yeah. It's not just a passive knowledge. Right. Right? Yeah, exactly. And so interestingly, in the New Testament, Rahab is mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, the whole faith chapter. And there's a Hall of Fame. And there are there are Hall of Famers in there. And it's just interesting that Rahab gets put in this group. And then additionally, in James chapter two. James makes a comparison at the end about Abraham and and faith and works, and then Rahab is compared alongside with Abraham for her example of how she acted upon her faith. Of all the people that James could have chosen to write about as like he talks about Abraham, you know, of course Abraham. Yeah, yeah. You know, but then okay, who else? Like what other supplemental character to choose Rahab feels I mean it makes sense when you read it, but That seems like an odd character. Feels out of place a little, yeah. Right. Right. And and so I think ultimately the the drive home point here is that when we think of you know, those who believe repent and believe can find adoption in the family of Christ. Yeah. And just in the same way that we cannot work our way to salvation, there is no one beyond God's redemption. Right. We're we're not too lost to be found. And and so if we come and we turn to Jesus and repent and put our faith in him, we too can be a part of the family of God. And and that's just I think the drive-home takeaway from from Rahab. So so some some things to think about. I like what does this mean for us? It's it's easy for us to say, yeah, yeah, I can be forgiven. What does that mean in a day-to-day as we think about living this Christian walk, as we think about things that we experience. What how does this story, how does this concept encourage us? I the the thing that the thing that hits me the most is the fact that in the book of Joshua, like it goes out of its way. Or I'm sorry. Yeah, she's in Joshua. Right. Right. Sorry, I had a just had a mind moment that was like, Well, it wasn't Judges? Yeah, you had this No you're good. But in the in the book of Joshua The text goes out of its way to mention that she was a prostitute. Right? I I mean there's not a lot of description of Rahab given other than the fact that, hey, these guys stopped in at her place. They didn't say, you know, she had an apartment on the fourth floor. They didn't say, you know, she was five foot five. Yeah. they didn't say what she looked like or anything like that, anything about her family. The the description that is given is that she lived in Jericho and she was a prostitute. Why is that mentioned? As as the writer is looking back through this, why is that brought out? I think I think that one of the things that we can recognize from that is that it's important for us to know that she was a prostitute because most of us have a messed up or misaligned thinking about sexuality. And and here's what I mean. Yeah, explain. Well, sins are all bad, right? Right. The sins are bad. All All sins all sins are bad. There's no sins that are good. And while different sins may have different kinds of consequences. Right. Okay. in the eyes of God, it's not as if like, that's a bad sin and that's just a little sin. You know, sin is sin. However, I think one of the challenges, at least I recognize this now, I recognize this growing up and in our church culture, is that we struggle to talk about sexual kinds of sins in a way that is true and balanced. What seems to happen is either we hammer on those folks or those situations that have some kind of connection to sex. We talk about adultery or we talk about you know issues of people having sex with people they shouldn't have sex with, you know, and and we talk about these as like the worst kinds of things. I I think. Or we neglect to talk about it at all. Because we don't we don't want to say the word sex in church. We don't want to talk about those things. And so it seems to me That even now we struggle to deal with sexuality issues in a way that is true and honest and recognizes that this is a big problem. However, it's not worse than the other. And so here I wonder if part of the reason why her prostitution is specifically called out is so that people would take note, even a person whose sin was sexual in nature, even that worst kind of sin, and I'm doing air quality. Here for those of you who are just listening to the audio. That worst kind of sin is still redeemable. If there is repentance, there is salvation. And then in Matthew, he says, I'm not even ashamed to write about that. You know, I'm not ashamed to put down on paper that. Yeah, there was a prostitute in the line of Jesus Christ. I think it's a lot easier to say, Well, they were a liar. God can forgive that. Yeah. You know. they were a thief. Well, God can forgive a thief. They were a prostitute. Ooh Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. That that's something that hits me because and and our world has no idea how to deal with sexuality. Right. And so if the church isn't talking about sexuality in a in an honest, appropriate way, Yeah, what are we gonna do? Well I think the story of Rahab is helpful. Well and we let the enemy win, right? If if the if the world is the only thing that's having these conversations, if the world is the only place where Our children are learning about sexuality, or even we are informing ourselves about sexuality, and we're not allowing God's word and the context of a healthy church context to help us navigate those waters. If we're not repenting of sin and turning to Christ and allowing him to redeem those situations, which which he can do, you know, then we're allowing the world to really write the narrative on sexuality, which is something that was given to us. as a gift. Right. As an expression, that God wanted us to f find fulfillment in marriage. Right. And but we but we in our quietness can let the world define that if we don't speak up. Or even even in our shame. Right. You know, because I mean let's let's be like one degree more honest here. The reality is is that even in the church, very few of us have a really awesome sexual story. Right. Like e even in the church, even among those of us who are who are following hard after God, right, sexual situations, sexual temptations, sexual slips, sexual mistakes, sexual sins, however you want to name it, those kinds of sexually related sins seem to get so much shame wrapped around them, perhaps disproportionately compared to other things that people go through. At least I've seen this in in folks that I've worked with, I've noticed this in myself. Like those situations sometimes, you know, we can forgive ourselves for a lot of things, but not for that Right. Not for that sexual mistake that I made. Right. And and this again is one of those reminders that while while sin of all varieties is really important to deal with. No difference here. But let's remember that you know sexual sin doesn't put us out of bounds or beyond the reach of God. And and That's something that I think is good news for us as a church. Yeah, I think so just in general, in i in any struggle with any sin, I think it's so easy for Satan to ice to to push us into isolation. Sure. To tell us that isolation from other people and isolation from God. Right. Saying and we almost can get I can find myself in moments of of struggling with sin, thinking that I can't go to God. Right. almost. And maybe I'm not thinking those words literally in my head because I know they're wrong. Right. But the way I'm acting is I'm avoiding it. And and this story is just an encouragement to say no. Repent. Proclaim that he is sovereign, that he is good, that he is God. And you are part of the family of God. Right, right. And I still feel like it's interesting too. That's another one of those terms. Family of God. That's something I feel like I even need to sit down and just unpack. Because we throw that around. we're a part of the family of God. What does that really mean? What is it like what does it mean for you to be a son of God? A s an heir of the kingdom of heaven? Like And that's a whole podcast series we could go down. Yeah, yeah. But anyway. Yeah. And and and the fact that all of the ramifications of being an heir to the king, to being a son of God, to being a daughter of the Lord, to being you know, part of God's family. All of that is possible even for those whose sins have been sexual in nature. Right. Even for those who, you know, have been outcast, even for those who have been judged harshly by those who think they're on the inside. Right. you know, we still need to come back to God's word here for the truth of what the standards are and and what's possible, true and real. instead of just dealing with our own our own perceptions or other people's fears right or whatever kind of predispositions we might be bringing to the text. Amen. There you go. So there's I mean, hey, there's hope for all of us. Right. And and and so I don't want to be too trite with that. I mean that's the kind of thing that sometimes there's hope for all of us. No. This is one more reminder. There is hope for all of us in Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen, brother. Yeah. Alright. Just keep just keep turning to Jesus. That's he's his his we talk about that what's that there's that song Come as you are. and then there's the the other one actually no what I'm thinking is come to the altar. it says the father's arms are open wide. you know, I just whenever you are in a time of trouble, in a time where you have failed, Come to the altar, come to Jesus, cry out to him, let him let just repent, lay your heart before him and and receive the grace and forgiveness that flows freely from from from the cross and from Jesus. Javon, you're an awesome pastor. Javon was ready to wrap up this podcast here. I threw on one last do you have anything else? And that's good. That's that's that's good stuff, man. I went from being mind blown to have everything blown out of my mind and nothing to say and had to think about something. So here we go. man. Go. And we love to talk about it with you. And we love this church. We do love this church. We're blessed to be here at Waterway. So hey, whoever you are, wherever you are, whenever it is, remember the Lord loves you. And if you will turn to God through faith in Jesus Christ and repent of your sins, He'll forgive you no matter what those sins are. And you can be a part of the family of God too. Just like Rahab and just like us. So there we go. Hey, it's a good day. Hope you have a good rest of the day. Blessings to you. look after yourselves well and take care of somebody else if you can. We'll see you.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention