Beauty from Ashes - Rahab’s Story

middle of a sermon series called Beauty

from ashes. And I've kind of been

inspired by this whole legend of a

phoenix, which is a a bird that that

makes a nest and then it sets its nest

ablaze and it's completely consumed by

the fire. Uh everything is made into

ashes. And yet out of that pile of

destruction, God brings things that uh

that we couldn't see possible, things

that um basically like new life, things

that are reborn and renewed and and

restored. And so this phoenix, this

legend of a phoenix, it rises to this

new life. And that's what God does for

us as well. Uh most of us, we don't need

an urban legend to really understand

this concept. Um most of us know what

it's like to make choices that we

regret. Uh to kind of strike the match

ourselves and light the situation on

fire. Uh we know what it's like to look

at someone else's life or maybe our own

life and be like, whoa, there's no

coming back from that. That's that's

absolute uh destruction. But then we

also see these situations where God

steps in and he does things that only

God can do. And what should have been

the end becomes the beginning and what

looked like the the end of something

becomes resolved and restored and

redeemed. Uh and that's the stories that

we're stepping into in this sermon

series. We're looking at the women in

the family tree of Jesus. And we're

looking at women whose lives were marked

by scandal and heartbreak and injustice

and failure. And in each story, you're

going to see the same pattern. There's

just ashes and then there's grace.

There's ashes and then there's mercy.

There's ashes and then there's

forgiveness. There's ashes and then

there's new life. Jesus is in the

business of bringing beauty from ashes.

And so let's look at the book of Josh um

Joshua. Now this this story happens

about 500 years after the story we

talked about last week with uh Tamar and

Judah. Um so after that chapter in

Genesis where we talk about Tamar and

Judah, the the story of Genesis focuses

on Jacob's son Joseph. This was a

brother who was sold into slavery uh

into Egyptian slavery by his own

siblings and what they meant for evil.

The Bible concludes God turned into

good. So maybe that's just what you need

to hear today. What what other people

mean for evil in your life, God can and

will turn it for good if we put our

faith in him. So Joseph rises from this

prisoner to being a prince. He becomes

second in command in all of Egypt. And

then this great famine takes place in

the land. And so his brothers, the same

ones that sold him into slavery, they

come to Egypt seeking food and shelter.

And that's when Joseph reveals his

identity to them. And I I think in this

situation, it would be very tempting for

us to to seek revenge. I mean, these

guys basically ruined his life. But now,

you know, God has brought him into this

position of power not to enact justice

and but to forgive them and show them

grace and mercy. So, Joseph moves his

entire family, which was about 70 people

at that time. He moves his entire family

into the nation of Egypt in order to let

them seek shelter from this famine. And

over the next 400 years, that family of

70 becomes a family of millions of

people, which fulfills the the promises,

two of them, that God made to Abraham.

He said, "Your descendants will be more

numerous than the sands of the

seashore." And then he says that your

descendants will have to live in a

foreign land for 400 years. So both of

those prophecies came true. And as they

were coming true, Pharaoh became

nervous. He saw this rapid population

increase. And he felt threatened. So he

enslaved all of the Israelites within

Egypt and turned them into forced

laborers. And that's when God raises up

a man by the name of Moses. And through

Moses and these plagues that are

recorded in the book of uh in the book

of Exodus, God demonstrates his power

over all of the Egyptian gods. And

eventually Pharaoh relents and he allows

the Israelites to to go on their way to

go on their journey toward the promised

land. And on the way there, God parts

the Red Sea so they can pass through on

dry land. So now they've arrived at the

border of the promised land, which is

the the Jordan River. And they haven't

crossed it yet. They haven't crossed it

yet. Before entering, they they send 12

spies into the the promised land. And

only two return with faithfilled

confidence that they can be victorious

over the enemies that lie in that land.

The other 10 come back and they spread

fear in the camp. And so unbelief starts

to circulate and ripple through the

nation of Israel. And so instead of

stepping into the promise, the people

shrink back in fear. And because of

their lack of faith, God tells Moses

that that that entire generation, that

faithless generation will not enter into

the promised land. They they'll wander

in the wilderness until that whole

generation has passed away. So, a

journey that should have taken weeks to

get into the promised land is now going

to take over 40 years. So, think of it

this way. Pretend in your mind that

you're a homeless person and you're

living on the street handtomouth and all

of a sudden you you get this note from

someone that says, "Hey, you have this

this uncle that you didn't even know

existed and he was extremely rich and

he's passed away and he's left you his

entire fortune." But then imagine after

receiving that news, you're like, "Well,

I'm just going to keep living on the

street. I'm just going to keep living

the same life that I've always lived."

See, there's some people in the church

today that are that are like that.

Christians who have a a rich

inheritance. They have every spiritual

blessing that you could ever imagine.

It's already been secured for them in

Christ. And yet, they live like they're

spiritually bankrupt. Their account is

full. The promises have been made. The

victory has been won. But they hesitate.

They could easily step into the

blessings that God has for them.

Instead, they shrink back like the

Israelites in unbelief. Some of us can

kind of relate to where Israel is right

now. Right? You've come out of the

world. You've come out of Egypt. You've

come out of slavery. You're no longer

enslaved to that old life. And then

you've passed through the waters of

baptism similar to how Israel passed

through the Red Sea. but you haven't

stepped into the fullness of what God

has called you to do because your

spiritual gifts are just sitting there

dormant. Like you're free, but you're

just not living like it yet. So, you

need to hear this verse from the book of

Joshua. And this one comes from chapter

1, verse three. You see, Moses has died

and Joshua is now the leader. And so,

you got this new generation, which I

love. They're standing at the border of

the promised land and they're not

settling for the wilderness anymore.

They're ready to step into the promise

to the thing that Jesus has already

secured for them. And right at the

beginning of this journey, God lifts all

the weight off of Joshua's shoulders. He

says this in verse three. I have given

you every place where the sole of your

foot treads just as I promised Moses.

Now notice the language. It does not say

I will give you. It says I have given

you. So before they swing a sword,

before they go into battle, before they

even take a step into the promised land,

they've already received the victory,

before they even have to prove

themselves,

God has already secured what was theirs.

See, God wasn't asking Joshua to

manufacture a victory. He called him to

leadership, but he's not like, "Hey, you

got to do this by yourself, buddy." No,

no. He's asking him to simply walk in

whatever has already been promised. In

other words, step out in faith and there

are blessings on the bottoms of your

shoes. Okay, they had sandals, but you

know, there's blessings everywhere that

your foot goes because God has placed

them on the bottom of your shoes. Where

God directs, he provides. Where God

leads, he sustains. And when you step

out in faith, you discover that you've

already received those blessings. That

God has already gone before you to

secure the thing that you were worried

about. So, for example, when Susan and I

when we were living in West Virginia, we

felt called to ministry and we

determined that South Eastern Seminary

in Wake Forest was a place that we could

learn how to do that. And so, uh, I went

to one of my mentors. He's like a Mr.

Miyagi type person for me. I was like,

"Sensei, should I go? Should I go?" And

so, I went to him and I had this big

thing planned. This whole like

spreadsheet of why I should or why I

shouldn't. And before I could even talk

to him about any of those things, he was

like, "Do what you want to do." I was

like, "Huh?" I've never had anybody give

me a green light like that before. I was

like, "Well, let me give you these 12

bullet points just to kind of ill." He's

like, "No, just do what you want to do.

Do what God has placed on your You want

to go and share the gospel, right? You

you want to serve in the church, right?"

I was like, "Yeah." He's like, "You're

not going to start an underground fight

club, are you?" And I was like, "Well,

no." And he's like, "Then go and and do

it." And that's when he referenced the

book that I shared with you earlier,

decision-making in the will of God. He's

like, "You can read that book or I can

just tell you what it says." I was like,

"Well, that's a pretty big book. Why

don't you just give me the cliffnotes

version?" And uh he was like, "Step out

in faith when you know what God's called

you to do. Just walk toward it. And as

you're walking, God will redirect." And

he was like, "Just read the book of

Acts. Look at the early church. You just

step out. you go in faith and then if

things aren't working, God just

redirects according to his plan. He was

like, "Relax, chill out, calm down,

throw away your spreadsheet, go to

seminary and see what God will do." And

that's what I did and that's what Joshua

did, too. He He understood that on the

soles of his feet were blessing. And so,

he was just going to walk into the

promise that God had for him. So, now we

get to Rahab in chapter 2. This is her

story.

Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two

men as spies from the Acacia grove

saying go and scout the land especially

Jericho. So spies were sent on a recon

mission to check out this renowned

impenetrable fortress called Jericho. So

they left and they came to the house of

a prostitute named Rahab and they stayed

there. So they go to a place where

anonymity is the name of the game.

Nobody asked who you were. They just

asked if you had any money. So, he just

goes to the red light district knowing

that they won't be noticed as they go to

this red light district and they stay

with a woman named Rahab who's actually

named after Egypt's god Raw, the son

god. And so it says in verse two, the

king of Jericho was told, "Look, some

Israelite men have come here tonight to

investigate the land." Then the king of

Jericho sent word to Rahab and said,

"Bring out the men who have come to you

and entered your house, for they came to

investigate the entire land." Now,

apparently these guys are not very good

at being spies because they are

immediately found out. And the king is

like, "Hey, let's go here. Let's go to

Rahab's house. Um, let's ask that these

spies be sent out so that we can um we

can execute them." Now, Rahab had no

reason to comply to this request um uh

from from these men to hide them. Uh in

fact, she had every reason in the world

to uh take the spies and give them to

the authorities because she would have

received a reward since there was a

bounty on their heads. But then it says

in verse four, but the woman had taken

the two men and hidden them. She's no

narc. Okay. So she said, "Yes, the men

did come to me, but I didn't know where

they were from. At nightfall, when the

city gate was about to close, the went

the men went out, and I don't know where

they are going. Chase after them

quickly, and you will catch up with

them, but she had taken them to the roof

and hidden them among the stocks of flax

that she had arranged on the roof." Now,

flax here is a substance that's used to

make linen. So, apparently, she had a

side hustle. She had a little Etsy store

that she was trying to get off the

ground. She was making some clothes and

I believe she was doing this because she

wanted to get out of the lifestyle that

she was currently living. So why would

she risk everything to help these spies?

Why would she turn down a reward to help

these men that she had no relationship

with? Well, she tells us in verse 8,

"Before the men fell asleep, she went up

on the roof and she said to them, "I

know that the Lord God has given you

this land, and that the terror of you

has fallen on us, and everyone who lives

in the land is panicked because of you.

For we have heard how the Lord dried up

the water of the Red Sea before you when

you came out of Egypt. And what you did

at Cheyion and Og, the two Amorite

kings, you completely destroyed across

the Jordan. When we hear this, we lost

heart and everyone's courage failed

because of you. For the Lord your God is

God in heaven above and on earth below.

So Rahab helped because her eyes were

open to the fact that all the gods that

she worshiped, Raw and Baal and Molech,

they were nothing compared to the God of

Israel. So in helping the spies, she

basically demonstrated her faith in God.

This was her salvation experience from

the Old Testament, so to speak. Verse

12. Now please swear to me by the Lord

that you will show kindness to my

father's family because I showed

kindness to you. Give me a sign that you

will spare the lives of my father and my

mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all

who belong to them and save us from

death. So now she's thinking about other

people. She's thinking about like cousin

Randy that works down at the Taco Bell.

She's like, "Man, I want he needs to be

saved, too. So I don't want this just

for me. I want this for them as well."

And it says, 'The men answered her, "We

will give our lives for yours if you

don't report our mission, and we will

show kindness and faithfulness to you

when the Lord gives us the land." Then

she shut them, she let them down by a

rope through the window since she lived

in a house that was built, keywords,

into the wall of the city. She lived in

the walls of Jericho. Verse 16, go to

the hill country so that the men

pursuing them won't find you. And she

said to them, "Hide there for three days

until they return. Afterward, go on your

way." So the men said to her, "We will

be free from this oath that you made us

and swear, unless we enter the land, you

tie the scarlet cord to the window

through which you let us down." Remember

the scarlet cord from Tamar's story 500

years before this. Well, that same

scarlet cord comes back in this story as

well, and it's intentional. If anyone

goes out the doors of your house, his

death will be his own fault, and we will

be innocent. But if anyone with you in

the house should be harmed, their death

will be our fault. And if you report our

mission, we are free from the oath that

you are made to swear to us. Let it be

as you say, she replied. And she sent

them away. So they did a little pinky

swear and that was it. The men leave and

she goes about her business. Now, Israel

doesn't just go into uh into the

promised land yet. They do some things

before they go into the land. First

thing they do is they have a

circumcision service for all of the men

in Israel. And what that was symbolizing

is that they were coming out of Egypt,

but there was still a little bit of

Egypt in them. Probably a little bit of

sinful worldly living that needed to be

kind of carved away. It needed to be

trimmed away. It needed to be cut off

before they entered into the promised

land. And then they crossed through the

Jordan. And again, God made the waters

part, but this was to be seen as a

baptism experience. They are accepting

the gift that God had give them given

them this promised land. And they enter

through these baptismal waters. And when

they get on the other side, they set up

these stones as memorials for all the

things that God has done for them, all

the things that God is currently doing

for them and all the things that God

will do in the future for them. And then

before they start the battle, Joshua

goes out and takes a prayer walk and he

literally bumps into Jesus. That's

right. Jesus is in the Old Testament.

It's called a christophony. He appears

before Joshua. They bump into each

other. And uh friends, that's what

happens when when you pray, when you

seek Jesus, you're going to bump into

him. He will make himself uh visible to

your life. So, he has this quiet time in

prayer and God tells him the battle

plan. So, they go into battle against

Jericho. Again, this is a city whose

walls were so thick that people lived in

them. This city had walls that were so

thick that they would have horse races

along the tops of the walls. This truly

was an impenetrable fortress. And so

here's their batter their their plan. No

battering rams, no explosives, nothing

like that. All they do is they call

Creekide Praise. They get our choir and

our worship team and the Ark of the

Covenant and they walk around the city

of Jericho singing worship songs to to

God. So they do that for one day and

they go to sleep and they wake up the

next day and they do it again. They do

that for six days and then on the

seventh day they go around, they do

their songs, they're singing, they have

the ark of the covenant and then when

they're finished walking around the

walls, they shout, they blow trumpets

and these impenetrable walls of Jericho

all fall down. They didn't even have to

pick up a sword. And God gave them the

most impenetrable city in all of Canaan.

Now look at verse 22.

Joshua said to the men who had scouted

the land, "Go to the prostitutees house

and bring the woman out of there and all

who are with her just as you swore to

her." So the young men went who had

scouted. And they brought out Rahab and

her father and her mother and her

brothers and all that belong to her.

They brought her whole family out of

Jericho and settled them in the camp of

Israel. Do you see what happened here?

Every piece of the wall had fallen down

except for this little sliver of the

wall where Rahab lived.

God spared her. In verse 24, it says,

"They burned the city and everything in

it. They put the silver and the gold and

the articles of bronze and iron in the

treasury of the Lord's house. So now

they tithe back to God as a thank you

for the victory." However, Joshua and

Rahab, the prostitute, her father's

family, and all who belong to her

because she hid the messengers that

Joshua had sent to spy on Jericho, and

she still lives in Israel today. So,

what's the prescriptive part of this

story? I know it was a lot of text, but

there's some stuff that we can pull out

of here that will radically change our

lives if we apply it. And the first

thing that we need to apply is that God

is already there.

God has set the stage for the victory

that he has called you to experience.

Rahab said, "We have heard what your God

has done." And then she references this

event that happened about 12 months

earlier where Og and Shihan, they they

stood against Moses. Moses is like,

"Look, we got to go through your land to

get to our land." And so he goes to

these two kings and he's like, "Look,

we're not even going to eat food while

we're here. We're just going to go

straight through. You won't even know

we're here." And of course they are not

having any of that. They they're like,

"Hey, it's private property, man." And

they kind of bow up on Moses. And Mo

Moses is like, "Look guys, you don't

want none. Trust me, you don't want any

of this." But they're they're like, "No,

you can't go through our land." And

Moses is like, "If that's how it's got

to be, that's how it's got to be." So

they go to war and they have this fight

and it was so ugly. They absolutely

destroy them like the Seahawks destroyed

the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Matt,

where's Matt? I knew I'd get one a amen

today.

But get So Jericho though is watching

all of this take place that people are

seeing what God is doing for the nation

of Israel. Then she references something

that happened over 40 years before. She

talks about how when they were coming

out of Egypt, God parted the Red Sea.

See, Israel was was too scared to cross

over the Jordan when they first got

there. They were intimidated by cities

like Jericho. They were intimidated by

giants like Goliath and like the

Philistine people. And they even said,

"We are like grasshoppers compared to

these folks. We can't go in there." And

so that's why they had to wander in the

wilderness for 40 years.

But meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, the

city of Jericho and the Canaanites are

watching all that God is doing for his

people. And they make this statement,

"We shall be to their God like

grasshoppers."

Levi Lusco says, "The things that scare

you don't need to stop you." So that

that gives you permission to be scared

of things. That's that's fine. Nerves

are a part of life. But the things that

scare you don't have to stop you. I

assure you, your enemies are more scared

of God than you are of them. So once you

take that step of faith, once you repent

and you cut off that that sin that was

inside of you, once you allow the Holy

Spirit to come into your life and and

circumcise the flesh to take away the

the sins that were part of your old

life, once you cross through the

baptismal waters like the people did in

the Jordan, once you start to worship

and reflect on who God was and who God

is and who God will be, and once you

learn to to meet with Jesus in your

prayer life, you're going to be blessed

wherever the souls of your feet tread.

And it all starts with taking one step

into the promise. Even if you're in an

impossible situation, all God is saying,

take one step into the promise. Israel

had no idea what God was going to do for

them before they took that one that

first step. They walked toward the

Jordan and all of a sudden the waters of

the Jordan, they part. God did that

after they took their step of faith. So

you got to step forward. And then also

you got to remember that God doesn't

hide your past, he redeems it. God does

not hide your past, he redeems it. When

Rahab's lifestyle um is brought into

commentaries, and I read a lot of

commentaries on this scripture, almost

every one of them has a passage about

was her lifestyle right or was it wrong?

And I'm just like, the scripture doesn't

even bring that into question. So why

are we why are we so focused on the

lifestyle that she was living when the

scripture doesn't even consider that to

be something worth talking about? See,

she's mentioned twice in the New

Testament. Once is in Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

11, which is, by the way, the hall of

faith. Like all the big names from the

Old Testament are mentioned in Hebrews

11. And when you get to verse 31 in this

hall of faith, it says this, "By faith,

Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies

in peace and didn't perish with those

who disobeyed." Then you go over to the

book of James in chapter 2 verse 25. He

says, "Wasn't Rahab the prostitute also

justified by works and receiving the

messengers and sending them out by a

different route? For just just as the

body without the spirit is dead, so also

faith without works is dead." Notice

what's going on. Notice this powerful

statement that God is making to you

today. The New Testament does not

sanitize her past, but he does not

define her by it either. She's

identified as Rahab the prostitute. Yet,

she is celebrated for her faith.

Rahab was a pagan woman living in

Canaan. And for whatever reason, she got

into a situation where this lifestyle

was the only way that she could support

herself. She's literally named after a

pagan deity. And she was in a vulnerable

position in a broken culture that did

not care for her. And so she did what

she did in order to survive. She did not

grow up with the law. She did not grow

up with the Ten Commandments. She did

not have a synagogue on the corner of

her street to go and learn about God and

learn about the commands of God. But

when she heard about the God of Israel,

when she saw his power on display, when

she learned about his promises, she

responded. She believed. And her faith

wasn't passive. It was real. She stepped

out at great personal cost. She took a

chance when she hid these spies and she

lied to the the king.

She asked her,

we asked the question,

does her lifestyle disqualify her from

being celebrated?

And the answer is no. Because God makes

beautiful things rise from the ashes.

What the scriptures turn you to is her

incredible

faith. The scripture honors her, not her

past, but her faith. Because God is not

looking for perfect resumes. He's

looking for hearts that trust him and

have faith in him. And that's why here

at Sawers Creek, we do our best to uh

meet people in any time of crisis

because one, we know what the enemy has

planned for them, but two, we also know

what God has planned for him if they

will turn to him in faith.

She says, "God, I I've seen you do the

impossible. Seen you part the waters of

the Red Sea. I have seen you allow this

this group of people to defeat heavily

equipped armies that should have

defeated them. I've seen all the things

that that God has done, all these

impossible things. And so she prays to

God and she says, "God, can you do the

impossible for me?" She asked the one

true God to save her from the ashes of

her current life. And he did. He did. He

sent those spies to her front door. They

thought they were on a reconnaissance

mission. Nope. They were on a rescue

mission. They were looking for a weak

spot in the wall so they could try to

tear these walls down. God's like, "I'm

going to tear the walls down with

worship music." That's not why you're

here. You are here to go meet this woman

to answer the prayers of Rahab. And God

wasn't going to judge this city or tear

down these walls until he got his

daughter to safety.

Levi Lusco summarizes and he says, "God

is not afraid of what's behind Rahab.

Her previous sin was not a barrier to

her being saved. because God is bringing

beauty from ashes. He forgives, he

pardons, and he adopts Rahab into his

family. And she marries a man by the

name of Sammon. And Sammon is a a prince

in the house of Judah and the founder of

the city of Bethlehem. It fills God's

heart with joy when he takes someone

whose sins were were red and crimson and

he washes them white as snow. But God

didn't just save Rahab. She also saved

her family. But they had to make a

choice.

They had to come into the house that was

marked by the scarlet cord. So don't

miss this picture that God is drawing

for you. If you know the story of how

they came out of Egypt on the the day of

the Passover, God told the people, "If

you will take the blood of a spotless

lamb and you will put that blood on the

doorpost of your house, then the angel

of death when he passes over that night,

he will pass over your house and you

will be spared. You will receive

salvation." So every home that was

covered by the blood was spared of the

judgment. So that scarlet cord hanging

in Rahab's window points forward to

something that is even greater,

something that we need to take for

ourselves. And that's the fact that the

only thing standing between us and

judgment is the blood of Jesus Christ.

1 John 5:12 says, "The one who has the

1 John 5:12

son has life. The one who does not have

the son of God does not have life." It

really is that simple and that serious.

So rea Rahab, she believed, but her

family had to believe as well. They had

to make their own choice to step into

the room. And friends, that's our

calling, too. We need to keep that

scarlet rope in view so people can see

it in our lives. We We need to keep this

scarlet cord hanging out the window of

our lives for our children, for our

family, for our friends, for our

neighbors. And yeah, they might not come

to church right away, but that's okay

because nothing can stop you from

praying for them. You can continue to

pray for the people that you love. You

can continue to point to that scarlet

cord in your life. No one can stop you

from living in such a way that the

scarlet cord is visible from the window

of your home because salvation is

available to anyone who chooses to

believe. So let's close with this.

Matthew chapter 1 and we'll start in

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

verse one. An account of the genealogy

of Jesus, the son of David, the son of

Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac. Isaac

fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered Judah and

his brothers. Judah Perez and Zarah by

Tamar. Perez fathered Hezron. Hezron

fathered Aram. Aram fathered Aminadab.

Aminadab fathered Non. Nan fathered

Sammon. Sammon fathered Boaz. Talk about

that next week by Rahab. and Boaz

fathered Oed by Ruth. Oed fathered Jesse

and Jesse fathered King David. It

continues on and on until we get to

Jesus. Ultimately, the faith of Rahab

led to the birth of Jesus. Do you

understand that when Jesus was on that

cross and was spilling his blood for

you, that the DNA of people like Tamar

and Rahab were in the blood that was

being spilled?

You understand what that means? It means

two things as we close. One, no one is

too far gone to be saved.

Let me say it again. No one is too far

gone to be saved.

That's why the Holy Spirit includes

people like this in the lineage of

Jesus. But then there's another part of

that as well, and that's the fact that

no one is so good that they don't need

to be saved.