”How Can a Harlot Go to Heaven” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Sun AM | Joshua 2

Joshua chapter 2. This morning I want to

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

preach a message simply titled this. How

can a harlot go to heaven?

How can a harlot go to heaven? At the

age of 10, John became a sailor. The

year was 1975. Excuse me. The year was

1735.

He then became a slave for some time in

West Africa. Eventually, John became the

owner of a large slave ship and became

prolific in the slave trade business.

He sailed multiple voyages hauling

precious souls as if they were nothing

more than merchandise to be sold. And he

used them until they were of no more

value.

One day at sea, John was trying to steer

a slave ship through an impassible

storm. As the waves came over the shi

ship and tossed the ship around in the

sea, John called out to Jesus. He cried

out to the Lord and asked him to save

him and he trusted Christ in that

moment. He had had a religious

childhood. His mom had been praying for

him. And and in that moment, all of

those truths of scripture came back. And

there on that sea, John cried out to the

Lord and said, "Save me." And God

miraculously saved them from the storm.

But more important, God saved his soul

that day. Years later, that same man

named John Newton would write what has

become probably the most famous hymn of

all time,

Amazing Grace.

And here's what he wrote to the words of

that song, the lyrics of that song. It

begins, "Amazing grace,

how sweet the sound that saved a wretch

like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found. I

was blind, but now I see." I can imagine

as John Newton writes those songs as he

pins the lyrics to that now famous hymn.

Perhaps he thought back on all those

years when he had been involved in sin

in gross sin

and yet he was saved as he wrote those

lyrics. He was redeemed. His past had no

hold over him.

He was glorified. He he was sanctified.

He was justified through the blood of

Jesus Christ. and he wrote, "Amazing

grace, how sweet the sound, saved a

wretch."

John Newton's story is one of great

grace and mercy of God. And God, by the

way, can save anyone, anywhere, any

time. There's no sinner too far gone.

There's no one who has done something

beyond the grace and the mercy of Jesus

Christ. And that is the theme of our

text this morning in Joshua chapter 2

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

where we are introduced to a lady named

Rahab who is known through the Bible as

Rahab the harlot. But her story does not

end with her being a harlot. Her story

ends with her on her way to heaven. And

so this morning I want to tell us how a

harlot can go to heaven. Let's read the

text. Joshua chapter 2 beginning in

Joshua 2 · chapter mention

verse number one.

And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of

Chhatim two spies to spy secretly. Now

remember 40 years before Moses had sent

out 12 spies. You remember they had went

over. 10 had come back and given a bad

report. Two, Joshua and Caleb had come

back and given a good report and said,

"We can take the land." However, the 10

spies with the evil report convinced the

people to not go forward in faith. And

so they spent 40 years, an entire

generation wandering in the wilderness.

Moses has died. That generation has

died. There's a new generation now on

the scene. And they are ready to go into

the promised land. Joshua is now the

leader of this nation. And instead of

sending 12 spies, he only sends two.

And they go secretly.

And here's what Joshua told them to go

do. He said, "Go view the land, even

Jericho, or especially Jericho.

Jericho was the first stop. It was

located just a few miles on the on the

east side of the Jordan River. So once

they crossed the river, Jericho is going

to be right there."

And they went, these spies went and came

into a harlot's house named Rahab, and

they lodged there.

There have been some attempts to try and

make that word harlot mean something

else. But the New Testament uses a

different word, a Greek word, and it

means exact exactly what you think it

would mean.

So this this lady was a wicked, sinful,

immoral lady. Verse two. And it was told

the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold,

there came men in hither tonight of the

children of Israel to search out the

country. And the king of Jericho sent

unto Rahab, saying, How he found them,

we don't know. But but he goes to

Rahab's house. He says, "Bring forth the

men that are come to thee, which are

entered into thine house, for they be

come to search out all the country." And

the woman took the two men, and hid

them, and and and said, "Thus there came

men unto me, but I wished not whence

they were." And it came to pass about

the time of the shutting of the gate,

when it was dark, that the men went out,

whether the men went, I wat not, but

pursue after them quickly, for ye shall

overtake them. But she had brought them

up to the roof of the house, and hid

them with the stalks of flax, which she

had laid in order on the roof. And the

men pursued after them the way to Jordan

unto the fords. And as they, as soon as

they which pursued after them were gone

out, they shut the gate.

Before they were laid down, she came up

unto them on the roof. 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. For we have heard how the Lord

dried up the water of the Red Sea for

you, and when you came out of Egypt.

That happened 40 years ago. But they're

still talking about it. They're still

talking about what God did uh on the Red

Sea for the nation of Israel. And then

she continues, "And what he did unto the

two kings of the Amorites that were on

the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og,

whom he utterly destroyed." She said,

"As soon as we had heard these things,

our hearts did melt. Neither did there

remain any more courage in any man

because of you." It's interesting to me

that 40 years before the nation of

Israel had sent these 12 spies in, 10 of

them had come back and said, "There's

giants in the land." And they were

afraid of the people in the land. But

the people in the land were afraid of

the nation of Israel. They could have

went right then. Those people's hearts

were melting 40 years before. They were

shivering in fear at the God of Israel

and it was a wasted opportunity. Now 40

years later, a new generation has come

and Rahab is testifying that for 40

years we have watched the nation of

Israel wander in the wilderness in fear

of your God. She said, "For the Lord

your God, he is God in heaven above and

on earth beneath. Now therefore, I pray

you swear unto me by the Lord, since I

have showed kindness, that ye will also

show kindness unto my father's house,

and give me a true token,

that you 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." The men

answered, "Her, our life for yours, if

you utter not this our business, and it

shall be, when the Lord hath given us

the land, that we will deal kindly and

truly with thee." Then she let them down

by a cord through the window. For her

house was upon the town wall, and she

dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto

them, "Get you to the mountain, lest the

pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves

there three days until the pursuers be

returned. And afterward may ye go your

way." And the men said unto her, "We

will be blameless in this thine oath,

which thou hast made us swear. Behold,

when we come into the land, thou shalt

bind this line of scarlet thread in the

window which thou dst 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. And

it shall be that whosoever shall go out

of the doors of thy house into the

street, his blood shall be upon his

head, and we will be guiltless. And

whosoever shall be with thee in the

house, his blood shall be on our head,

if any hand be upon him. That's a

amazing verse. Verse 19. Verse number

20. And if thou utter this our business,

then we will be quit of thine oath which

thou hast made us swear. The following

verses, she agrees to them. The men go

back across the Jordan River back to

Joshua and they give a report. It's

amazing story, the story of Rahab. And

it's it's a story that I'm sure you're

familiar with this morning. Rahab went

from walking in the night to walking in

the light. She went from prostitute to

princess. She went from a mess to a

miracle. She went from the hall of shame

to the hall of fame. From wicked to

worshiping. She went from a harlot to

holy in the sight of God. How how can

someone with so much baggage stand in

the throne room of Jesus Christ before

the throne of the King of Kings and the

Lord of Lords? How can someone with so

much so much sin, someone so messed up

as as Rahab the harlot? How can they

kneel before Almighty God and God sees

them as clean and pure? The answer is

found in our text. It is the thread that

runs all the way through scripture. I

want to walk through this with you this

morning. Four simple points and I'm

going to move quickly so that we can get

to the conclusion at the end. Write down

number one from this text. We see

Rahab's sinful corruption.

Rahab was corrupted. She was a sinful

person. In verse 1-6, we are introduced

to Rahab and it is not a proper

introduction. She was an immoral person.

She was a sinner. She would have been

considered an outcast according to the

Jewish law and custom. She was immoral.

The Bible calls her a harlot. Both the

Old Testament and the New Testament use

a Hebrew word and then a Greek word, but

both of them mean the same thing that

she was a harlot. She was a prostitute.

This is how she made her living. She was

an immoral person.

She she lived in lust and wickedness

every day of her life. And not only was

she immoral, but she was dishonest. Even

in our text, she lies three times in the

text in verse 1-6. And by the way, I

just want to pause here and chase a

little rabbit and then we'll come right

back to the text. But it is not right to

lie.

It is never right to do wrong to do

right ever. The Bible in this case is

going to record the lie. It is simply

describing the lie as a part of the

narrative, but it is not prescribing the

lie as a part of Christian life. It is

not okay for Christians to lie. Lying is

a sin. In fact, in the book of Exodus

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20, as part of the great ten

commandments, the Bible says, "Thou

shalt not lie." And then to take it a

step further, in Proverbs chapter 6,

Proverbs 6 · chapter mention

lying is considered an abomination to

God. God hates lying. You say, "Okay,

that's fine and good. Why are you

telling us this?" Because lying is a

problem in our culture. Did you know

that 91% of people admit that they lie

regularly? 91%

and the other 9% were probably lying.

Men, on average, men, we lie six times a

day.

Women on average lie three times a day.

I talk to people all the time who claim

to be Christians, who claim to know

Jesus Christ as their savior. They look

me right in my eyeballs and they lie.

Actually, most of the time they don't

look you in your eyeballs when they lie.

They look away. They look at the

ceiling. They're telling you some story.

They're stretching the truth. They don't

think you can know.

Listen, friends. This is it. I'm I'm

paused and I'm moving on again. We're

not going to stay here. But I want you

to know based on the word of God, lying

is a sin. Don't be a lying Christian.

Tell the truth. Don't stretch the truth.

Tell the truth. Tell it honestly. If you

don't know something, admit you don't

know something. Don't make stuff up. Be

honest.

So lying is is a lie is a problem. Don't

lie. But Rahab did. Why did Rahab lie?

Well, she was a gentile heathen.

She she hadn't been saved yet or if she

was saved at that point. She had not

been through a disciplehip course. She

she didn't have a local church to go to

in Jericho. She was very young in her

faith, if she was saved at all at this

point. I think she gets saved later in

the chapter. So So she's a heathen.

She's a gentile heathen.

She'd been lying her whole life. She'd

been lying to every guy who came into

her her house. Oh yeah, you're something

special. You look great today. Come on

in. She lies all the time. Lying was a

part of her sinful nature.

You and I have a new nature.

You and I have been born again through

the blood of Jesus Christ. We have a new

nature. Lying is a part of the old man.

honesty and truthfulness a part of the

new man. So yes, people have argued

about this and people have had have made

big discussions about why Rahab lied and

God condoned her lie. No, God condemned

her lie. But it shows us very clearly

that Rahab needed a savior. She was a

sinner. It's more proof that she was a

sinner. She was corrupt. But let's not

be too hard on Rahab this morning

because the Bible says in Romans chapter

Romans 3 · chapter mention

3 and verse 23, for all have sinned and

fallen short of the glory of God. Sunday

school teacher stood up in front of the

class and said, "Students, what do we

need to have in order to be saved?" The

little boy raised his hand and said,

"Sin."

He was right.

He was right. And by the way, we all

have sin. We all stand in need of a

savior just as Rahab did. Yes, she was

immoral. Yes, she was dishonest, but so

are all of us. So, we've all done things

that that corrupt us that make us a

sinner. And even if which is impossible

to do so, but even if we could live a

perfect spotless life as Jesus did, then

we we are corrupt by our sin nature.

Adam's sin, the Bible says, "And from

Adam's sin, death or sin has passed upon

all men." We're all sinners because we

descend from Adam. Jesus Christ was

different in that he had a heavenly

father. He did not have an earthly

father. So, he escaped the sin nature

that comes through the line of Adam. And

then he did live a perfect and a

spotless and a sinless life. Something

you and I cannot do so that he could be

the perfect sinless sacrifice for the

sins of the world.

So this morning, Rahab's sinful

corruption and by application ours. But

I'm glad that the story doesn't end

there. That's not the end of the story.

That's actually only the beginning of

the story. Write down number two.

Rahab's saving confession.

Rahab's saving confession. In verse 7

through 14, we read it a moment ago. We

see Rahab's confession of faith in

Almighty God. It doesn't end. Her story

does not end with her failures. It does

not end in her wickedness. And yours

doesn't have to end there either. Rahab

got saved. Notice in verse 9, she says

these two little words. And she said

unto the men, I know. She did not say,

"I think." She did not say, "I I hope."

She did not say, "This is something I've

kind of been wondering about. I have a

question about." No, she said, "I know."

And what does she know? She knows that

the Lord. Now, notice the Lord in your

Bible. It should be capital L, capital

O, capital R, capital D. We've talked

about this word before when we was in

Joshua chapter 1. This is the covenant

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

name for God. This is Yahweh. If you

look at it in the Hebrew, it is Yahweh.

It's the most holy name for God. It can

it contains all of who God is in one

word. It's the word that God used in the

burning bush when he spoke to Abraham.

And and Abraham said, "Who am I going to

tell the Egyptians that that I that has

sent me? Who am I going to tell them I'm

from?" And God answered and said, "Tell

him, I am sent you. I am what? I am

everything. I am all that you will need.

I am all that you can want. I am all

that you should desire. I am. I'm the

creator of the world. I'm the most holy.

I'm the most majestic. I am has sent

you. That's the same word that's Rahab

uses in verse number nine. She said, "I

know the Lord." And she's not just going

to use it in verse 9. She's going to use

it in verse 9 and verse 10, and verse 11

and verse 12. This covenant name for

God, the I am. What's Rahab saying? She

says, "I know the truth." And the truth

is that there is one God. There is one

God who is true. There is one God who is

holy. There is one God who made heaven

and earth. There is one God who rules

supreme over all. I know. It's not the

gods of Jericho. It's not the gods of

the Canaanites. It is Jehovah Yahweh,

the God of Israel, is the true God. I

know it. She wasn't the only one who

knew it, though. Notice what she says.

Verse N. 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." Now,

notice what she says in verse 10. Watch

carefully. For I, is that what your

Bible says?

For we, your Bible says, for we have

heard how the Lord dried up the water of

the Red Sea for you when you came out of

Egypt, and what ye did unto the two

kings of the Amorites that were on the

other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom

ye have utterly destroyed. Now, watch

this. Verse 11. And as soon as I had

heard, is that what it says? It says, as

soon as we had heard these things, my

heart did melt. Is that what your Bible

says?

Our hearts did melt. The language in

your Bible is important. Rahab wasn't

the only one who knew about the one true

God. No, this this rumor that this this

reputation of Almighty God had spread

all through the land of Canaan. There

were hundreds thousands of Canaanites

living in Jericho and Ai and other

cities there in Canaan that knew about

the one true God. But friends, only

Rahab got saved from the wrath of God. I

want you to think about this.

There are a lot of people in our world

who know about God.

They can quote some Bible verses to you.

Maybe they go to church. They know a lot

of information about God. They've heard

about his his reputation. They heard

that he's the creator of the world.

They've heard that he can do miracles.

They heard that Jesus came and was born

in a manger. They've heard about Jesus

dying on the cross. They know all of the

stuff they know about God they've heard.

And they may even fear God. Their hearts

may melt inside of them because of what

they have heard about almighty God. And

they think about an eternal an eternity

spent in a place called hell. And and

they become fearful in their soul

because of God. But they're still on

their way to hell because they have not

made the God their God. It's not just

enough to know about him. You've got to

personalize him. The Bible says that the

devils

know God and they tremble. The demons in

hell know about God. They know more

about him than you and I do. They know

about God. They know about him so much

that they fear God. They tremble at his

presence.

And yet, they have still made a choice

to reject God.

You can go to church all you want. You

can memorize your Bible. You You can

read it every day. You can spend time in

prayer. You you can be baptized. You can

be sprinkled. You can recite poems. You

can sing all the hymns in the song book.

You can give offering in that offering

plate that went by. You can do all of

the works that you want. You can gain

all of the knowledge and the information

that you want and you can still be on

your way to hell when you die. It's not

about what you know about God. It's

about who is God to you. Rahab said, "We

all heard about it, but I'm doing

something about it. I'm going to

personalize it. I know." She did not

say, "We all know that he's the true

God." No, she said, "I know that he's

the one true God. I am personalizing it.

I'm placing my faith and my trust in

Almighty God and him alone. I am

trusting in him. I'm not trusting in the

gods of Jericho. I'm not trusting in

this act of protecting you. None of that

can get me to heaven. I know there's

only one God. There's one true God. And

it's not enough just to know about him.

I want him to be my God.

How about it this morning? Have you made

him your God?

You You know the Bible. You know the

verses. You know the scriptures. But do

you know God? Do you have a relationship

with the Almighty?

This is what changed Rahab's life.

Look at what they said in verse 14.

The men answered her after this

confession that we read a moment ago.

And and they said, "Our life for yours,

if you utter not this our business, and

it shall be when the Lord hath given us

the land that we will deal kindly and

truly with thee, Rahab, you will be

spared from the wrath and the judgment

of God on the Canaanite people because

of the confession that you just made."

Have you made a confession of faith? We

we call it in Christianity a profession

of faith where you pronounce that you

are believing in God that he is your

God. If not, I highly encourage you. Let

today be the day of salvation. Put your

faith and your trust in Almighty God and

he will save you.

Whosoever shall call on the name of the

Lord shall be saved.

You can know about God. You can even

fear God, but you are not saved until

you personalize God. Write down number

three.

Number one, we see her sinful condition.

Number two, we see her saving

confession. And number three, notice

Rahab's scarlet cord.

Verse number 15, she lets them down out

the window by this cord. Her house was

on the outside wall of the city, which

was popular for them to have these these

uh rooms and houses that were made into

the wall. And her house was one of

those. And she had a window there on the

outside wall of the city. And so she

lets down this scarlet cord, this red

rope, and she hangs it out the window

and she lets the spies down. They climb

down the wall using that scarlet rope.

And then notice what they say in verse

number 18.

The spies speaking to Rahab say,

"Behold, when we come into the land,

thou shalt bind this line of scarlet

thread in the window which thou dled let

us down by, and thou shalt bring thy

father and thy mother and thy brethren,

and all thy father's household home to

thee." And it shall be that whosoever

shall go out of the doors of thine house

into the street, his blood shall be upon

his head, and he will and we will be

guiltless. And whosoever shall be in

with thee in the house, his blood shall

be upon our head, if any hand be upon

him. If it wasn't for the scarlet cord

hanging from the window, Rahab and her

family would have died in the judgment

of God. You understand that? If it had

not been for the scarlet cord, even

though she had placed her faith in in

Almighty God, and she had made this

confession, she would have died in the

judgment of God if it had not been for

the scarlet cord. They said, "Hang the

cord down and it will rescue you."

Anyone who is in this house, his blood

will be on our heads.

The scarlet cord is a beautiful picture

of the blood of Jesus Christ and what it

does for you and for I.

The blood of Jesus has been applied to

my account and your account. Now, we

know based on the Bible, all have sinned

and come short of the glory of God.

We're all sinners.

Jesus died on the cross for the sins of

the world. God so loved the world that

he gave his only begotten son that

whosoever believeth in him should not

perish but have everlasting life. We

understand this. We know this this

morning. I hope and I pray that you have

placed your faith and trust in Jesus

Christ. But let me tell you something.

God's wrath is still wrathful. God is

still holy. You and I are still sinners.

What separates you and I? What protects

you and I? What rescues you and I from

the wrath of a thrice holy God? It is

one thing and one thing only. It is the

blood of Jesus Christ. When Almighty God

looks at my account, my sinful account,

he looks at the things that I have done.

He does not see a sinner. No, because I

have placed my faith in Jesus Christ. He

sees nothing but the blood of his

precious, perfect, spotless son. That's

what rescues me. And when these when

when when these spies talked to Rahab,

they said, "Rahab, hang this cord out

your window. And when we see the cord,

we know that this is your house and

we'll rescue you. We'll spare you

because of the scarlet. I think it was

scarlet on purpose because it's a

picture of the blood. Listen, years

before,

years before, 40 years before the nation

of Israel was coming out of Egypt and

God instituted what was known as the

Passover. You remember this? And they

said, "Okay, we're going to kill a lamb.

We're going to take the blood of that

lamb. We're going to strike it on the

two side post and the top door post of

our home." And that night, the death

angel came through the land of Egypt.

And as that death angel came through the

land of Egypt, he looked not at who was

a good person, not at who had paid their

tithe, not at who had worked hard for

the for the people of Egypt. He didn't

look to see who who was had good

children and who had bad children. He

was looking for one thing and one thing

only. He wanted to see the blood on the

doorpost. And if he saw the blood, he

passed over that house. But if he got to

a house that was not covered by the

blood, then the firstborn child in that

home was killed in the righteous wrath

of God. There was judgment that came for

those who were not under the blood. And

friends, there's coming a day when

almighty God is going to pour out his

righteous wrath on this sinful world.

He's going to judge everyone who is not

under the blood of Jesus Christ. But you

and I who have been redeemed, who have

placed our faith and trust in Jesus

Christ, we have in essence, we have

dropped the scarlet cord. We have we

have tied it on. We are hanging on to

it. We're pleading the blood. And when

Jesus, when Almighty God comes through

this world in his righteous wrath, he

does not see my sin and he does not

judge me for my sin, but he sees the

perfect spotless lamb of God. He sees

the blood that is flowing down Calvar's

hill. He sees my sin forgiven. As far as

the east is from the west, it's gone.

Never to be remembered again. Not

because of what I have done, but because

of the blood of Jesus Christ. It's

wonderful. It's precious. It's powerful.

She's rescued by the blood. Now, she had

to trust in the cord.

She tied it up out there and then she

left it. And days pass,

nothing happens.

She just leaves the cord.

Hey, Rahab, why is there a cord hanging

out your window down the wall?

Well, that's going to save me here in a

few days. That's what's going to protect

me from the righteous judgment of

Almighty God. If you want to be saved,

too, why don't you come to my house? you

can come to my house and you can stay

with me and you'll be saved too if

you're in my house. Can you imagine? She

goes to her mom and her dad. Mom and

dad, I know I haven't lived right. I

know you've probably been ashamed of my

life, the choices that I've made, the

places that I've been,

but you got to hear me.

I need you to come stay with me for a

little bit because there's a scarlet

cord hanging out of my window and it is

going to rescue us from the wrath of the

God of Israel. If you're at my house,

then then then the your blood will be on

their hands.

If you're in my house, you'll be saved.

You'll be protected from the judgment of

God. You see the picture? I love the how

verse 19 articulates it. I'm going to

read it again.

The spies say, "And it shall be that

whosoever shall go out of the doors of

thy house into the street, his blood

shall be on his head,

and we'll be guiltless. And whosoever

shall be with thee in the house, his

blood shall be on our head." I'm

thankful that if you are in the house of

God, if you are in the family of God,

your blood is no longer on your hands,

but your blood is on the hands of Jesus.

He took your sinful, wretched

blood

on himself.

He became sin who knew no sin so that we

might become the righteousness of God.

So that you and I might have eternal

life. He took on the sin not just of you

and me, but of the entire world. He took

on everyone's sin, put on placed it on

his shoulders, nailed it to his cross,

and he died. He shed his perfect blood

and he's replaced. I I don't know if

this is proper theology. It makes sense

in my head though. He replaced my sinful

blood in the sight of God the Father

with his perfect, precious blood.

My sins are covered. What can wash away

my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again? Nothing

but the blood of Jesus. I need no other

argument. I need no other plea.

This is enough that Jesus died for me.

The blood of Jesus Christ has been shed

for the sins of all of mankind.

Rahab experienced that. She trusted in

that chord. She testified of that chord.

Let me give you one more point this

morning. We'll close. You can come to

the piano whenever you want, babe.

Number four this morning, Rahab's story

continued.

So, we've we've seen her sinful

corruption and we've seen her saving

confession.

We've seen her scarlet cord. Now, notice

her story is continued. What happened to

Rahab after the Israelites defeated

Jericho? And they will in just a couple

chapters. We'll read and we'll preach

how they God gives them great victory

and they obey. And it's an amazing

amazing story. But Rahab's part, Rahab's

house is going to stand. It's going to

remain.

The nation of Israel will come into the

the land of Canaan. They're going to

fight many more battles. But what

happened to Rahab?

Well, God miraculously delivers her from

the bondage of the sin of her past.

She's no longer living in that wicked

lifestyle. She actually goes on to marry

a godly man, a godly Jewish man. Some in

Jewish tradition, even some believe that

this godly man that she ends up marrying

was actually one of the spies that came

and ended up in her house. Could be. The

Bible doesn't say.

She marries this Jewish man, a godly

man. They had a son.

Their son's name was Boaz.

Boaz married a young girl named Ruth.

And Boaz and Ruth gave Rahab a grandson

named Oed.

Oed had a son named Jesse.

And Jesse had a son named

David.

And David would become the king of

Israel. David would defeat the giant

Goliath. David would be the one who God

used in great and mighty ways through

the land and the nation of of Israel.

And it doesn't stop with David, though.

Years later, we get to Matthew chapter

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

1, the New Testament, and God is giving

the genealogy

of baby Jesus. Where did Jesus come

from? Who is his grandmother? Who is his

great-grandmother?

And Matthew chapter 1 begins tracing

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

that line back. back. And in Matthew

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and verse number five, we get

back to this family right here. We get

to the great great great grandmother of

David. And in Matthew chapter 1 and

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

verse number five, in the line of King

Jesus, there is a harlot named Rahab.

You can't tell me this morning that God

can't take that which is broken and

messed up and turn it into a great

miracle for the glory of God because she

placed her faith and trust in the

finished work of Jesus Christ. There's

actually three times in the New

Testament that we see Rahab in Matthew 1

and verse 5 and then in Hebrews 11 and:e

31 she's praised for her great faith and

then in James chapter 2 and verse 25

James 2 · chapter mention

she's again praised for her great faith.

And I'm glad to report to you this

morning that God can take that which is

broken and messed up and use it for his

glory. I heard a pastor say this. He

said, "Nature informs us. Sin deforms

us. Prisons reform us. And the world

conforms us. But only Jesus can

transform us.

Only the blood of Jesus Christ can take

that which is ugly, that which is

broken, that which is corrupt, that

which is messed up, and can turn it into

new life.

This morning, I stand before you, and I

preach this message today,

not as a great pastor,

not even as a great Christian.

Oh, I wish I could stand here and brag

about all the good things that I've been

able to do in my life.

All the verses that I've memorized and

all the hymns I can sing and all the

money that I've given in an offering

plate.

But if I'm honest, and we talked about

honesty,

if I'm honest, I'm just broken as you

are.

I remember the day

when I was running from God.

I remember the days when I did things

that as I look back on crushes my spirit

to think.

Oh, I remember saying things.

I remember telling lies.

I I remember who I was.

Broken,

messed up.

And if I'm being honest this morning,

there's absolutely no reason when I look

at who God is and I look at how holy he

is and I look at how just he is and I

study this word and I study what he's

given us about him, there's absolutely

no reason

that I should be here.

There's no reason that I should ever be

able to step foot inside of heaven ever.

It's a holy place. It's a righteous

place. People like me, and I'm using me,

but I want you to use you. People like

me shouldn't go there.

Forget Rahab for a little bit.

I'm thinking about me.

I shouldn't go to heaven.

How can a harlot go to heaven? How can I

go to heaven?

I'm broken

and you are too.

We come to church sometimes and we get

all puffed up because we're

good Christians

and we can sing the songs of the faith

and we give some money in an offering

plate as it comes by and we try and help

one another and minister to one another

and we can begin to really puff

ourselves up and think, "Man, I am

something."

And maybe this is bad preaching, but I

came to tell you this morning, you are

nothing

outside of Jesus Christ.

How can a harlot go to heaven? How can I

go to heaven? How can anyone go to

heaven?

How can everyone go to heaven?

There's only one answer to that question

and is found on a Calvar's tree 2,000

years ago.

There's a man named Jesus who hangs on

Calvary.

His side has been pierced. His blood is

streaming down his face from the crown

of thorns they have put on him. They

have mocked him. They have spit him. He

no longer looks like a human. His back

has been so ripped up by the cat of nine

tails that the bones are exposed in his

ribs.

As he hangs on Calvary, he cannot

breathe. He's suffocating to death as he

pushes himself up to get a gasp of

breath.

Oh, he could have called 10,000 angels

from the skies above and immediately

wiped out mankind. He could have ended

it all right there. But yet, he stayed.

Why did he stay?

He looked out over a crowd of people who

had mocked him, who had bruised him, who

had spit on him, who had jered at him.

And in his final words, and his final

breath as a human being,

he said, "Father,

forgive them."

The Bible says he then said, "It is

finished."

He gave up the ghost. He became the

sacrifice for every sin that has ever

been committed in the entire world. And

when he says it is finished, what he

means is it is finished. There is, the

Bible says there is now no more

sacrifice for sin. There's no need for

you and I to try and work our way to

heaven. There's no need for you and I to

try and give our way to heaven. No,

Jesus Christ and his blood has finished

it. It was a picture for us in the Old

Testament. The blood on the doorpost,

the scarlet thread from the window. All

the way through the Old Testament, you

see this theme, this pointing towards

there's going to be a blood sacrifice.

There's going to be a blood sacrifice.

And 2,000 years ago, Jesus presented

himself a living sacrifice. He died on

Calvar's tree, took my sin upon him, and

today I stand before you, a sinner, yes,

but a sinner saved by grace. John

Newton's testimony is my testimony.

Rahab's testimony is my testimony. I

stand redeemed by the blood of the lamb.

I was a wretch. I remember who I was.

Oh, but thank you, Jesus, for the blood

that's been applied to my account.

Glory to his name.

this morning as we conclude. I don't

know

your circumstance or your situation or

what you might be going through or what

you may be facing today,

but I want to just remind our church,

Jesus

paid it all.

All to him

I owe.

Here's what I want us to do, Christians.

If you're saved this morning, you know

you're saved. You're 100% certain you're

on your way to heaven. And by the way,

you can know. If you don't know,

you can know.

100% certain you're on your way to

heaven. If you're saved this morning

while she plays, I want you to come find

a place around this altar.

Say something very simple.

Say, "Thank you, Jesus, for the blood.

Thank you for paying my debt.

Thank you for saving me."

We're standing to our feet all over the

building right now. She's going to play.

Why don't you come pray? Why don't you

come find a place and just say thank

you? Maybe it's been a while since you

said, "Thank you, Jesus." Maybe it's

been a while since you just said, "Lord,

thank you for saving me.