Transcription
Foreign [Music] Every time you breathe her name, because God wants the folk to read it, to know it's not too late. Even though you've got a sordid background, even though nobody would like you, respect you, think much of you, it's not too late. [Music] [Music]
Rahab was a prostitute, but she was also a woman of faith. Rahab turned her faith into action. When you're operating in faith, God can cover you and protect you, even when everything else around you is falling down. It's not too late, no matter how degrading or devastating your past may be. It doesn't have to determine such a person who would have been viewed as a throwaway was a lady named Rahab. Almost all the time, there are a few exceptions, but most of the time when you see her name, her occupation is right beside it. Rahab the Harlot, that's how she's known throughout scripture. Her lifestyle was selling sex. Her lifestyle was one that most people would regard as evil, worthless, good enough for the junkyard. But I don't know of a better person who illustrates this "not too late" then a lady named Rahab, whose resume simply read "harlot."
She lived in Jericho. Joshua, following God, was now ready to take Jericho as the city that would come under the rule of Israel. We're told that Rahab's house, in chapter 2 of The Book of Joshua, was embedded into the city wall. So she had a permanent residence by the gate on the wall, and you would pretty much understand that because when men came to town, one of the first places they wanted to visit was the red light district. So she was very conveniently located. Joshua sent in a couple of spies to spy out the land, to check out things, to see how they were going to manage taking down this city as the next step of them gaining the Promised Land. These two spies went to Rahab's house, and she received them. We're told why she received them, because Joshua chapter 2 verse 9 says, "I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before 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 to the two kings of the Amorites." In other words, we know about y'all. Y'all some bad boys, and we know about your God. We know what your God has done, and I believe in him, and therefore I'm going to receive you. She takes them in to her house to protect them because she believed in their God and what he had done. So we have a prostitute who's willing to take a risk for the people of God. Somebody discovers that they are in the prostitute's house, and they come said by the king, "Where are the two gentlemen who came into your house?" She lies. "I don't know." Basically, that's the urban version. But I don't, I don't know about these two guys. She says, in the first five verses of chapter two, "I don't know about these guys." So she lies, but in this case, she chose to do what technically was a sin for righteous reason because she didn't have another option. So she hides the spies, and when she hides them, she then sends them out by her window so that they can escape. So here we have a lady of ill repute, somebody who you wouldn't want to live next door to, you wouldn't want your kids to grow up around, you wouldn't want to have in your neighborhood, is a street walker who makes a strong stand for God because of the word that she had heard.
When the spies are on their way out of Dodge, when they get ready to leave town, he says, "Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, verse 12 of Joshua 2, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father's household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother, and my brothers and my sisters, with all who long to be with him, and deliver our hands from death. Take care of my peeps." She says, "Deal kindly with us." If you read that too fast, you'll miss it. She cuts a deal because of what she has done. Because the spies are going to tell us, "We got, we, we got your back." She uses the word "kindly." That is one of the thick words in the Bible because the Hebrew word is *hasid*. Most of the time when it's translated in the Bible, it's translated "loving kindness." The word *hasid* means covenantal love. The word *hasid* means a legal agreement that God makes with people to cover them. The Bible calls it a covenant. A covenant is a covering where God covers you. We often hear people talk about being covered. Well, that's the word *hesed*, which is the word "kindly" in this verse. She's saying, "I want you to cover me, my mama, my daddy, my brothers, my sisters, and all their friends too. I want you to cover me." It's like when it's raining outside and you have an umbrella over you, you are covered. The umbrella doesn't stop it from raining; it stops it from raining on you. She says, "I know this, this baby is coming down, but when the wrath rains down, I want to be covered. I want *hesed*. I want this covenantal covering, this loving kindness." And if you're a Christian today, the Bible says you're in the New Covenant. That means you're on the divine cover. And so she wants to cut a deal for protection because she took the risk to identify with God's people over her own people. She took the risk, even as a prostitute, to identify with God and what God was doing because she believed it rather than the culture she grew up in. She made a radical decision that went against her lifestyle, that went against her occupation, that even went against her own country. She wanted *hesed*. She wanted loving kindness.
You know, there's a verse in the New Testament many people quote, particularly in evangelism. It says, "If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Now, that's a curious verse because in that verse, it tells you you've got to do two things to be saved: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and confess with your mouth. Yeah, when you read the book of Saint John, which is the gospel that tells you how to become a Christian, you never read about the word "confess." You only read about, "For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, whosoever believeth on him shall have eternal life." But in Romans 10:9, he says, "To be saved, you have to do two things: believe on Jesus and confess Jesus." Said it another way in another place. Jesus said, "If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father." Matthew 10. But if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father. My point is simply this: confession is not about salvation for heaven. Believing is about salvation for heaven. Confession is about salvation on Earth. When you trust Christ, you get to heaven. When you confess Christ, heaven comes to you. See, we have a lot of folk who are on their way to heaven because they believed, but they don't see much of God in history because they don't confess. Their secret agent Christians, spiritual CIA representatives, covert operatives. They are hidden believers, and they wonder why they don't get covered because there's no confession. You see, Romans 10:9 is talking to believers about how to be saved on Earth, not sinners about how to be saved for heaven. And that comes through your confession. You see, she made a public confession. She lied to the people who came, and she said, "I'm willing to identify with you." If you really want to see what God can do, coming off of a bad background, coming off of a life of repute, if you really want to see whether he can change your reputation and change your circumstance, you ought to try a little *hesed*. Because when God covers you because you've been willing to confess and identify, that's why Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel because I know what with the power of God can do." He's not ashamed because he understood that confession, that is your public identification with God, changes how God relates to you in history. It does not change what he will do for you in eternity, but it changes how he interacts with you in time. So she says, "Deal kindly with me, protect me on Earth in my historical situation."
Now, that would be good enough on its own, but Rahab's story doesn't end with the Old Testament. Rahab is all up in the New Testament. Her legacy goes. But when she shows up, we keep being told she's a [Music] in the Hall of Faith, Hebrews chapter 11. That's where all the great names are, isn't it? Not by Moses, there and Abraham is there, and Sarah is there, you know what? And Samson is saying, oh, you know, all his great David is there, all these great names, and we got a heart there. We, we got a prostitute name. Don't just say Rahab, says Rahab the Harlot. Give a sister a break. And she got to call her harlot every time you breathe her name because God wants the folk to read it to know it's not too late. [Music]
Return for more of today's message right after this special announcement from Dr. Hello, this is Tony and Lois Evans with the Urban Alternative, and we want to invite all of our pastors and pastors' wives to a special time of spiritual refreshing and spiritual recovery on our Canada New England cruise, June 25th through July 2nd. It's going to be a special time with you in mind. We're looking forward to meeting you and looking forward to, like Tony said, having a refreshing, renewal, reviving time with you. It's going to be great. Come and join us, meet some new friends, and I'm looking forward, we're looking forward to meeting you. As pastors and pastors' wives, we have the joy of ministering to you on our website and in so many different ways, but it'll be really, really nice to meet you personally and get a chance to love on you. So come and join us on our wonderful cruise. You will be refreshed. You know, the theme of our cruise is "Breathe," because we want you to take a deep breath. Yes. You know, get away from ministry for a while and just get with other folks who also need a break. My son Anthony will be doing the music. My daughter Priscilla Shire, now actress Priscilla Shire, is going to be ministering the word. I'll be ministering the word. Uh, we'll be fellowshipping with you. Martha Mandizzi will be ministering in music as well. So it's going to be an exciting time. You don't want to miss it. It will be June 25th through July 2nd, 2016, Canada New England. Log on to tonyevans.org. It will give you all the information about how to register for this time to breathe. God bless you. Look forward to seeing you on the cruise. Bless you. We now return to today's message.
Even though you've got a sordid background, even though nobody would like you, respect you, think much of you, it's not too late. Because it says, "And by faith, Rahab the Harlot received the spies." I want you to know that a lady in the red light district can have faith. I want you to know that a lady that has a question mark about her can have faith. I want to let you know that even if you were this wicked, you can still wind up in a big hole. You can still be on tour for generations of men and women and boys and girls to discover that no matter how bad your past, God doesn't mind visiting the junkyard. He doesn't mind visiting folk who've been through it, who are hurting, who have disgust written all over them, and who can never shake their title, and still put you in the Hall of Faith. In fact, not only is she in the Hall of Faith, she's one of the great teachers about faith. Because in James chapter 2, because she's all up in the New Testament, in James chapter 2, verse 14, "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says, 'Go and be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give him what is necessary for the body, what use is it? Even so, if a man has no works, it's dead being by itself." And then he says, in verse 25, "In the same way, was not Rahab who the Harlot, was not Rahab the Harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, even so faith without works is dead." Watch this now. He says, "Let me explain how faith works. Faith is demonstrated by your action, not by your discussion. It's demonstrated by your walk, not by your talk." Folk can talk faith all day long, but God calls us to walk by faith. And he says, "Faith without works is dead." He's not talking to sinners. He says, "My brethren, faith without works is dead." He's talking to Christians, and he's talking to Christians about what God will or will not do with you, through you, and for you while you're on Earth. He's not talking about heaven. He is saying, "If you want to know that you have faith, let me see your work." He says, "And let me give you an illustration." Rahab the Harlot didn't just say, "We heard about your God. We, we know about your God." She said, "Come on in here, and I'm gonna protect you. I'm gonna give you some food and clothes or food and water, and I'ma send you out another way." Now, that's interesting. In Hebrews 11, it says she received the spies by faith. But in James 2, it says something else: she sent them out another way. In other words, she just didn't take them in; she saw that thing through and sent them out another way. And his point is, "Was not Rahab saved, delivered?" The word "saved" means to be rescued or delivered. She got rescued, and all of her people got rescued when she exercised faith. God has the power, God has the light, he's just not going to waste it until he detects movement. And that movement is faith. When you move, you have demonstrated faith. And when you demonstrate faith, you get to see God move in history. Here's how it works: Grace is all that God has supplied for all that he wants you to do and be. That's grace. All the grace you're ever going to get, he gives you at the point of salvation. There's no new grace. You can just withdraw pre-existing grace, okay? But there's enough for whatever he wants you to be and do. You withdraw grace by faith. But the way you know you're exercising the faith to draw the grace is by the walk. When you act in faith, you suck grace. And grace is God's supply for all that you are to be and all that you are to do. If Rahab is showing up in the New Testament as a harlot, and she's still called a champion of faith, that's got to be a whole lot of grace going on. Because this sister, we can't get rid of her, okay? She shows up in James chapter 2 and climbs out of her mess. See, some of us know what it is. "Weren't you the person that did that? Wasn't that your lifestyle back then?" They may only remember that, but will you show them what God has done? They gotta add something. "By faith," it says, "Rahab the Harlot, by faith, she became something spectacular, even with a negative background." By the way, her name, Rahab, or Ray, is the name of an Egyptian god. So she was raised in a pagan land with a pagan religion by pagan parents who gave her a pagan name. So she didn't have anything real God going for her. But that's how good God is. He can take you out of a, a total mess and turn you into a marvelous miracle. So Rahab now is, is being defined by what God is doing. But that's not the greatest thing. All that's good, and I'm excited for Ray Ray Ray, you know, you know, I, I'm excited for girlfriends. But that's not the, that's not the hot thing. Let me, let me show you the hot thing. Solomon, verse 5, "was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth. And Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king." Oh, if this was Sunday morning, I could do something with this one. [Applause] What is she doing in the lineage of Jesus Christ? Matthew chapter one is the liturgy. Jesus Christ. Most people when they get to Matthew, they listen, skip the chapter. But there's a whole bunch of stuff in this chapter. You got, you've got folk from Hamitic descent. You've got Africans in this chapter. Rahab, it says, was married to Salmon. To Salmon. We're told in Joshua 6:25 that Rahab relocated to Israel because, remember, the walls came tumbling down to Jericho. She had to find herself a new place to live. But since she believed in the Jews' God, she relocated with the Jewish people. And so now she's hanging out. It is real. While girlfriend is hanging out with Israel, she runs into Salmon, or Salmon runs into her, however it happened. But now that raises the question, what in the world is a Salmon? Who is this guy who would marry a previous prostitute? There's only one verse that tells us about Salmon, and that is First Chronicles chapter 2, verse 51. And it says, "And Salmon was the father of Bethlehem." Salmon was, in other words, he built the city. The father, he was the, he is the one, you know, he gave birth to the city. The father, he gave birth to the town. So first of all, if he's going to build a whole city, he got a job. So Rahab has somebody who's employed. If he's going to build the city, he also has a name. That's why he's called the father of Bethlehem because he has notoriety for establishing, giving birth to, and giving leadership to the community. So he's a civic leader. He's a builder. He's a community organizer, and he is establishing stability in a place called Bethlehem. He marries a previous prostitute. They have a baby. Now, all these years, we don't hear that she's never gotten pregnant with all these men. She's the kind of person no man would want to marry. Yet a man who builds a whole city wants to marry her, and they have a baby. And that baby's name is Boaz. Boaz is gleaming in the field. Boaz sees a woman named Ruth. Ruth has told Naomi, her mother-in-law, "Your God's gonna be my God. Your people, they're gonna be my people." Boaz sees her. Now, Boaz is a lot older, but he, oh, he ain't cold. And and Boaz sees, no, Boaz sees Ruth, and she goes to his, his feet in, in the, uh, in the text, and says, "Cover me. Put me under your cover." Boaz becomes her kinsman redeemer. They give birth to Obed. Obed gives birth to Jesse. Jesse gives birth to to David. And from the lineage of David comes Jesus Christ. Only does girlfriend make it in the New Testament? But if you track Jesus's legal history through the line of Joseph, Rahab is there. Jesus has a, in his background, Jesus has a prostitute in his background, Jesus has a Gentile in his background. And obviously, Jesus is not ashamed because he wrote it in the book. He didn't say, "Well, let me skip her because her background's too sordid." Because her situation has completely changed. Her situation is turned around. In other words, it's not too late. If God can recognize somebody with that sort of background and still make her useful, he can turn you around and you around and you around and still make you useful for the kingdom of God and for the advancement of what God is doing in history.
And how did this salvation occur? Well, the spies in chapter 2 said, "When we come and level this city, I want you to put a scarlet thread outside of your window." You remember Tony Orlando and Dawn, don't you? "Have you been around the old oak tree?" You know it was an identifying mark to come home. He says, "When we see the red ribbon in the red light district, we will identify your house, and you tell all your people to come into the house because we are going to level the city, but you and your house and your people will be left standing." That means not all of the walls of Jericho fell because her house was embedded in the wall, and her house was left standing. So there was this one sliver of the wall that was left, and it was the place of the woman who identified not with her culture, but with God's people. If you want to see that no matter how bad your past has been, God can turn it around, identify with the right kingdom, not the wrong kingdom. Don't try to be popular in the wrong kingdom, you're going to go down with it. Don't try to be popular with the wrong people, you're going to go down with them. But if you come, come under covenantal covering, you can see God turn it around. No matter how messed up your yesterday is, Rahab. Well, God really reached low to redeem this lady, a lady of the night, and turn her into one of the choice persons in the lineage of Jesus Christ. You see, he can redeem your past and give you a magnificent future.
Get your copy of the book, "It's Not Too Late." It'll talk about her and many other people who God redeemed and still used, which means he can redeem and still use you. To get your book, "It's Not Too Late," for a gift of any amount, contact us at the Urban Alternative, 1-800-800-3222, or log on to tonyevans.org and get your copy of the book, "It's Not Too Late." Would you become a friend and a partner of our ministry as well so that we can have an ongoing relationship, ongoing teaching that we will provide to you, and ongoing strengthening of us so that we can keep the ministry moving forward? Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your support. See you again next week. [Music] [Music]