From House of Shame to Hall of Fame - Part B

Difficulty. Your difficulty that you're facing today must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work. If it's up to you and you're doing the work and you're fighting the battle alone, it can crush you. It seems so big. It's insurmountable. But you insert God into the equation.

It's not difficult. But first, here's a timely new resource about the current war in Israel and how it fits in God's plan for His nation. Israel at War.

That's the title of a new book by Skip Heintzing. Modern Israel has been at war from its very first day of existence, as Skip points out. On the day after Israel became a nation, that was May 14th, 1948. On May 15th, virtually every Arab neighbor attacked Israel to destroy it. Israel had been a nation one day.

They didn't have an organized army. Israel at War is up to date concerning current events in the Mideast and includes Skip's comments during his December tour of the Gaza border and a video link to Skip's interview in Jerusalem. The new book Israel at War is our gift to you this month to anyone who encourages the growth of Connect with Skip with a gift of $50 or more. For more information, visit IsraelatWar.com or call 922-1888. All right, let's get started.

We'll turn to Joshua 2 as we hear the conclusion of Skip's teaching. There was a little girl who loved her collection of dolls. She had a complete collection of dolls. And get this, every morning she would make her bed.

And she'd like, first of all, that's amazing. And then she'd line up all her dolls in a row, nice and pretty. She had this beautiful collection of dolls.

She was so proud of it. One day a visitor came and asked a little girl, of all your dolls, which one is your favorite doll? Little girl said, you want to see my favorite doll? She went to her closet, and she took out a doll that they would throw away at Goodwill. It had one eye. Most of its hair was missing. Its neck was sort of dangling by one little sliver of plastic. Tattered clothes, one shoe gone, one shoe on, one little doll foot.

Just a mess. And the visitor said, and why do you love this doll so much? And the little girl said, because if I didn't, nobody would. That's Rahab. Who would love Rahab? Who would pick Rahab, God?

God has chosen the foolish things of this world. So that's her status. She was a working prostitute.

Now, consider her service. Verse 4, 5, and 6 tell us what she did is she took these two men, these spies, and hid them from being found out by those who lived in Jericho. She hid them in stalks, it says, of flax. Her home was on the wall, the periphery of the city. Now, in ancient cities like this, there was not just a wall. There were two walls called a casement wall, and there was a wall and then an inner wall, and it was filled in with rubble to fortify it. So it would be impenetrable, hard to get through.

Not only was rubble put in between the two walls, but sometimes little cross sections of wall were put in for storage rooms or for living quarters. That's where she lived. She would have had a window facing outside the wall. She would have had the main entrance from the inside. Because of where she was situated, everybody in town or those living near here could see who's going in and who's coming out, so they found out a couple men were there.

They would hear from all the men every night who came in that city, all about what they thought, all about what their fears are, all the news they've heard, so they could get a lot of information from this woman. Now, just a side note, it mentions flax here. They would harvest this flax.

They'd put it on the rooftops to dry by the sun. This was a cultural trade. Not only did she have an inn, not only was she a prostitute, but they worked in the harvesting of flax. Flax is linseed.

So it's kind of a delicate plant with blue flowers from 5000 BC all the way that far back. People were harvesting linseed or flax, and they would extract the oil. They would then weave the fibers of this plant into linen.

That's where linen comes from, and they would make rope out of it as well, so it was quite useful. The water dried into these bundles, these stalks, which were about three to four feet tall, and so these two spies were hiding behind the bundles of flax. Nobody could see them. When she hid them, it was a demonstration that she believed so much in their mission and in their God. We're going to see that in just a minute that she hid them.

In fact, in Hebrews 11, verse 31, we're told by faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe. She had received the spies with peace. So that's her status, and that's her service. What I'd like you to think about now is her salvation, and it comes in phases. She is a work in progress. First of all, I want you to notice she heard about God. Look at verse 10.

This is 38, 40 years before. She heard about this ragtag group of ex-slaves conquering standing armies of two nations, and they were migrating toward their land. Now they're right across from Jericho, two, three million of them barreling down on the Canaanites. She heard that. They heard that. Everybody heard that. What's interesting is what she says. Her testimony about what they, the people of Canaan, were actually thinking is amazing. She said, we heard that, and we freaked out.

I'm paraphrasing. We flipped out. Our hearts melted. There was no more courage in us.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. That is not what the 10 spies said 38 years before when Moses sent out 12. Ten came back and said, it's a beautiful land, but there's giants in the land, and we're like grasshoppers in their sight. Joshua and Caleb quieted the people and said, our God's big. We can take the land. God made us a promise.

We can easily take this land. When they said that, the people of Israel almost killed them, stoned them because they wanted to go in and take the land by faith, whereas the 10 talked everybody else into unbelief and wandering for another 38 years. Now we find out the truth. Yeah, the 10 spies are saying, they're so big and we're so little and they're so strong and we're so weak.

The truth is the Canaanites were morbidly afraid of the Israelites. That's what's going on in their minds. I'm bringing this up because here's the principle. Difficulty, your difficulty that you're facing today, must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work. If it's up to you and you're doing the work and you're fighting the battle alone, it can crush you, it seems so big, it's insurmountable, but you insert God into the equation, it's not difficult.

Difficulty must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work. It's all how you look at things. If you look and say, we have big enemies, it's because you have a little God. If you have a big God, your enemies shrink. You have a big God, then you have little enemies. You have a little God, you have big enemies.

It all depends on how you look at it. You know, the Bible indicates that when we see the devil, we're going to go, that's the guy that made the nations tremble? He, that thing, that little mole, created that much havoc? I think we're going to be surprised when we see him. Yes, the devil is real. Yes, he has an incredible arrayed army against God's people and working in this world. When you see him, you're going to be amazed.

That guy? Well, why didn't we trust in a big God a lot quicker than being afraid of that guy? So, she heard about God.

That's the first step. Second step, she believed what she heard. It's one thing to hear, but she heard report after report, man after man came and said, did you hear what happened to the children of Israel and the Red Sea opened up and they killed those nations and now they're right there on the other side of the earth.

She heard it enough times, she said, that's true. I believe in that God. I want you to look at something. Look at verse 8. I know that the Lord has given you the land. The word Lord here, do you see how it's capitalized in your Bible? That means that's the covenant name of God. That's Yahweh. I know that Yahweh, the Jewish God, your God, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. Look down to verse 11 again. As soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you.

Now watch this. For the Lord, Yahweh, your God, He is God. That's the real God.

He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Notice that she doesn't use the collective we, but the personal I. I know, I know that He is God. Others heard about God. Rahab knew she believed in God.

See, the first step of faith is when you hear about God, then if you believe what you hear, faith is born. So she heard of it and then she believed it. She didn't see what happened. She wasn't there at the Red Sea 38 years ago. She wasn't even born. 38 years before when the Red Sea opened up, she wasn't around to see it. She just heard about it.

She wasn't there to see the defeat of those two kings. She just heard about it, but she believed it. Now what's interesting is that many of the Jews who were there saw the miracle, but they ended up not believing. I bring this up because if your faith depends on visible signs, then if the sign is missing, your faith gets broke. People are always looking for a sign.

Show me a sign, then I'll believe. You know, back in 2004, a lady in Florida sold a grilled cheese sandwich for $28,000. Did you hear about this? And it wasn't because it was an awesome tasting grilled cheese sandwich worth $28,000. She sold the grilled cheese sandwich for $28,000 because people said they could see the Virgin Mary on one side of that grilled cheese sandwich on that burnt part of the toast. Ooh, there she is. It's a miracle.

Here's 28 grand. I want that grilled cheese sandwich. Miracle mongers.

Show me a sign and then I'll believe what happens when that face gets deformed over time and mold. If right now you saw a miracle, let's just say God levitated me over the congregation right now. So I'm talking all of a sudden, and I just sort of hover over you and then he spins me around a few times. Right?

You get out your little phone and say, wow, that goes viral. You know what's going to happen? Next week, we will not have a seat to contain all the people that will come. It will be so packed, we'll have to turn people away.

Every single service, we'd have to add services. Am I right? But then if next week I didn't get levitated, you know what happened the following week?

It's going to go down. So if your faith is dependent on visible signs, when the signs are not there, your faith suffers. Faith, true faith, is generated by a promise by the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Rahab heard about God, then Rahab believed in God. And she says, I know that the Lord has given you the land.

Imagine that. She had more faith than the 10 spies who saw those miracles 40 years before. She made this statement before the walls of Jericho ever collapsed around her. So she heard about God. She believed what she heard. Third part of this process of salvation, she demonstrated what she believed. How did she demonstrate it?

A few different ways. She hid the spies. Now, in doing so, she risked her life. She didn't know these guys from Adam.

These two strangers show up from the camp of Israel. They could have killed her. So she risked her life. In hiding them, she is risking her life from the Jerichoites who might find out she's hiding two men from Israel. So it was risky business, but she demonstrated her faith. That's the point of the Hebrews 11 passage. She demonstrated it by hiding the spies.

She also demonstrated it by hanging the rope. Now look at something down in verse 18. They say, unless when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household into your own home, so it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. Interesting that they tie the idea of blood together with the idea of this scarlet cord. So here's the deal. The only way for you to be rescued from the destruction that's coming to this town is you get everybody in this house, and you hang out that red rope, that scarlet rope, and God's judgment that comes to this city is going to pass over this house.

That sound familiar? Where did they get that idea from? From the Passover.

Same concept. She didn't have a little lamb to put blood on the lindels and doorposts. She's a Canaanite. But she did have a scarlet rope, and the idea is the same, that God would pass over in judgment. So it was an outward sign of her inward faith.

This prostitute was the next prostitute. So she hid the spies, she hung the rope, and then she also helped her family. Notice she doesn't say, good, save me from this place. I don't care what happens to mom and dad, brother and sister.

Just get me out of Dodge. She says, no, I want to make sure that my family is also helped. She had a concern for others. Salvation is so valuable that when a person really discovers it, they're not content to go to heaven alone. They want to bring other people with them.

They want to share it. This is why James in the New Testament uses Rahab as an example of faith without works is dead. He said, the harlot Rahab was justified. She showed her faith by her works. She demonstrated it.

She didn't say, yeah, I believe. I got a thin veneer of Christianity. I have a form of godliness.

I go to church every now and then, blah, blah, blah. It changed her, and she showed it. There's a poem that says, he wasn't much for stirring about. That wasn't his desire. While others worked to serve the Lord, he was just sitting by the fire. Same old story day by day. He never seemed to tire. While others faithfully served the Lord, he was just sitting by the fire. One day he died, as all must do.

Some say he went up higher, but if he's doing what he always did, he's still sitting by the fire. You see, salvation will be shown. It will be demonstrated. People don't have to guess. It won't be a thin veneer.

It won't be a form. It will be something that changes substantively as it did in her life. So we've seen her status, her service, and her salvation. Let's close with this thought, her significance. Did you know that Rahab, her story doesn't end here? It continues so that you find her mentioned no less than three different times in the New Testament. As an example, a paragon of faith. First is Hebrews chapter 11 in God's Hall of Fame, where it says, By faith, Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, meaning she did believe. They did not.

She did. James chapter 2, Rahab was justified. And the third is in Matthew chapter 1, the genealogy of Jesus Christ himself. In the pedigree of the savior of mankind, Rahab's name shows up.

Matthew chapter 1 begins a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Verse 5 says, Salmon, the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.

Obed, the father of Jesse, and Jesse, the father of King David. In other words, a guy named Salmon married Rahab. We don't know who Salmon was. The Bible doesn't say this, but there's Jewish tradition says Salmon was one of the two spies.

Be interesting, wouldn't it? So, a guy named Salmon marries Rahab. They have a baby boy named Boaz.

Boaz, later on, will meet a girl named Ruth in Bethlehem. They'll get married. They'll have a little boy named Obed. Obed will get a wife, have a little boy named Jesse.

And Jesse will have sons, and one of them will be Israel's greatest king, King David. So, she shows up in the royal lineage of Jesus Christ and King David, which means in God's book, Rahab is a princess. Not a prostitute, a princess.

She goes from prostitute to princess. Transformation, change, and she's included as an example. You see, nature forms us. Sin deforms us.

Schools inform us. A prison can reform us. The world tries to conform us, but only Jesus Christ can and will transform us.

He'll change you from the inside out. Christians are not just nicer people. I know some that aren't nice at all, which makes you wonder, are they really Christian people? They're not just nicer people.

They're transformed people. Now, some of you might be thinking, well, that's fine for those harlots. They need it. Good, she got saved.

They really need that. Well, you know, I'm reminded of what Jesus said to the proud religious elite in Matthew 21 when He said, the tax collectors and harlots will enter the kingdom of God before you. You see, none are so bad that they can't be saved, and none are so good that they don't need to be saved.

Listen, if your religion hasn't changed you, maybe you better change your religion. I've always said there's going to be three surprises in heaven. You've heard this before. First of all, who's there?

You made it? Really? That'll be a surprise. Some of us will go, wow, they're here. Second, who's not there? Wait a minute, where's so-and-so?

I thought they'd be here. They had the biggest Bible on the block. Third, that you're there. By God's grace. By God's grace alone. Sunday school teacher asked for class, what do you need to do to be saved? A little boy shot up his hand and said, sin. Well, he was right.

Right? So we all qualify because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And Rahab qualifies.

And if Rahab qualified and she did and she was a sinner, then we all qualify because all have sinned. That concludes Skip's teaching on what God can do to transform your life and give you victory over your circumstances. That message is from his series, Bloodline, tracing God's rescue mission from Eden to eternity. Find the full message as well as books, booklets and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now, here's Skip to share how you can connect you and many others with the truth of God's word with a gift to keep these messages going out around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

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That's connectwithskip.com. Join us next week as Skip begins a message about God's great servant, the Messiah. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. A connection. Connect with Skip Hyten is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.