It's Okay If You're Not Okay

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. The pagans in Jericho where their hearts melted, they were in terror that Israel's coming. Israel had seen all the plagues of Egypt. They had seen, they experienced the night of the Passover. They went through the Red Sea, saw the Egyptian army. And then they were, they had a rock that followed them in the wilderness and they ate manna for 40 years. And they're still worried about going into the Promised Land. It shows you how weak our faith can possibly be. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world.

John Gardner, he wrote these words. He said, We are faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems. When we are faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems. Just imagine what Joshua faced. Moses is now dead and he finds that he has to lead a nation of refugee slaves who spent the last 40 years just wandering around the wilderness.

And he has to lead them into a land that is occupied by extremely evil war mongering people. And the first thing for him on the agenda is that he has to deal with a distinguished opportunity to conquer one of the most well fortified cities of the ancient world, Jericho. Meanwhile, in Jericho, in that very city, there's a prostitute.

And she's having a huge disguised opportunity. What, from her point of view, looked like an unsolvable problem. She had heard about the God who had delivered his people out of the land of Egypt, the most powerful country on earth at that time. She had also heard that this nation Israel had already defeated and annihilated two powerful kings on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

And she knew that her city, Jericho, would be next. The question is, how does a pagan prostitute handle a problem like this? Open your Bibles to Hebrews Chapter 11.

We'll go there first to show you the answer. Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse 31. It's a very famous chapter in the Bible. We've called it the Hall of Fame of faith. You have these tremendous examples of by faith, by faith, by faith, what people accomplished by faith. Some of them accomplished great things and had great deliverance and great victories, and some of them, by the way, just had to endure great persecutions and even death.

But they did it all by faith. And in Chapter 11, verse 31, Rahab is introduced. It says, By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. That's her solution.

She welcomes the spies in peace. Now, it's interesting how she's described. She's Rahab the prostitute. She's Rahab the harlot. In fact, the name Rahab is used eight times in the Bible and five times she's called the harlot.

Don't you think one would have been enough? Why would you keep calling her the harlot over and over again? You see, it becomes a problem and it's really become a problem for a lot of Christians. Ever since the Reformation, a lot of commentators struggle with this idea that Rahab's a harlot. Christians see it in a different way. In fact, many Christians say you have to translate the word harlot to innkeeper. OK, and that's what they wrote. But the Hebrew word's clear on this. She's not an innkeeper.

In fact, A.W. Pink, great commentator, Pink said this. He said they were divinely directed to a particular house, though it is not likely that they were personally conscious of the fact at first. He said the house in which they were sheltered was owned by a harlot named Rahab, but not that she was plying her evil trade, but that formerly she had been a woman of ill fame and the stigma seemed to still cling to her.

That's wishful thinking, to say the least. The Jewish historian Josephus in Antiquities said that she was an innkeeper. The fact that she's a prostitute is very important to us, to everybody, to everyone on this planet that's a very important fact. I love the way Max Lucado says it. Here's what Max Lucado said he gets in Rahab. It's OK if you're not OK.

Understand it. It's OK if you're not OK. And that's what Rahab represents for everybody. It's OK that she's not OK. Now, let's go and look at her story in Joshua Chapter two. In the first seven verses of Joshua two, Rahab is going to demonstrate her faith.

She's going to be able to demonstrate that she is a believer. Verse one of Chapter two of Joshua. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, go view the land, especially Jericho.

And so they went and they came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and they lodged there. This is important. Joshua sends out spies. Now, understand what spies do. They spy, right? That's the idea. In fact, let me ask you the question.

Is there an element of deceit in being a spy or do you just show up and say, wait, guys, I got to tell you, I'm a spy? You see, what could it be done? Didn't God tell Joshua?

We saw this last week in Chapter one. Did God tell him, I'm giving you the land? Go and take it. Take what is yours. Go get it. Well, why is Joshua sending in spies then?

Why? If he is a man of faith, he should have just went in there, right? Not necessarily. In Numbers Chapter 13, the first time they got to the Jordan, God told Moses to send in 12 spies. That was God's idea. He didn't say, just go into the land and take it. He said, you send in 12 spies.

Caleb and Joshua were the only two that thought they should go in and take the land. So this element of deceit sort of leads me to this principle. Faith utilizes wisdom whenever it's possible. It's not always the best thing to do to just let go and let God. I'm just believing God, but I'm not applying any wisdom at all.

I think you should apply the wisdom. They're going into Jericho. As I said earlier, probably the most fortified city in that part of the world, five miles on the other side of the Jordan River. It's a beautiful city and it's the center of life for the Canaanites.

The Canaanites, if you take that city, you're right in the middle of Canaanite territory and you have tremendous control over them. And so notice they run into Rahab, the harlot right there. Now, how did they meet? I don't know.

The Bible doesn't tell me. Likely they met on the street. That's where she would be when she does her trade. I believe it was a divine appointment that God orchestrated between the spies and Rahab. And then Rahab takes him back to her place.

Now, there's a lot of good sense in this. By the way, do men always frequent a place of a harlot? Are there always men coming and going all the time? That's why you're a harlot. You see, even a foreign man, someone would recognize as a foreigner, wouldn't they be in and out of the house of a harlot?

Of course, they would in any city, even in our city here. And so consequently, it made good logical sense. Now, what I find interesting about it is look at verse two. It was told the king of Jericho saying, behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.

The king has his own men going out. And they recognize people who aren't Canaanites. And they said there are men from Israel here in Jericho. We know they're there.

Now, not only do they know they're in the city, they know where they went. That's what you find in verse three. Interesting.

It says. And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered a house, for they have come to search out the land. Now, this is a little bit interesting at first. If you were the king, is that what you would do?

Or would you just storm the house and take the men? See, it makes sense. But they go and discuss it with her.

The reason for it has to do with their culture. Under the laws of Hammurabi, which, by the way, the Canaanites follow to a degree. Under the laws of Hammurabi, there were two things that are evident. One is you never violate a woman's place of residence. You showed great reverence, even if she's a prostitute.

So you wouldn't just barge in. But secondly, if there was a woman in her own residence or even a prostitute, and she does something that violates the security of the kingdom, she hides someone, she gets the death sentence. And so consequently, he believed as a good Canaanite woman, she wouldn't do that. It says, but the woman had taken the two men and hidden them and said, yes, the men have come to me. I do not know where they're from. And it came when it was time to shout the gate at the dark that the men went out.

I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly and you overtake them. Now, what is that? That's a whole series of what? Yeah, she's lying. OK, she's just flat out lying. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the docks of flax in order that she could hide them on the roof. Deceit.

Now, that's interesting to me. She demonstrates her faith. First, she conceals the spies. Secondly, she lies to protect the spies. And then thirdly, she sends the men of the king on a wild goose chase.

And she's honored for that. As I said, Hebrews 11, 31, by faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace. But also in the book of James.

That's important. James Chapter two in verse twenty five. James is the Lord's brother and he is the one who writes faith without works is dead. He is the one that says, if you have true saving faith, there are works that follow it. That's the point of his book. And James uses her.

And he says this in two twenty five. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messenger and sent them out in another way? That's what she had done. Now, that's interesting that she demonstrates her faith. She clearly has faith. She believed what she heard about God.

She put her life on the line for what she believed. And she lied. Does that bother you? The fact that she lied.

If it does, you're in good company. Lots of people have been bothered by that. Donald Campbell, who used to be the not with the Lord, was the president of Dallas Theological Seminary. He says this to excuse Rahab for indulging in the common practice is to condone what God condemns. The lie of Rahab was recorded, but not approved. The Bible approves her faith, demonstrated by good works, but not her falsehood or lying. Merrill Unger says Rahab's lie, of course, is morally wrong.

A.W. Pink said she failed to fully trust God and the fear of men brought the snare of the lie. But I'm not sure that I don't necessarily believe that at all. This is warfare. Now, the whole idea is the very people that she lied about are spies. The whole point of being a spy is to be deceptive.

That's the whole point. That's what spies do. Just imagine, take something like D-Day. The Normandy invasion, the allies spent an enormous amount of time deceiving and trying to make the Germans believe that the landing in France would take place in Calais. That's where it would be. And that's where the Germans fortified, not Normandy. Now, there's something wrong with that, right? They should have just told them, no, we're coming right here. You see, this is the way this works, but not necessarily in war at all. There's a very big difference in this. Now, let me apply it to your own lives.

Whenever you go on vacation, you're going to be out of time for a week or two, something like that. Do you ever have certain lights come on in your house at night or even if you're clever enough, different lights come on at night? Or maybe the TV even. Why do you do that? You're lying. You know you're not there. Why are you doing that?

Because you wanted to see people who might look at your house and think that you are there. So I think we have to be very careful when we identify and say this about Rahab and whether she lied or not. Rahab demonstrates her faith and now Rahab speaks her faith. Notice beginning in verse eight, it says, Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that the terror of you has fallen on us and that all of 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 when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan and Shion and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and we have no courage remained in any man longer because of you. The Lord, your God, he is the God, he said, she said, in heaven and above and on the earth. Now, think of that statement she makes. She says these three things.

It's her conclusion. She says that I know you're the covenant people. I know you belong to God.

She said, I already know that. I know that 40 years ago, God delivered you out of the hands of the Egyptians. And I believe that to be true.

I also know that you have already destroyed two powerful kings on the East Bank. And I know this and that's the most important in verse 11. You're the only God that is.

You're the only God in heaven and the only God on earth. She makes a tremendous statement of faith. And then she shows concern for a family in 12 and 13. Now, therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also do kindly with my father's household and give me a pledge of truth and spare my father, my mother, my brothers and my sisters with all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death. Really an interesting thing for her to say, please take care of my family.

It's important to me. And we're going to see it's very likely the whole family became believers as well as this plays on. It reminds me in the book of Acts when the Philippian jailer comes to Christ, when Paul and Silas say to him, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be saved. And it says and he believed and went back and says he and his whole household were saved.

He went back and did it. She has a deep concern for a family. What's so ironic about this to me, though, is what James Boyce writes.

James Boyce says, what an irony here. The inhabitants of Jericho were looking at Israel's God and they were shaking in their sandals. The Israelites, who had seen all the mighty works of God over and over again, were looking at their problems rather than at God, and they were terrorized by their own unbelief.

Think of that. The pagans in Jericho, where their hearts melted, they were in terror that Israel's coming. Israel had seen all the plagues of Egypt. They had seen, they experienced the night of the Passover.

They went through the Red Sea, saw the Egyptian army, and then they were, they had a rock that followed them in the wilderness and they ate manna for 40 years. And they're still worried about going into the promised land. Shows you how weak our faith can possibly be. So Rahab demonstrates her faith and she articulates her faith. And now Rahab's faith delivers her.

And we see that starting in verse 14. It says, so the men said to her, our life for yours, if you do not tell us this business of ours and it shall come that when the Lord gives you land that we will feel kindly and faithful with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window for a house was on the city wall so that she was living on the city wall. And it said, and she said to them, go to the hill country so that the pursuers will not happen upon you.

Hide yourself there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward, you may go your own way. And the men said to her, we shall be free from this oath, which we have sworn and you have made us, which you have made us wear. Unless when we come into the land, you tie a cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us done and gather to yourself. He said, in the house of your father, your mother and your brothers and all your father's household. And it shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house and into the street, his blood shall be on your head and we shall be free. But anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on them. But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be free from the oath that we you have made us swear. This is interesting. They were let down with a cord, a rope, and it just happens to be coincidentally scarlet.

Which is kind of interesting, but it becomes the most important thing. Think of the reminders of what it's like. How are people protected from the noatic flood? By the ark, right? If you're in the ark, you're good.

If you're not, you're not. But the only way you get into the ark is how? By the door. You've got to go into the door. It's interesting that you get to the New Testament and Jesus says, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he'll be saved.

I'm that door. Think of Israel's history. They experienced the night of the Passover when the angel of death killed all the firstborn.

Unless, right? They were under the blood of the lamb. And then you were safe. John the Baptist sees Jesus for the first time as he's starting his ministry and says, behold the Lamb of God. It takes away the sins of the world. There's no doubt in my mind that when you see this, that's what you see with this scarlet cord.

I think the scarlet cord is very, very close to the crimson of the blood of Jesus Christ. She is saved because they see the scarlet cord just as you and I are. So Rahab demonstrates her faith and Rahab articulates her faith and Rahab receives deliverance because of her faith. And she's Rahab. She's a Canaanite, a Gentile, a woman, prostitute.

It's OK if you're not OK. See, that's the whole point of this story. When you go to Hebrews Chapter 11 and you see it, only two women are in that chapter. Sarah and Rahab. No other women. Just those two.

Sarah and Rahab. There's a reason, I think, for that. What God's trying to tell us something about that. One thing it shows us is this. Think of God's concern for one individual, no matter where they live, what they do or who they are. Here's a woman who believes the stories about Israel and God makes sure that woman is saved. It's amazing that shows you the reach of the grace of God. He reaches everybody worldwide. It's exactly what Paul says in Romans, that if you really believe there is a God, you have a conscience for it and you see creation.

He said, I'll make sure you find out. No one falls through the cracks when it comes to God. And this woman has a horrific past as a prostitute. Maybe your own past is checkered. You see, you might say, well, my past isn't very good. Well, welcome. You're in really good company because the truth of the matter is, from God's point of view, no one here has a good past.

There isn't anybody here with a good past. James said, if if you violate one aspect of the law, you're guilty of the whole law. Jesus said, look, from God's point of view, if you've ever been angry at anybody, you're a murderer. If you've ever had lust for anybody, you're an adulterer. He said, even if you thought the thought, that's who you are.

So in one sense, we're all harlots. We all have checkered past. But the real wonderful message of this story, and that is God can turn the mess of your life into the most beautiful music possible. Just think of where she was and who she was and what she was.

And end up thinking what she becomes. James Montgomery Boyce says this. Rahab became more Jewish than almost all the Jews who were born Jewish. That's Rahab. She's a gentile, a Canaanite. How'd she become so Jewish? Well, scripture tells us she married Solomon. He's Jewish. A Jewish man married the Canaanite prostitute.

That's a wonderful story, but it doesn't stop. They had a son. The son's name is Boaz. Now, Boaz is really famous. He marries Ruth, the whole book of Ruth.

Boaz is the hero. So they have a son named Boaz and he marries Ruth. Then they have a son and his name is Obed. And we don't know a lot about Obed, except he's a son. But Obed has a son and his name is Jesse. And Jesse has a son and his name is David. It's amazing when you think about this. Absolutely amazing.

In the lineage to great King David is Rahab the harlot. It's an amazing thing when you think about this. But there's more. Go with me to Matthew chapter one for a moment. And I'll read a few verses of verses you usually skip. There's a lot of begatting and you don't want to deal with it.

You just think it's fun to move on. Verse one says this. The record of the genealogy of Yeshua, the Messiah. The record of the genealogy of Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God.

Listen, I know how much money is being made now and you probably have set your sample stuff in. Everybody wants to know about their genealogy, right? Everybody wants to know where I come from and who I am and all that. And some of you probably have really impressive genealogies and then some of you probably don't, you know, from that human point of view.

But I could tell you this. There's no genealogy in the history of mankind that's this important. This is the most important genealogy in all humankind.

Nothing compares to it. This is the genealogy of the God man, Jesus Christ. OK, this is the Messiah of Israel.

This is the incarnation. It says the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Rom. Rom was the father of Abinadab. Abinadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Selmon. Selmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth and Obed was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of David, the king.

Now, I want to say this. Rahab was one of the two women named in the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11. But she's the only woman in the history of the world that you'll find in Hebrews 11 and in Matthew, chapter one. Her name is mentioned twice.

How honorable is that? That God would mention her name, the only one in the whole world. And she's a harlot.

She's a prostitute. And she's mentioned in Matthew 1 and Hebrews 11. And you know why God did that?

Because it's okay if you're not okay. That's what Rahab teaches us. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.