Joshua 2: Courageous Action (Rahab)

Good morning to those of you here in the room and those of you online, and welcome to Family Worship service with Eastern Hills Baptist Church. My name is Bill Connors, and if you’re visiting the family of EHBC for the first time, thanks for being here! It’s great to have you with us today.

You’ll find a connection card in the back of the pew in front of you, it’s this black card with “WELCOME” on the front. If you wouldn’t mind filling that out during the service and either bringing it down to me at the end of the service, or dropping it in the boxes as you leave later on, I would appreciate it. We’d love to get to know you better. If you’d rather fill out a form online, you can do that by texting the word WELCOME to 505-339-2004, and you’ll get a link back that takes you to our digital communication card.

I’d like to take just a moment and thank our safety and security ministry team for patrolling the parking lot and for being prepared in the event of an emergency. Many of them are in the room right now (because it’s not their week to serve), so I’d like to thank them, and if you get the chance to thank any of the crew walking around with the yellow vests on, please do so.

Announcements

NMSMO ($8,558) and video

Women’s Self-Defense 10/14 9am FLC (my mistake last week)

Handbells: anyone looking to direct? Let me know.

Endeavor update (5 pictures) Roof of foyer and offices is complete. Stucco is next. Tomorrow begins the work on the units to the north, which are already in place.

Opening

Last week as we opened our series in Joshua, we saw that in Joshua 1, God had issued a Courageous Calling to Joshua: that Joshua would be His chosen instrument to lead His people in to take possession of the Promised Land of Canaan, promising that He would be with Joshua wherever he went. We considered how we are called to a similar task of advancing the Kingdom of God through sharing the Gospel, and that we have the same promise of God’s presence with us by His Holy Spirit. We closed last week with the challenge of preparation. We are to be ready to share the truth of the Gospel if we are going to be obedient to the calling of God on our lives. Our faith should be ready to act.

This morning, we are going to look at what might be an unlikely example of bold, courageous, obedient, and faithful action from Joshua chapter 2. If you’re able, would you please stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word as we open our Bibles and read this entire chapter?

Joshua 2:1–24 CSB

1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from the Acacia Grove, saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and stayed there. 2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelite men have come here tonight to investigate the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they came to investigate the entire land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 At nightfall, when the city gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” 6 But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof. 7 The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the city gate was shut. 8 Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you. 10 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 Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. 11 When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below. 12 Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.” 14 The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the Lord gives us the land.” 15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. 16 “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.” 17 The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, 18 unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. 19 If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his death will be his own fault, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his death will be our fault. 20 And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.” 21 “Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window. 22 So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them. 23 Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them. 24 They told Joshua, “The Lord has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”

PRAYER (Vertical Church, Taylor Ranch—Jeremy Hickman, and Barelas—Zach Grafe, pastors)

If I were to ask you if “courage” is a masculine characteristic, how many would agree that it is?

If I were to ask if “courage” is a feminine characteristic, how many would agree then?

The truth is that courage is a virtuous characteristic, regardless of whom we are talking about. Both men and women can and should be courageous. But what is “courage?”

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defined “courage” as:

Bravery; intrepidity; that quality of mind which enables men to encounter danger and difficulties with firmness, or without fear or depression of spirits; valor; boldness; resolution. It is a constituent part of fortitude; but fortitude implies patience to bear continued suffering.

And while old Noah Webster listed “men,” Scripture doesn’t differentiate between men and women in more general calls to courage, such as in Psalm 31:

Psalm 31:24 CSB

24 Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord.

Courage can come from both men and women. And in fact, today our focal passage centers on a woman of great courage—a woman who, because of her faith, took decisive action in order to protect two men she didn’t know, and thus to also protect her entire family. In considering Rahab’s story, we will see four aspects of courage: That it takes necessary risks, it testifies, it acts, and it inspires.

First, the fact that courage takes necessary risks.

1) Courage takes necessary risks.

Let me start by admitting that there is a fine line between what we might refer to today as courage and what is in reality complete foolishness. True courage doesn’t take risks for the sake of taking risks. It doesn’t create risky situations without reason. True courage takes risks when it is necessary. When I was younger, I enjoyed facing fears and taking risks, but often those were just plain foolishness manufactured in my foolish heart and mind.

So what I mean when I say that courage takes necessary risks is that virtuous courage is willing to do what is right, even when it might be dangerous personally.

This is what we see in our focal passage this morning. Joshua sends out two spies to investigate Jericho, and they arrive and go to this woman Rahab’s house. Now, Rahab was a prostitute. We should not be tempted to sanitize this fact, at least not in the current audience, because it’s critically important that we remember what she was before.

Rahab was basically on the outskirts of ordinary Canaanite society. There were two types of prostitutes in pagan Canaan cities: temple prostitutes, and private ones. Temple prostitutes, both male and female, were somewhat protected and even revered through their residing in temples of false gods like Baal, Asherah, and Molech. They were also supported through the giving to the temple, and they operated in the center of civic and religious life.

Rahab was not one of these. Jewish tradition holds that she also used her home as an inn, but the Scriptures specifically call her a “prostitute” or “harlot.” Certainly all manner of men would come and go from her house regularly, so it would have been a good choice for the spies to go to attempt to remain incognito. Furthermore, her house was a part of the wall, and so it would also have been a good position from which to scout the city, and it was far from city center, so less likely to attract attention.

Some think that the spies may have availed themselves of her more personal services while they were there, but that is almost certainly not the case. Jewish men were to keep themselves ceremonially clean when on a military mission, including keeping themselves from women. Besides, the timeline of this seems to be extremely short. They went, found a spot that seemed like a good place to do their work, and were quickly interrupted by the king’s soldiers at the door. Remember that the king’s message said that the Hebrew spies arrived “tonight.” The king assumes that she will be loyal to Jericho and turn the spies over.

But she doesn’t. In fact, she hides the spies on her rooftop underneath some flax, and she concocts a lie to tell the soldiers about the men leaving just in time to make the closing of the gate, encouraging the soldiers to set off at once if they want to catch them, which they do.

Let’s think about that lie for a moment. One thing that we tend to attempt with people that the Scripture holds up as “heroes” of the faith is to whitewash their sin—to figure out ways to explain away their sin or for them to not be in the wrong when they do wrong. But the record of Rahab isn’t a record of her ethics. It’s a record of her faith. We don’t have to make her out to be perfect in order to acknowledge that fact.

John MacArthur, in his book Twelve Extraordinary Women, made a good argument about this:

“I see no need to try to justify Rahab’s lie. Was it necessary for a greater good? Certainly not.... He certainly could have saved Rahab and the spies without a lie... The lie is not what made her actions commendable. It was the fact that she turned down an easy reward, put herself in jeopardy, and thus staked everything on the God of Israel.”

—John MacArthur, Twelve Extraordinary Women

Even though she lied, Rahab was held up as an example of faith in Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Faith” chapter. What exactly did she do with her faith? She courageously took the risk of welcoming the Hebrew spies:

Hebrews 11:31 CSB

31 By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.

Here’s what the spies probably didn’t realize. They likely had gone to the one place in all of Jericho where they would be safe, because they had found the one person who would receive them, hide them, and protect them, all at great risk to herself. Guarding them and lying for them was treason, punishable by death.

When the spies had arrived at her doorstep, Rahab had already believed in Yahweh, which is the name that God gave Himself when He spoke to Moses. We will see her own testimony of this fact in our next point.

But for Rahab, believing in Yahweh was extremely risky. And it is for us as well.

The message of the Gospel is that God loves us and made us for relationship with Him, but because of our sin, we have been separated from Him. Our sins can’t be fixed by doing right things, because one sin is enough to make us permanently imperfect, and we can’t do enough right to get back to complete perfection. But Jesus, who never sinned, died on the cross to pay the debt that we owe because of our sin, and He overcame death and rose again so that we can be forgiven and have eternal life if we believe in His work to save us and not our own merits. And that life begins now with His coming to dwell in us by His Holy Spirit, and will go on forever in His very presence in heaven. The fact is that in the arms of Christ is the only place that we will be safe, hidden, and protected, because Jesus already paid the price for us with His life.

This morning you might be here and you’ve never believed the Gospel—never trusted in Jesus to save you. And maybe you’ve been coming to church for weeks or months or years, but you’ve never surrendered. Or maybe you grew up in a Christian home, and you’ve been a member of this church forever, and you’ve even been baptized, but you know that you have never really belonged to God through faith in Christ.

You’ve never trusted in Jesus because you think you have too much to lose. You don’t want to lose your friends or your reputation or your recreational activities, and you think Jesus will make you give those up. He wouldn’t change your life that radically, would He?

Or you’ve played the part in church for so long that you think everyone will just completely freak out if you respond to the invitation, saying that you are believing in Jesus for the first time. What will everyone think of you if you do that?

Or you’re clinging to the fact that you’ve been baptized and are a church member to cover the fact that you’ve never actually belonged to Christ. I mean, you can’t say that you haven’t believed when you already said that you believed, can you?

Can I honestly answer these questions for you? Believing the Gospel is risky. Yes, Jesus will definitely start making changes in your life that will shift your entire perspective on things. Yes, Jesus wants you to surrender to Him, giving no thought at all to what everyone might think of it. Yes, Jesus wants your life and heart, not your church membership and baptism certificate.

Believing the Gospel is risky. But it’s a necessary risk. And completely worth it. Look at how Jesus talked about it in Luke 9:

Luke 9:23–26 CSB

23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it. 25 For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and that of the Father and the holy angels.

Taking up our cross is dying to ourselves, believing that Jesus is both Savior and Lord. Will you surrender in faith this morning, believing that Jesus is the only way to eternal life, turning from your own way, and giving up your forever to Him? It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in church for 45 minutes or 45 years. If you’ve never believed in Jesus, give up right now, right where you are, trust Christ and be saved!

Believing the Gospel is risky, and I intend to always preach the Gospel when I stand in the pulpit. But our primary focus in this series is how we can use the message of Joshua as an illustration for us in sharing the Gospel. Well, sharing the Gospel is risky too.

But that doesn’t change the calling that we have to tell them, because we are called to courageous action: taking the necessary risk of telling others about Jesus because God loves them and sent His Son to die for them. People might change the way they look at us if we start sharing the Gospel. They might refuse to speak to us. They might not want to spend time with us. People may hate us. They might label us as all kinds of things: bigots, misogynists, old-fashioned, outdated, hateful, prideful, hypocrites. It could even get to the point of being even worse, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:

Matthew 24:9–14 CSB

9 “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another. 11 Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Both believing the Gospel and sharing the Gospel call for courage. And courage takes necessary risks. It is time for us to start taking those risks. And part of how we do that is through our testimony of our faith in God and what He has done. Courage testifies.

2) Courage testifies.

One of the necessary risks that courage takes is that it tells the truth. It testifies boldly to reality. Once the soldiers had been sent off looking for the Hebrew spies, Rahab retrieves them from their hiding place on the roof and declares to them what she believes about Yahweh, the Hebrew people, Jericho’s fear, and Jericho’s future:

Joshua 2:8–11 CSB

8 Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you. 10 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 Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed across the Jordan. 11 When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

Rahab knows very little about Yahweh. She knows that because of what He has done, including what He did almost 40 years ago to Egypt and the miraculous military victory He gave to Israel just a few months ago (Sihon and Og, Numbers 21), that everyone in Jericho and the surrounding land is in a panic. At this moment, the Hebrew camp was likely only about 12 miles to the east, with only the Jordan river standing between them and Jericho. They certainly knew they were there, which is why they were on alert for Hebrew spies. She says two things that are vital for us to understand what has happened in her life:

First, Rahab said in verse 9, “I know that the LORD has given you this land...” She knows that the pagan gods that the Canaanites follow are nothing compared to Yahweh. He can choose to give the land or take it away. The false idols cannot.

Second, Rahab testified that, “the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” (v 11) When we see the word “LORD” in small caps or all caps in our Bibles, that’s where the original text is using His name, Yahweh. So Rahab really says, “Yahweh your God IS God—the only God—in heaven above or on earth below.”

Rahab is testifying to what she believes, even with the little information that she has. She, a Canaanite prostitute, has believed in the God of the Hebrews, and she’s not afraid to say it.

Likewise, we are called to be bold and courageous in our testimony about the Lord and what He has done for us. But again, giving that testimony can be risky. The Apostle Paul knew that well. At the end of Acts 21, Paul’s presence in the Temple basically sparks a riot, and the Jewish people are out for his blood. After being rescued by the Roman commander, Paul asks to speak to the crowd. In his defense, he tells them about how Jesus appeared to him and of his calling to preach to the Gentiles. They go nuts again at that point and again try to kill him, but he is taken back into the army barracks until he can appear before the Jewish high court the next day, where the mob again gets all whipped up into a frenzy.

That night, Jesus again appeared to Paul with a message about his continued courage and its relation to his continued testimony:

Acts 23:11 CSB

11 The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, “Have courage! For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so it is necessary for you to testify in Rome.”

Like Rahab and Paul, we are called to courageously testify to the truth of who God is and what He has done. Our purpose in this is that our testimony would be used by God to bring someone to faith. It’s important to have your own testimony of coming to faith down to where you can share it quickly and without notes. You know your own story. However, make sure that your story is about what CHRIST has done, not about what YOU have done. It’s Jesus that people need, and it’s hearing about Jesus that God will use to call people to Himself:

Romans 10:17 CSB

17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Don’t be afraid to tell people about what Christ has done, because courage testifies. But it also takes action.

3) Courage acts.

Courage that never actually does anything isn’t particularly courageous. It’s more like the cowardly lion in the The Wizard of Oz: it’s all bark and no bite; a lot of noise and bluster, but no real movement or result. Rahab believes in Yahweh. She believes that these two spies also believe in Yahweh. So she calls them to enter into an oath with her in the name of the Lord that because she acted courageously in faith to save them, then they in turn will do the same for her.

Joshua 2:12–21 CSB

12 Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my father’s family, because I showed kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.” 14 The men answered her, “We will give our lives for yours. If you don’t report our mission, we will show kindness and faithfulness to you when the Lord gives us the land.” 15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city. 16 “Go to the hill country so that the men pursuing you won’t find you,” she said to them. “Hide there for three days until they return; afterward, go on your way.” 17 The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, 18 unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. 19 If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his death will be his own fault, and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed, his death will be our fault. 20 And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.” 21 “Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.

Rahab’s actions actually display her faith. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen when Israel arrives to take Jericho, but she does know that the fate of everyone in Jericho is in God’s control, that God is going to use Israel to judge Jericho, and that when these two Hebrew spies report back to Joshua, he will likely use that information in his plan of attack. So she acts courageously to protect herself and her family from the coming destruction.

The spies agree, but you can see in the narrative that the men aren’t completely convinced of her sincerity: twice they tell her that if she reports on them, their oath will no longer be binding. They also absolve themselves of any responsibility if she doesn’t mark her house by putting the scarlet cord in the window, or if any members of her family do not stay in her house once the attack begins. Her actions will have to prove her faith.

So Rahab helps the men escape, and gives them information about how long to wait before heading back to the Israelite camp. By doing so, she saves their lives a second time, and again her actions put her faith on display. James even wrote about this in chapter 2 of his epistle:

James 2:25 CSB

25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?

Rahab could have been lying, and would have violated her oath, and been destroyed with the rest of Jericho (we’ll look at the taking of Jericho in two weeks), but her courageous actions showed the reality of her faith, proving that she truly had the faith in Yahweh that she claimed. She even showed her faith by immediately taking the ribbon and hanging it in her window as soon as the spies were gone. She believed that they would return and that Jericho would fall to them. Her actions showcased her faith.

Just to be clear in this: Salvation is by faith alone, but a faith that saves is never alone. It will manifest itself in godly action. And thus, our works don’t make us saved, but they display our salvation. If you claim to have Christ, but have no desire to serve Him in any practical way, you should be very concerned that perhaps you’ve never trusted Christ. Earlier in that same chapter, James wrote:

James 2:15–17 CSB

15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

We’ve been called to actively testify about the Gospel to a lost world, a world in spiritual darkness. We have the message of hope that they need. Will we act courageously to tell others about Jesus in the power of His Spirit? Will we step out of our comfort zones and take the risk to testify to the truth of the Gospel?

This brings us to our last point, very quickly:

4) Courage inspires.

We’ve all been inspired by stories of courage before. But the great thing about Rahab’s courage is that it inspired the spies then, and continues to inspire us today:

Joshua 2:22–24 CSB

22 So the two men went into the hill country and stayed there three days until the pursuers had returned. They searched all along the way, but did not find them. 23 Then the men returned, came down from the hill country, and crossed the Jordan. They went to Joshua son of Nun and reported everything that had happened to them. 24 They told Joshua, “The Lord has handed over the entire land to us. Everyone who lives in the land is also panicking because of us.”

The spies repeat almost verbatim what Rahab said to them. They were inspired by Rahab’s example and courage, and they believed what she told them. One of the beautiful things about Rahab is that her story is still inspiring us today, because if God can save a female Canaanite prostitute and use her for His purposes, He can do that with any of us! This is why it’s so important for us to not attempt to explain away Rahab’s prostitution—because it testifies to the fact that God can use the most unlikely of person in the most incredible way.

Look at the only other reference outside of Joshua and what we’ve seen today:

Matthew 1:5–6a (CSB)

5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, 6 and Jesse fathered King David.

Some traditions hold that Salmon was one of those two young men who met Rahab in Jericho. There’s no proof of that, but it’s an interesting tradition. Regardless, Rahab ends up marrying a Hebrew man named Salmon. Their son Boaz became the man who married Ruth in the book of Ruth, and they had a son named Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David. Rahab the prostitute became the great-great grandmother of King David. What a turnaround!

There might be someone in this fellowship who is watching you, to see if your life matches up with what you claim to believe. Our faithful, courageous obedience can inspire others to action, just like Paul said to the church at Corinth:

1 Corinthians 11:1 CSB

1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.

Closing

The example of Rahab is one of courageous action. She takes the necessary risks to live out her faith, testifying to the truth of God’s power and might, inspiring others to follow in her courageous footsteps.

If we are in Christ, we have been given a great opportunity to be a part of the work of God in the world. Will we take the same kind of courageous action as Rahab, trusting in God and working so that others might be saved? This is our calling as a church family!

If you’ve never trusted in Jesus, this morning you’ve heard the Gospel and been called to surrender. If you’ve surrendered to Christ this morning, or if you have questions about salvation, please let us know. You can come down during the invitation as the band plays in just a moment and share with one of us. If you’re online, you can email me at bill@ehbc.org.

If you believe that EHBC is a church family where you can participate and grow in your faith, please let us know that as well.

If you need prayer, we would be happy to pray for you and with you.

Tithes and offerings.

PRAYER

Closing Remarks

Windy Burch passed away this week. Service will be October 14 at 3 pm at Mountain Valley Baptist Church in Edgewood.

Bible reading (finished Joel yesterday, starting Amos today… calendar for October is on the website)

Pastor’s Study tonight

Prayer Meeting

Congratulations to Rich Willard! This past week, he successfully defended his doctoral project at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, so he has completed all of the necessary work for his Doctor of Ministry degree!

Instructions for guests

Benediction

Matthew 7:24–27 CSB

24 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.”

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