Mother's Day message
[0:00] of God's holy word. It is my custom for many years, before even coming here to New City, that on these days like Mother's Day and Father's Day, that I focused on women and men.
[0:25] Not just mothers, but women. If you are a biological female, this one's for you. You can listen to men, but ladies, may God bless you tremendously.
[0:42] Father, as we come to your word, may you speak to these dear ladies in a profound way. Please encourage them, strengthen them, deepen them, correct them, help them.
[1:01] That they may be faithful disciples, even more of our Lord Jesus. They may be faithful daughters to you, O living Father. Lord, the men are listening too.
[1:15] We want them to hear this word. Lord, as you speak to our dear mothers and sisters and daughters, remember the men of God in this place as well.
[1:32] Use your unworthy servant. Oh, who is he to preach your word? Thank you for the great privilege and honor. Be exalted. Use me for your glory in Jesus' name.
[1:46] Amen. Amen. Amen. Joshua chapter 2. And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, Go view the land, especially Jericho.
[2:08] And they went, came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. It was told the king of Israel. It was told the king of Jericho, behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.
[2:21] Then the king of Israel, saying, bring out the men who have come to you who entered your house, for they have come to search out the land.
[2:32] But the woman had taken the men. And the men had taken the men who had come to the men who had come to the men who had come to the men. True, true, yes. The men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out.
[2:47] I do not know where they went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.
[3:04] So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the forage, and the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out. Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the fear of you has fallen upon us, that all the inhabitants of the land melt the way before you.
[3:26] For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you. And when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to Sion and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
[3:42] And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted. And there was no spirit left in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
[3:53] Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house and give me a give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death.
[4:11] And the men said to her, our life for yours, even to death. If you do not tell this business of ours, then the Lord, when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.
[4:29] And she let them down by a rope through the window for her house was built into the city wall so that she lived in the wall. She said to them, go into the hills where the pursuers will encounter you.
[4:40] Hide dear three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward, you may go on your way. The men said to her, we will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear.
[4:54] Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down and you shall gather into your house, your father and mother, your brothers and all your father's household.
[5:06] And if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our heads.
[5:22] But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear. And she said, according to your words, so be it.
[5:33] So she sent them away and they departed. She tied the scarlet cord in the window. That is the word of the Lord.
[5:45] You may be seated. Thank you once again, praise team, for leading us in praise and worship of our God.
[5:59] Ladies, have any of you ever made so many mistakes or maybe just one big one?
[6:11] That you became convinced that God can't use you or will use you less because of them? You ever felt like I'm in plan B now for my life?
[6:27] I messed up plan A. I'm in plan B. I call that baggage. You've got baggage.
[6:41] Some of you have carry-ons. But some have bigger bags that have to be checked. Some of you have overweight baggage.
[6:55] The kind you have to pay extra for. But whatever, you've all got baggage. By baggage, I mean hurts, hang-ups, and sins from your past that have left a negative mark on your soul, on your heart.
[7:17] Now let's be honest and kind of be funny a little bit too, but a lot of women will say their baggage has to do with their bad choices in men.
[7:29] I've heard that many times. You chose the scrub. You chose the scrub. The one hanging at the side of his best friend's ride trying to holler at you, right?
[7:42] I love that song. Now, you knew he was trouble when he walked in. Trouble.
[7:53] Trouble. Trouble. Trouble. Trouble. But you said, I'm addicted to you. Don't you know you're toxic?
[8:07] That was you. Okay, you made that mistake. I understand when it happens. You made that mistake and you got the baggage to prove it. But there are many other types of baggage, ladies.
[8:20] It's not. Men are not your problem. You are. Look in the mirror. You are.
[8:31] It's okay because the same is true for men. We're on the same boat. We look in the mirror and we should say, I knew you were trouble when you walked in.
[8:46] Here's the thing. Jesus in this life can either help you lose your baggage or help you carry it.
[9:00] He isn't looking for women who don't have baggage. He chooses women to glorify his name, to bless the world, to change lives who have real baggage.
[9:14] He just wants you to give it to him again and again and again. You see, he'll get you home.
[9:25] So how are you doing with your baggage? Carry on? Regular size?
[9:38] Overweight baggage? How are you doing with it? Our passage, as you know, is this wonderful encounter where Joshua has been told by the living God that as he was with Moses, he's going to be with him.
[9:55] You go into the promised land, lead the Israelites to conquer the promised land because I've given it to you. He says, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life.
[10:06] So Israel, the people of God, the old covenant embassy of God's kingdom, is moving into the world to conquer it.
[10:20] Now listen now, the conquest of the promised land is horrific in many ways, but it's also a prophecy. It's prophetic.
[10:30] Prophetic. It's looking toward the future in a very real sense. Because God sent them into the land because of the sin of the Canaanites.
[10:44] If you want to get an idea how bad it was, go to Leviticus 18, and you'll see what they were into. The sin of the Canaanites had reached a full level, and God was executing his judgment upon them, which is only a pale reflection of the true judgment to come.
[11:07] Joshua has to send out scouts. He's a good general. He's a good general. He's thinking, okay, we got to find out what's happening in the land. We got to find out their fortifications. We got to find out their troop placement.
[11:18] We got to find out their weaknesses. How do we get in, right? He doesn't know how he's going to get in yet. God hadn't told him yet. But he's thinking about how are we going to get in. And so, like a good general, he sends out two spies.
[11:32] Now, keep in mind, the hero of the story is always the Lord. He is the great warrior who wins victory for his people and for his glory.
[11:44] But he uses means often. Means. He uses instruments in his movement in the world.
[11:54] He uses people to accomplish his will. And the book of Joshua is about how he uses Joshua. But here in chapter 2, it's the only chapter like it.
[12:05] He's going to use an amazing woman to accomplish his will and reveal his glory.
[12:15] I got a few quick, hopefully, quick points to make. First of all, we're talking about a woman chosen by God. A woman chosen by God will always have baggage.
[12:29] Let's just be clear and hard on that. A woman chosen by God will always have baggage. It's easy to say to yourselves, ladies, how can God use me?
[12:42] Some of you look around at women who you deem to be more spiritual than you, more talented than you, more organized than you. And you understand how God can use sister so-and-so, mother so-and-so.
[12:54] You understand that. But can God use me? You look at yourself, your background, your failures, and your sin. You think about your supposed lack of talent.
[13:08] And you just don't stack up. I've met many women like that over the years. Many sisters. Many gifted Christian women who just don't believe they measure up.
[13:23] There's always something about their past. There's always something about the past that makes them believe they just don't have what it takes.
[13:36] Their self-esteem is not doing well. Can we talk about your spiritual mother, Rahab?
[13:48] Can we talk about her for a little bit? I think you'll find some encouragement here. I hope. How many little girls say, when I grow up, I want to be a prostitute?
[14:09] None, I think. None we know. Yet, in every place where she's mentioned in the Bible, Rahab is called a prostitute.
[14:27] Every single place. That follows her. Her name, Rahab, means to expand. It means to be spacious. Even cheerful. It seems to speak of prosperity.
[14:38] When she was born, her parents had high hopes for her. But were they proud of her now? Did she live up to their expectations?
[14:52] Was she using the good gifts that she'd been given in a way that honored her family? Now, they were canonized. These are not the people of God. So, they weren't talking about glorifying the Lord.
[15:04] Maybe glorifying Baal. Or some of those other gods. Now, I can all go to the canonized. But they weren't followers of the one true God.
[15:16] Some people in our culture might have said, I know what you're doing, girl, but you're getting paid. Get yours. Maybe a few felt that way.
[15:29] You see, because the values of the pagan world and our world are different from the kingdom of God. Our values don't line up, usually. But even in the world, some jobs carry a little bit more disdain, right?
[15:46] And prostitution is usually one of them. The self-righteous look down on such women. Yet those saying men desire her.
[15:59] And in the dark may even use her services. Women felt threatened by her because this beautiful woman had a way with their men. Rahab had tons of baggage.
[16:14] I don't know how she got into this business. The Bible doesn't tell us. But she's in it. And it seems that she was actually an innkeeper who then had this other sideline going on.
[16:31] You know, the Bible has strong views about prostitution. I can't go over to you all of them, but in Deuteronomy 23, let me give you something.
[16:42] Deuteronomy 23, 17, 18. God says, none of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. None of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. You should not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog.
[16:54] Dog, that's male prostitute, dog. Into the house of the Lord, your God, in payment for a vow. For both of these are an abomination to your God.
[17:05] You know what he's saying? Don't tithe on the money you make for prostitution. God don't want it, he says. I don't want your money. But God has chosen her.
[17:19] She will come into his kingdom and she will bring all of her brokenness with her. Because God specializes in broken people. And he's glad to call broken people his children.
[17:34] God chose her. I had no idea what God was about to do in her life for his glory. Her good, the good of her family, the good of a nation, even the good of all the people of God through the ages.
[17:50] He was going to do a work in her that makes us tremble. So how about you ladies? You got some Samsonite in your life?
[18:05] Some tourister? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? Some real baggage? You likely don't have her baggage.
[18:17] But maybe you do. God chooses broken women. And if you're not broken, you don't know yourself very well.
[18:33] Keep living. Do you know what your baggage is? Have you been chosen by God to be his?
[18:46] Listen, a woman chosen by God must choose sides. That's interesting. Because here the two Israeli spies had come to a place of work, likely her home as well.
[19:00] Like I said, she owned an inn probably, and that was her place of work and work. Maybe it's kind of a rest stop, we call it today. They came there because they knew this was a place of information.
[19:17] They had gone into the city of Jericho. I don't know. Maybe they dressed like Jerichoans. But their accent probably would have betrayed them. And they're asking around, you know, where's a good place to find out about Jericho?
[19:31] We just in town. We're thinking about buying some real estate. And we want to find what's the best place to live in Jericho. And somebody said, man, you got to go check out Rahab.
[19:44] She can hook you up. She knows everything. Stop by her place and you will get the skinny. And you'll get a whole lot more if you have coin.
[19:56] Wink, wink. Now the guys go to her inn, her place, and for some reason we're not told. These spies tell her everything.
[20:09] I don't know. I have to believe this, ladies. That the Spirit of God must have given them insight that she was safe and would help. I have to figure that.
[20:20] Because why? You're on a secret mission. You don't blab. So they start talking about what they're going to do. This was no accident that they went there.
[20:32] God was at work to organize the meeting. God was guiding the moment and the encounter. God had chosen her. And so they told her everything.
[20:44] They said the living God was going to give Jericho and all this land to them by conquest. It's our. This is our real estate. God has given us a place and y'all got to go.
[21:01] No. That's better. At the door. Open up, Rahab. This is a raid.
[21:13] Oh, gosh. Oh, no. It's the po-po. Someone in the city had ratted. Maybe the sentinels saw them come in and told the king that the strangers from Israel had come into the city and we're at Rahab's lighthouse.
[21:32] Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. But someone dropped the dime. And now the po-po is at the door and they want these guys, they want Rahab to bring them out to them.
[21:43] But Jericho intelligence had done their job, evidently. They could see the army.
[21:54] Remember, they're not too far from the Jordan River. So when they walk out a few miles away, they could see the whole people of Israel encamped on the other side of the Jordan.
[22:05] And believe me, if you see a million people on the other side of where you live, believe me, you got to wonder what they're about. They knew.
[22:16] They knew, ladies. They knew what the Israeli army had done. They knew about the Red Sea. They knew about the other kings. And the Red Sea happened 40 years ago.
[22:29] But they still remember. And at that moment, and that moment of crisis, without a whole lot of time to think, she made a choice.
[22:47] Right there. She told the spies to hide on her roof behind flax. Flax was stalks of drying linen material for clothing.
[22:57] And it would be laid out. It had to dry. And it stank up to high heaven. But they're hiding behind it, holding their breath. The soldiers want these spies to likely torture them and get information out of them before putting them to death.
[23:13] Hmm. But Rahab, this courageous woman of faith in the living God, she didn't know all about, she didn't know everything about God.
[23:31] She had never read the word, she hadn't even read the word of God. She had heard about what God had done. She didn't know anybody who believed in him.
[23:44] But she had heard. She had heard the record. Ladies, you're much more beyond her because you got the written word of God. You know more about her.
[23:56] You are light years ahead of her. You know about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You know about the greatness and the power of God. You know what he can do even more than she does.
[24:09] You know your God can raise the dead and change people's lives. You know these things because you read the Bible. But all she's got is what she's heard about what God had done at the Red Sea and how he had used Israelites to conquer these other nations on the other side of the Jordan River.
[24:35] And what did she do? She chose the people of God over her own people. She chose men she did not really know and their people over her neighbors.
[24:49] People she grew up with. People she shopped with. People maybe she hung out with just a few. What would her family think?
[25:03] You're going to follow God. What God? Which one? Which one? They would have said. And then, oh yeah, that God?
[25:16] The one we heard about? But we got a whole bunch of gods here. We protected. They got one. We got dozens maybe. Her family would have thought she was crazy probably.
[25:32] It wasn't an easy choice, ladies. It was treason. Mothers, sisters, and daughters, you all face this same kind of choice today.
[25:43] Will you side with Jesus and his people? Maybe you don't even know people in this church very well or wherever church you are. Maybe you're new and you're still learning but you know they're the people of Jesus.
[25:56] Will you side with them? Will you choose the way of the Lord and the eternal kingdom of God rather than the temporary pleasures and kingdoms of this world?
[26:09] Oh, they had a business. They had a business. And it must have been thriving because that's how they knew where to go. She had, this was a business woman.
[26:25] Intelligent. Attractive, evidently. Sharp. All of that had to go. is she's going to follow the living God.
[26:40] Will you let God show you what it means to be a woman, a daughter, a wife, a mother, a worker? Will you let God guide you into true prosperity?
[26:53] Ladies, will you find your safety in this life and eternity? Will you find your identity, who you are? Will you find your significance, why you matter?
[27:06] Not in what social media says or what the world says, but will you find all of that in Jesus? Will you find your safety, your identity, and your significance in Jesus alone?
[27:20] Or will you keep listening to the world telling you who you are and what you must have to be happy and fulfilled?
[27:32] Because it will tell you. It's always telling you. Whose side will you choose?
[27:46] Not Kevin Smith's side. I'm on Jesus' side. You see, that's the thing. You know, we talk about sides. Listen, there's only two sides.
[27:58] The Lord's side. The Lord's side and everyone else. Will you choose the Lord's side? But why does she, why does she do it?
[28:12] A woman chosen by God fears the Lord more than people. That's what happens in this text. The fear of the Lord is so evident. She's, I read it to you.
[28:24] Verse 9, I know that the Lord has given you the land and the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land knelt away before you.
[28:38] She's saying, she's saying, listen, this is why she chose to help the spies. It wasn't because they were cute, had money, or were so convincing. The people of Jericho were her people, her neighbors, her family, her business, her life depended on them.
[28:55] What could make her turn from them and from that? Because she didn't just hear stories about Israel's God.
[29:06] She believed them. She believed them and the fear of God more than her people, even the judgment of the king, the fear of God was more prominent, more important, more awe-inspiring.
[29:23] It laid on her who God is. So she lied. In the name of the Lord, she lied.
[29:39] In the name of the one who is truth, she lied. Now before you get upset with me, there's some other women who lied too in the Bible.
[29:57] Exodus chapter 1, their names were Shipra and Puah. They were midwives. And if you remember Exodus chapter, it's up there?
[30:09] Oh, get out of here. You guys are good. And so what happens, listen, this is the time of Moses. Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shephan, when you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthing stool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.
[30:34] Hmm. Ask something. You see, what happened, the king had become, the Israelites had grown and become so prosperous, even under oppression, they had grown and prospered and only the Lord could do that.
[30:51] But this king, this pharaoh, got scared. A lot of them folk, a lot of them folk out there, they might turn on us. We got to do something. I got to fend the herd.
[31:03] Killing off the boys. But the midwives feared God. Hello, hello. There it is again. They feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
[31:20] So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, what you doing, girls? Why have you done this and let the male children live? Look at the answer.
[31:32] Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. Hey! For they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives come to them.
[31:48] Don't girls give birth and go back to the fields, man. They ain't like you Egyptian women. Y'all just prissy and you smell good, but you ain't got muscle. You ain't got, you can't even lift the table a little bit.
[32:01] You just weak. No, they not like y'all. They tough and beautiful. So God dealt with the midwives. He dealt well.
[32:12] But they lied. So God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and grew very strong.
[32:23] And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Now, don't go out of here talking about I can lie because God says it's okay.
[32:40] He gonna bless me. He gonna bless my family. This was a moment and it happened even when the Nazis were the Jewish people.
[32:55] I mean, there were people there who, they were persecuting the Jewish people. There were people who lied to protect them. Christian people who lied to protect them and hid them. Listen, there are times when you must choose the kingdom of God over the kingdoms of this world and in the defense of the people of God, you may have to lead the other people astray.
[33:19] But don't get carried away with that. So you got the midwives and now you got Rahab.
[33:31] These courageous women of God defied the greatest powers of their day and ended up in their place because they were more in awe of God than Him.
[33:41] They saw who God was and feared Him more than any human no matter how powerful. Their priorities were in the right place.
[33:53] They could not be, okay, I'm gonna go back to West Philly now. Ladies, they couldn't be punked. They, they, they couldn't, listen ladies, they, they, they were, they know, they knew who God was so you couldn't get in their face and get them to turn, turn tail and run.
[34:14] You, you, you, you're saying, but Pastor Kevin, they took a huge risk for, I mean, a huge risk. I mean, treasonous, dead, dying risk. Let me tell you this.
[34:29] The greater risk would be to refuse the Lord. That's always the greater risk.
[34:41] To choose, to, to turn away from the Lord's way, to turn, to be punked by the world around you. It's, it's, it's, that's the greater risk.
[34:52] To not do it God's way. To not prioritize His way. And to, and to let yourself get swept away because of fear, because of low self-worth.
[35:05] You don't believe you, whatever it is, to get swept away. That's the greater risk. It's the fear of the Lord that keeps you from being swept away.
[35:18] Ladies, do you, who do you fear? Who do you stand in awe of? Who, who captures your imagination? To whom do you promise total obedience?
[35:30] To whom do you give total praise? To who do you submit yourself to? It's somebody, believe me, is it the Lord? Because He will keep you on the right path and away from destruction.
[35:48] Yeah, the world will reward you. I must, I'm going to make an assumption here, help me out, make an assumption, that if the midwives had done what Pharaoh wanted, he would have been like, you my girls.
[36:06] He might have given them some reward himself. But they would have killed so many children to do it. Is it worth it? If, if Rahab had given the spies over and said, they're upstairs on the roof, go get them because I'm, I'm loyal to the king.
[36:26] Long live Jericho, you know. The king of Jericho might have given her a reward too because she was a good citizen of the kingdom of darkness.
[36:37] Ladies, don't be a good citizen of the kingdom of darkness. you've been called into light if you've been chosen.
[36:51] If you've heard the voice of Jesus, you've been called into the kingdom of light. Well, a couple quick points to really, I'm going to tidy this up.
[37:02] Last, next one. Woman chosen by God demonstrates her faith and God rewards her faith. You know what happened here, right? Rahab demonstrated that she believed.
[37:15] That she believed. She didn't just say, I heard about God and yeah, I believe. She said, I heard about God, I believe, and then she did something.
[37:31] That's true faith. That's why she's mentioned in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11. By faith, Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
[37:43] She's in the hall of faith. Chapter 11 is about those who trust in God, who have faith in God, and against all odds stand with God. James, she's mentioned in James chapter 2.
[37:55] And here, it gets even more clear. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was that also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
[38:10] For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Her faith that was revealed in action is held up time and time again.
[38:24] Now, is this salvation by works? Of course not. Because, ladies, your actions are not dependable. You're not consistent all the time. And your actions are never good enough to earn anything from God.
[38:38] What these passages teach us is that true faith always leads to obedient actions. It doesn't mean you're at the same place, the same level as somebody else.
[38:50] It doesn't mean that you don't still fall. But true faith always reveals itself by how it lives. You make choices. You, true faith actually changes because this, because, listen, listen, you've been born again.
[39:07] If the spirit of God makes you born again, he's already changed you. You're alive now. And you can't live the same way as you did before.
[39:21] It doesn't mean you will come out, whoo, I got everything right. No, it means it's a growth time. You're a babe in Christ. You're going to grow. You're going to go up and then, you know, and then, and then, that's how spiritual growth goes.
[39:33] But you are being changed because you're no longer the same. If you are saying you believe in the living God, you trust in Jesus, but you're not following him, go back to the beginning because something's wrong.
[39:48] Not perfection, but you're different. Otherwise, you're still in the kingdom of darkness. But there's a way out. Jesus is always the way out.
[40:05] And she didn't bargain with God. You know, some people like to bargain with God. If it had been me, I would have told, told the spies, listen, hey guys, I'll tell you what, let's talk about this for a minute.
[40:21] I'm a businessman. Or maybe, ladies, you're a business woman. And you might have said something like, you know, hey, I'll let you go only if you promise.
[40:35] But I ain't gonna let you go until you show me something. Give me some proof that you're gonna keep your, and then I'll let you go. Do for me first, and then I'll let you go.
[40:48] Take me with you. Get me out of this city. I don't know. Make some, give me some, do something. But she didn't do that. She let the spies go, and only had a promise that they would keep their word.
[41:08] That's all she had, was a promise. But she had, but it was the promise of the word of the Lord to her through them. Ladies, you, God doesn't negotiate with sinners.
[41:26] Our nation does not negotiate with terrorists. God does not negotiate with sinners. He calls you to trust him.
[41:39] And as you trust his word, you trust his promises, you watch him keep his word. As you step out in faith, trusting him, the waters will part.
[41:54] That's how they got into the, that's how they got into the promised land. The priest took the Ark of the Covenant and walked into the Jordan River. And when they got into the river, not on the edge of the river, they had to get in the, they got wet, and then the water parted.
[42:08] You see, God wants you to trust his word and act on it and you will see him keep it and keep you and keep you and keep you.
[42:23] Baab knew she was saved. She didn't have this language, but she knew better than anybody else that she was saved by God's sovereign grace.
[42:38] She's the only one in the city who believed. They, the whole city had heard about God and what he did. Stay with me. Listen to this.
[42:48] I'm almost done. Just hit you for a second. The whole entire city estimates maybe 2,000 people. But the whole city had heard about the Israelites and what they God did.
[43:02] That's what it says in the passage. Their hearts melted because they heard about it. But listen, listen. Look what happened. They still didn't come to God. They were trembling in their boots, but they still would not repent.
[43:16] They were, they had heard, they believed evidently what God had done, but they still would not put their faith in him. Isn't that hard? That's deep, y'all. You can be that close and still not believe.
[43:29] Yep. I hate to say it, but I think it's called the Bible Belt. So many in our churches will say they believe the Bible and they may do to some extent.
[43:45] They may say they believe that Jesus is real and rose from the dead, but their lives have not changed because they now have submitted, they have not submitted themselves to the truth. They have said, the truth is the truth, but I will continue to live the lie.
[44:01] How did, how did, how did she, was she more desperate? Was she more intelligent? No. She was chosen by God's grace.
[44:13] You may be the only one in your family who believes. That was me. Ladies, you may be, you may be, and why you? You may be the only one of your classmates who came to Jesus.
[44:23] Why you? Only one in your neighborhood. Why you? Because God chose you. He decided to pour his love out upon you. He tried to make you special to him.
[44:34] He decided. No one else did. That's how it works. God saves by his own decree, his own will, and if he's chosen you, how much more does he deserve from us?
[44:49] If God has looked into all these peoples and chose you ladies, doesn't he deserve everything? Doesn't he, because you weren't special.
[45:04] Some of us, your baggage, some of us, some of you ladies, you loved that baggage for a long time. Some of you enjoyed the baggage, but God entered into your life.
[45:17] Jesus showed up. The light of the world shone on you, and he transformed you, and now you look back and said, I don't ever want to go back there again because I'm, because Jesus is everything.
[45:31] Well, where is Jesus then? Because we, where is Jesus? Do you see him? Do you see Jesus in the text? Do you see him? He's right there. Do you see him?
[45:41] Do you see him? When she was told to mark her house, they said, lay out a scarlet thread or string, not rope.
[46:01] Different Hebrew word. They climbed down by a rope, but that's not what she put out the window. She took a string or some kind of thread.
[46:11] I don't know how thick it was, but she lay, she put that on her window. I don't know how long it was, but it was red, which made it more visible, probably even in daylight, especially in daylight.
[46:22] That scarlet probably showed up. They knew that was her house, and her house was in the wall. That was common, by the way, to have homes attached to the wall. So there were other homes attached to that wall, but only one had a scarlet thread hanging out.
[46:40] And he told them, the spy said, don't leave the house. All your folk got to stay inside the house or their blood will be on their own head. They're going to die. What does that sound like to you?
[46:53] Passover, yes. That's it. Passover. The blood of the lamb was put on the doorpost, and all the Israelites were told, don't you leave your house or the death angel will take you away.
[47:06] You must stay under the blood. You must stay under the blood. And so Isaiah comes years later and Isaiah says, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
[47:24] Both of those passages point to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross, the blood of Christ that would be slayed and shed for all who believe in him. Ladies, that blood has been shed for you and cleanses you.
[47:40] You are under the blood. Whatever you were before, you are under the blood. Whatever you've done before, you are under the blood.
[47:51] The scarlet thread of the blood of Jesus cleanses and protects you. Amen. Fear not. Oh gosh, I've got to think this.
[48:08] There's so much more I want to tell you but I can't. I'm on praise team. I'm almost done. Man, she moves into Israel with all her baggage.
[48:31] You know they talked about her. That's church folk. How'd she get in here? We killed all the other ones.
[48:41] Why are we like, oh, she helped the spies? Well, I bet she did help them. Uh-huh. But someone married her.
[48:53] Okay, I've got to read this part. I found a genealogy for her. Okay? And it says this, Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab.
[49:08] So Salmon, Salmon married her and they had Boaz. Sound familiar? Boaz, the father of Obed by Ruth.
[49:20] Okay, we're all in the Bible now. And Obed, the father of Jesse. And who was Jesse's son? King David. So here we go. Somebody looked at her and said, girl, you changed.
[49:33] I know you're not the same woman you were. I think it's one of the spies. I think one of the spies married her. I just might, I'm going with Liz Higgs. Liz Higgs says the same thing. I'm going with Liz. I think one of the spies married her because he saw what she did.
[49:47] He saw, he was impressed and she was good looking too and smelled good. And so he was impressed with her. She was marvelous. And he said, you're going to be mine. Even though the Bible, the Old Testament looked down on prostitutes.
[50:01] Ha ha. But she had been changed. She had been sanctified. She had been, she come under the blood. See, she come into covenant with God and she was not the same person. Your past does not define you before God.
[50:16] He married her. And remember, she didn't have, she wouldn't marry and had no children. Then God decided in his grace, he didn't have to because she would have been saved either way. He gave her children.
[50:29] And one of her, her great, great grandson becomes the king of Israel. Now listen, that genealogy I just told you about, it came from Matthew chapter 1 verse 5.
[50:45] It's the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rahab is in the line of Christ. She is one of the Lord Jesus' ancestors.
[50:57] Hallelujah. That's what God will do, saints. Ladies, he will put you in the family of God. And who knows what that will mean? God will use you, transform you.
[51:08] Your life will impact others. I don't care what the world says you were. I don't even care what you say you were. Give your testimony. Don't never be ashamed of your testimony.
[51:19] It's a before and after story. Amen. But listen, you are not identified by what you were. What you were does not control who you are. She was not a believing prostitute.
[51:38] She was not a sanctified prostitute. She was a child of God who happened years ago to have been a prostitute. What she is is in the family of God.
[51:53] Are you in the family, ladies? Are you in the family? Has Jesus transformed your life? Trust him. Go.
[52:03] Keep going. I know your self-esteem. I understand. Get at Christ's esteem. Esteem Jesus more than you esteem yourself and you'll begin to see yourself in light of who he is.
[52:16] He doesn't look at you as what you were before. He sees you as what you are now. His daughter. His daughter. And he will never say anything else about you other than your mind.
[52:28] stop looking in the rearview mirror. Stop staring in the rearview mirror. Listen, I know you drive. Look, in your car, if you don't have a rearview mirror, stop driving it, okay?
[52:42] But every car comes with one. And you have to look in that rearview mirror sometimes or you don't know how to drive. Ladies, you know how to drive. You gotta look in the rearview mirror sometimes, but you can't stare in it because there's something behind the rearview mirror that's even bigger.
[52:58] It's called the windshield. If you stare at the windshield, you will see where you're going. Jesus is the windshield. Keep staring at him. Oh yeah, you gotta look back and look in the rearview mirror from time to time, but listen, you can't stare at it.
[53:13] You just know where you, don't forget where you came from, but don't stare at it. Don't put your, don't let it overcome you or you will crash. Stare into the windshield, that's Jesus.
[53:28] Amen. Father, thank you for your word and Lord, I know I went a little bit longer than I meant to, but I pray, oh Lord, they would forgive me and that you would take this word and bless lives.
[53:40] Someone needed to hear this message. Deliver my sisters, my mothers, and my daughters from the baggage.
[53:53] May they not live in the past, even if it was yesterday. May they look forward to the future and the present knowing who they are in Jesus and that they are loved and accepted and talented and gifted and beautiful in Jesus because he beautifies the meek with salvation.
[54:14] They're beautiful. Oh Lord, may they walk in the beauty of the Lord. May they walk in the fear of God. May they walk in faith in Jesus, the only Savior.
[54:28] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.