The prostitute.
Rahab lived surrounded by sin and evil of all kinds.
And yet she was faithful to God in the midst of all that sin and chaos.
She's a woman, in some weird way, we want to learn from.
I picture Rahab standing on the street corner in some scandalous outfit, flirting with random men being provocative and temptuous so how can we possibly want to model after a woman like that?
Rahab was a messy, imperfect woman full of sin, BUT underneath that mess, she KNEW in her heart that God was King of Kings and she had a FEAR of the Almighty God. I'm sure God was working on her heart to repent and turn from her sin, but that's not for us to judge.
If we can look PAST her sinful lifestyle and see her heart then there's a lot we can learn.
She welcomed the men of Israel into her home.
She looked fear in the face and hid the spies.
She knew God was going to have the victory in the end and she wasn't about to disobey.
She heard stories about God and she wasn't about to ignore the truth.
Can we look fear in the face and obey what God is asking us to do?
It's not easy to look our SIN in the face or look FEAR in the face but God is asking us to.
God doesn't take sin lightly.
If we continue to live in our sin, God says in Matthew 7:23 "I never knew you."
We have to TURN from our sin, confess and repent then He will show us mercy.
Rahab was living in her sin, surrounded by sin but God was working on her heart to turn from her sin.
We can't continue living in our sin and expect God to say 'that's ok, you're a good person, welcome to heaven.' No. We must admit we are sinners, believe Christ died for our sins, repent and ask for forgiveness THEN God will welcome us with open arms. So often we think we get a free pass or listen to fluffy sermons about God's love. Yes God is love, but He is also just.God can burn with anger and show righteous wrath, but that's not talked about too often.
God didn't give the Israelites a free pass when they continued living in sin, worshipping other idols, doing all kinds of provocative partying and He won't give us a free pass either.
God is patient with us but eventually His patience will run out. God will punish just like He punished in the Old Testament. He is the same God of the Old Testament as He is today and if we don't believe that, we're fooling ourselves.
Can we look fear in the face and obey what God is asking us to do?
It's not easy to look our SIN in the face or look FEAR in the face but God is asking us to.
God doesn't take sin lightly.
If we continue to live in our sin, God says in Matthew 7:23 "I never knew you."
We have to TURN from our sin, confess and repent then He will show us mercy.
Rahab was living in her sin, surrounded by sin but God was working on her heart to turn from her sin.
We can't continue living in our sin and expect God to say 'that's ok, you're a good person, welcome to heaven.' No. We must admit we are sinners, believe Christ died for our sins, repent and ask for forgiveness THEN God will welcome us with open arms. So often we think we get a free pass or listen to fluffy sermons about God's love. Yes God is love, but He is also just.God can burn with anger and show righteous wrath, but that's not talked about too often.
God didn't give the Israelites a free pass when they continued living in sin, worshipping other idols, doing all kinds of provocative partying and He won't give us a free pass either.
God is patient with us but eventually His patience will run out. God will punish just like He punished in the Old Testament. He is the same God of the Old Testament as He is today and if we don't believe that, we're fooling ourselves.
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