Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
February 18, 2001 p.m.
The Faith of Rahab - A Well Placed Faith
Reading - Joshua 2.1-16 & 6.22-25
Tosami Nakashima received the news early in the day. His hand quivered as he replaced the phone. His eyes stared ahead at the computer screen, as numbers announced the stock market’s gain and loss. And then, calmly he rose from his chair, walked over to the door, closed and locked it. He opened the window of his office and jumped 27 stories to his death. He was not the first... He had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of other people's money.
Stock markets go up and down. Money is won and lost every day... But that is not why Tosami killed himself. He killed himself because he had put his faith in the wrong place.
We all have done it haven’t we?... Placed our faith in wrong things... And as a result, we have been disappointed?
-Our parents thought a college education was the answer to better jobs... It wasn’t!!
-We thought technology was the answer to our world’s problems... We were wrong!!
-We thought money and worldly goods would guarantee us happiness... They didn’t!!
-We just knew a promotion or job change would solve our current problem... It didn’t!!
-Changing churches will make us feel better... That doesn’t work either!!
-Perhaps we thought we might get a few more miles out of those tires... Wrong!!
-Maybe we put our faith in the fact that we wouldn’t get the flu this winter... Shouldn’t have!!
-Could be that we placed our faith in the fact that this week would be less hectic…Wrong again!!
What have you put your faith in this week that left you disappointed?
We do it all the time... Don’t we?
Truth is... A well-placed faith can make all the difference in life. It sure did for Rahab the harlot... And it will for us.
For our lesson tonight... I want us to explore the faith of Rahab and see what we can learn.
Are you ready?... Access a worship bulletin and let’s see what we can lean about biblically placed faith... And what it means to us.
First...
Faith..., placed in the right place will save us. Hebrews 11.31 reads... By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
Faith saves... At least it SAVED Rahab... And it will us also. When the spies were sent from Joshua they stayed at Rahab’s house.
You see...
-Rahab could have put her faith, her confidence in her King? After all lying to him... And hiding the spies could have meant certain death for her.
-She could have put her faith in her countrymen... Perhaps they would protect her and her family.
-She could have put her faith in herself... in her own resources. Thinking she could find a way out of the city with her family and then survive.
She could have but she didn't. Rather... Rahab placed her faith in God and in His people for deliverance. Genuine Biblical Faith saves... because it puts us in the right place. It puts us in the perfect place... In the hands of God.
Remember the story of the man who was climbing up a cliff... His foot slips. Instinctively he reaches out and grabs a root. Feeling the root giving way, he begins to yell... Is they're anyone up there? Is they're anyone up there? To the man’s surprise, a voice says... Yes?... This is God... Let go and I'll save you. The man became quiet for a moment and said... Is anyone else up there?"
It is true isn’t it... We all want to be saved... but we don't want to let go. We don’t want to place our trust and confidence in God... and His promises from the Word. But you see... When we step out in faith... When we place ourselves in God's hands, we are saved. The Hebrews’ writer says... Without faith in God... Without a total trust in Him... Without confidence, we cannot be saved. We must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of all who diligently seek Him.
Acts 4.12 tells us that there is no other way to be saved... Only by faith in the name of Jesus.
He is the ONLY ONE... Faith is the ONLY WAY. Are we willing?... Where is my faith and yours tonight? A well placed faith will save us. Faith placed in the right place works. Rahab didn't just have faith... She acted upon that faith... Her faith responded. Her faith was the basis for the way she lived... Her faith resulted in a certain behavior.
And, so must this be true with our faith.
Folk... Faith is more than mental assent to propositional truths... It is a life to be lived.
Listen to James... If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself... And in the same way, was not Rahab the Harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Secondly, what about Abraham? His faith was credited to him as righteousness.
Church... When did this happen?... When was Abraham declared righteous?
Was it when God told him to take Isaac and sacrifice him?... No.
Abraham may have believed God and said... I'll sacrifice Isaac... But he was NOT noted as having faith by God until after he had taken action... Until he took Isaac to be sacrificed.
Listen to these Scriptures...
Ephesians 2.10... For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Titus 2.14... Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for
himself a people that are his very own, eager to do good works... Good deeds.
Scripture says we're saved to do good works... Faith compels us to do the good that God wants us to do... And has prepared for us to do.
Listen to me church... God not only had a work for Abraham to do... He has work for each of us here in this church to do... Just look around. Do you see anything that God wants you to do in this church?... In your family... In this community?
Remember now... God saved you for (WHAT?)... Good works... That’s what the Bible says!!
You see... When we were baptized we became part of the body.
Now let’s suppose that we were walking down the road and our foot stopped working.
What if our foot said...
-I'm just not cut out to do this walking stuff.
-Or perhaps... I’ve been walking for thirty years... Let someone else do the walking for a while.
-I walk forty or fifty hours a week... I sure don’t feel like walking on Sunday morning or
Wednesday nights. After all... There are others more qualified to walk than me.
I don’t walk any more... Because the church never goes where I want to go.
You see... The whole body can become impaired because the foot was being counted on.
Church... I wonder how many good works... how many good deeds go undone in our world, because we stopped working... Stopped allowing God to use us as...
He sees fit...
And as He deems necessary?
Listen to Paul’s familiar admonition from Romans chapter twelve... So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us each exercise them accordingly. Of prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; of service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who show mercy, with cheerfulness. May God help us to understand that genuine Biblical faith compels us to do Good Works.
Then number three...
Faith placed in the right place sees the truth. The way we view the world, and everything around us, is largely dependent upon what we put our faith in.
We can see this at work in evolutionists.
Evolutionists approach all of science as evolutionists. With everything they study... whether they realize it or not... they are trying to it fit into the theories of evolution. They try to get everything they learn to conform to an evolutionary perspective.
For example... A geologist, who is dating a fossil, will use the date of the rock in which the fossil is found. While on the other hand, a GEOLOGIST who is dating a rock, will use the date of the fossil found in the rock to date that rock. Does that make sense to you... Good... It shouldn’t... It is called circular reasoning... And it is a lie. Even though it is an obvious fallacy to the average fourth grader... This kind of thinking permeates our culture and our educational system.
Those who claim there is no God, have faith that there is no God, and so they view the whole world...the entire universe and everything in it through this perspective.
But let me show you something about perspective...
Steve Covey tells how one Sunday he got on a New York subway... People were sitting quietly... some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. Suddenly a man and his children enter the car. The children were loud and rambunctious. Instantly the whole climate changed. The man sat next to Steve and closed his eyes, oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people's clothing and papers. It was disturbing. And yet, the man did nothing. Finally Steve said... “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn't control them?” The man opened his eyes and said softly... “Oh... you're right. You see, we just came from the hospital where their mother died. I guess they don't know how to handle it either.”
You see... Truth changes the perspective on how we see everything... RIGHT?
Rahab saw what was going to happen to her... She saw the truth of her situation.
And because she put her faith in the right place... She was saved!!
Church, when we place our faith in God our whole perspective on life is going to change.
-We will begin to find mercy and compassion where once there was only anger and annoyance.
-We’ll see material things in light of the fact that they don’t really matter.
-When ugly things happen to us... we’ll see them in light of what God wants us to learn.
-And when we face death head on... we’ll face it in light of going home.
Placing our faith in God will change how we see and feel about everything... RIGHT?
Number four...
Faith in the right place will have an impact on those about us
Listen as I read Joshua 2.18-19 and 6.22-23 & 25... Unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him... Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel... Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho.
Rahab's faith impacted all those who were close to her.
What if her Mother had said... “Rahab, you've lost your mind and I’m not going to stay in that house with you?” Well... Mom would have been dead with the rest of Jericho’s people... Correct? But all Rahab’s family believed her and were saved as well.
Think back with me to Genesis 18 & 19... Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham pleaded with God... That if ten righteous souls could be found... God would save the two cities. Think of the impact the faith of TEN SOULS would have had that day in Sodom and Gomorrah. Perhaps these two cities would still be here today.
We must know tonight that our faith...or lack of it... will have a tremendous impact on those around us... Our children... And our grandchildren... Our parents and grandparents...
This community... This church... The company where we work... Our nation.
You see... people are searching... they need someone to believe in... someone to trust... someone to follow... Will you be that somebody?... Will I????
A faith placed in the right place will reap present and future benefits.
When we read Ruth 4.21-22... And the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.5... We find that JESUS... the Savior of the world came through the line of a prostitute? God used the lowly to accomplish the lovely. He used the outcast to set us free. Because Rahab had put her faith in the right place, she has an honor that will last for eternity. God wants to honor and bless each of us more than we can imagine... but He will only do it through our faith in Him
Ephesians 1.4 tells us that all spiritual blessings are (WHERE?)... IN CHRIST.
Then the rest of the book tells us that...
· In Christ there is forgiveness...
· In Christ there is redemption...
· In Christ there is reconciliation...
· In Christ there is an inheritance...
· In Christ there is access to God.
You see... Some blessings in Christ are enjoyed tonight... right here.
Some blessings in Christ are to be enjoyed by the children of God tomorrow.
Others are reserved for eternity.
But all of them are... in Jesus.
Are you in Christ?... How do we get into Christ?
Listen to Galatians 3.26 & 27... We are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus... For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ... have been clothed with Christ.
Become a child of God tonight... Put Christ on in genuine New Testament baptism.
Have the faith of Rahab... Come to Jesus, as we stand and sing this invitation song.
Will you come?
