If you've got your Bibles, would you like to start out with us, Lord willing, let's begin in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. In the first letter that Paul wrote to the church of Corinth, Corinth is a city that had a lot of problems. You can see all the way back in Acts, you can see the seeds of the church all the way back in Acts chapter 18. That's when the vision comes to Paul and God sends a vision of the man. Macedonia, saying come to us in Macedonia. Paul's original intent was to continue to go east into Asia. Can't do that. Holy Spirit won't let him. So he tries to go to Bithynia. Holy Spirit won't let him, so he stands still. The Lord directs him west into Macedonia, which will eventually become the churches out in Europe. Greece, that area. Thessalonica, Corinth, Philippi. Acts 18 is the beginning of it. By the time you get to Acts 16, it's the beginning of it. By the time you get to Acts 18, Paul is in Corinth. Lord will bless him to establish a church out there. He'll stay there 18 months. He stays with them a long period of time. And once he leaves, he writes to them from the place where he's at in Ephesus, because they're going through a lot of issues, a lot of problems. And Paul goes over a litany of things with them in the letter. You know, immorality, how to worship, just different things, spiritual gifts. There's different things he goes over with them. And when you get to 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, the vast majority of those three chapters is dealing with charity. He's talking about love in action. He's talking about this is greater than your typical love. This is you actually not just saying that you love something or love someone. You are by definition, by means, showing that you do. You're showing the action that you do. But in between all the midst of this conversation of charity, At the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul makes reference to something. Verse 9, for now, or for we know in part, and we prophesy in part, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part should be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. For we now see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am known. So the midst of charity, Paul deviates a little bit and he tells them something. He says, listen, we see right now, what we see, the things that we see, the mysteries of the Lord that he has impressed upon us, he has allowed us to know while we are here on this earth. It's not the full mystery of him. It's not the full knowledge of him. But he has allowed us to see what he has allowed us to see. And it's almost like we're seeing through a glass darkly. We can't see all of it. But we know what we do see. There are things about the mystery of God that we're just not going to know while we're here on earth. We're not going to be able to understand in finite minds how it can be that Jesus Christ can be here on this earth and still be in heaven at the same time. We're not going to understand the mystery of the Godhead, how God can be God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, God in all three offices, but still be one God. It's tough for us to understand. It's tough for us to understand the true depths that God has for his elect children. There's just things that we don't see to the full magnitude here. But what Paul is saying is when we are in glory with Lord, we'll see Him then. We'll understand Him then. And we'll know Him then. See, when I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. There's a way in which people know us here. There's a way in which we know one another. But that's not necessarily the way that the Lord knows us. He knows us in a different way. He knows us in a special way, because we're His. And the way that He knows us is not necessarily the way that we know one another. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, think back, and I'm sure you probably don't have to think long, but if you think back over your life, I'm sure there's things that you would like to take back if you could. actions, decisions, conversations, things like that, that you would like to take back if you could. Maybe you're involved in a situation which just didn't turn out the best way. And for whatever reason, by that decision, by that action, by that conversation, whatever it may be, that's how a certain segment of people remember you. That's how they know you. You take Paul. At one point in time, the Apostle Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus you remember far different than Paul the Apostle, do you not? Saul of Tarsus had no problem persecuting the early church. As a matter of fact, he alludes to that. Go with me. Acts 15, real quick. In that great chapter on the resurrection, when Paul actually talks about himself as one being born out of due time, verse nine, he said, for I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. So that's what he thinks of himself. He said, there's a point in time where I persecuted the church. And much to the apostle Paul's dismay, there's a large section of a Jewish population that still remembers him that way. That's how he's known to them. He's known as the man who persecuted the church. He's known as the man who took our friends, our family, put them in prison, had them beaten, had them separated from their families. Regardless of the fact that the Apostle Paul did a multitude of service in the Lord's kingdom here on earth, to some, He still remembered the Saul of Tarsus. If I ask you to think about the Apostle Peter, just the first thing that pops in your mind, what would you think? Is it going to be his boldness? Is it going to be a time, a point in time when he was walking with the Lord, when the Lord was with us in the flesh here on earth? That boldness, that zeal that he had? Or would it be after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was such the strong and effective leader in and around the church of Jerusalem. A lot of us probably say this early times, right? Just the boldness and the zeal that he had. And while you can't argue the zeal that he had, and while you can't argue his boldness, you can argue that Peter was reckless at times, and it cost him dearly. Tell the Lord, I don't want to wash your feet. No, no, Lord. I can't do that. I'm not worthy to do that. I can't wash your feet. But the Lord said, Peter, unless I wash your feet, you have no part with me. He said, although all of them leave you, although they may all leave you, Lord, I'll be with you until the end. And he wasn't. The Peter that you see before the Lord's ascension back to the right hand of the majesty on high is a different man than the Peter you see afterwards. The Peter you see afterwards is starting to put away childish things. He was bold, he was brash, but he was also reckless. And that's how some people remembered him. Why do you say that? I say that because there is a way that the Lord knows his people, that we don't know one another the same way. There's a way and a name that the Lord calls us. And we don't know the full magnitude of that. And we're not going to see the full magnitude of that while we're here on this earth. Labels can stay with you. How people remember you can stay with you, for good or bad. You think of Joseph. His brothers called him that dreamer. Jonah, for the people in the ship, he was called that sleeper. Labels stay with you. Whether they're earned, whether they're not earned, they can stay with you. And people know you in a certain way that may not be the right way. Case in point, let's be introduced to somebody all the way back in the Old Testament. We'll save the name. Let's go all the way back in the Old Testament to the book of Joshua. Let's start off in Joshua chapter 2. Now Joshua, how that book begins is there's been a transfer of leadership. Moses has died. And the Lord has transferred leadership of the people from Moses to Joshua. And Joshua begins with him being the leader of the people. He is supposed to go into the land of Canaan, to the land of promise, send out 12 spies, so to speak, one from each tribe. The spies are supposed to go out into the land, bring back the report. But bear in mind, the Lord's already told the people, I will be with you. I will fight your battles for you. So they go out. The spies go out. They come back. 10 of them bring back a report. And I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. 10 of them come back, say, we can't do it. The land's too great. It's too powerful. The people are too powerful. There's giants in that land. It's truly a land flowing of milk and honey, but it's just too much for us to take. And you got two. One named Joshua, one named Caleb said, we can do it. Lord's told us we can do it. We need to do it. Nevertheless, the people listened to the other 10. And they don't do it. They backtrack. And because of that, they're going to spend 40 years in the wilderness till everybody that's 20 years or older has died out. Except for Joshua and Caleb. In the book of Joshua starts out, that 40-year period's over. Now they're ready to go in and claim the land that the Lord has given to them. And the first thing that they do when they go into the land is Joshua sends out spies. But Joshua learns from the past mistakes of the people. He's not sending out 12. There was only two spies that came back with a good report, so he's only going to send two this time. So he sends out two spies. and sends them out and says the first thing that they do is you're going to come into Jericho and you're going to spy it out because that's the first city that we go to, Joshua chapter 2. And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly saying, go and view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into an harlot's house. That's a label. You're not even told this lady's name, this woman's name, you're only told her label, a harlot. That is how the people within her own kingdom know her. That is how the people who come into this kingdom of Jericho know her. Go and view the land, even in Jericho. And they went and came into a harlot's house named Rahab and lodged there. Her label came before her name. Nowhere In the book of Joshua, when you read, is there any evidence that this woman has continued in this lifestyle whereby she gained that label? But it doesn't matter. It's there. And that's how they know her. Instead of her name first, they know her by her past. and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thy house, for they become to search out all the country. How did they know? See, Jericho's effectively on a well-traveled trade route, so there's people coming in and out of the city all the time. So it's not unusual for strange people to actually be in the city. And when I mean strange people, I mean people that are not part of the Kingdom of Jericho. It's not uncommon for those kind of people to be in the city, because they're in constantly doing some trade. But nevertheless, somehow, the King of Jericho has found out that there are two spies amongst the midst of the people. And these spies have held up at this harlot's house. So this woman is not of means, by the way. This woman is not of social standing, because she still carries that label with her. So you've got the king of the kingdom that you are a part of, and you're all the way down here in the social class, and he's all the way up here with all the power and the might and the majesty and the prestige that his office brings. He sends forth messengers to this woman of this lowly stature to say, there's two men with you. There's men here in this house that need to be brought forth to me. Because we don't think they're here for good reasons. We think they've come to spy out the land. So what do you think you would do? If you're in that low economic social status, and you've got the highest of the high coming to you telling you, turn them over. You don't really have a choice, do you? I mean, you got to do it. And bear in mind, this is not people that she's related to. This is not people from a far country that she already knew. These are strangers to her in her own land, in her own kingdom. And the woman took the two men and hid them. So wait a minute. Right off the bat, we can see there's something different about this lady, about this woman. even though we've been introduced to her as the harlot. There's something different, because a woman in her status should have turned those men over, no questions asked. And the woman took the two men and hid them, and thus said, there came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were. So she said, well, they were here, but I don't know where they went. I mean, they have left, and I don't know where they've gone. And it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that's pretty important. Why? It's because if the gate is shut, those men are not getting out of the city the same way they came in. They're not. And it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Whether the men went, I know not. Pursue after them quickly, for you shall overtake them. She said, I don't know where they went, but if you go the direction in which I'm telling you that they went, you can catch them. Where they're headed, I don't know. They were here. They're not here. They went this way. You go this way, you will catch them." And they did. They depart the woman's house, they believe her, and they go after the men they believe to be the spies. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she laid in order upon the roof. That's a pretty detailed plan right there. That means she went through a lot of care to actually hide them. She went out of her way to do this so that they would not be caught. Why? And the men pursued after them all the way to Jordan and to the fords. And as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. There it is again. They're not getting out the same way they got in. And before they were laid down, she came up to them on the roof and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land. That's the first time of four times she will refer to God as the Lord. In the second chapter of Joshua, the harlot. The pagan Gentile, who knows not God the way that the Jewish people know God, refers to him as the Lord four times. Not the God that you serve, not the God of your people, not the God that you worship, but the Lord. The only way she would know that God is the Lord is if God had already impressed it upon her. And right here, you're looking at evidence of a child of God. Go all the way back to Acts chapter 10. Before the gospel king, or forward, excuse me, all the way forward to Acts chapter 10. Before the gospel kingdoms opened up in the house of Cornelius, Peter has the dream that the Lord lets the animals down, tells him to eat. Peter says, not so, Lord. Nothing common has ever touched my lips, because Jewish people really considered some animals unclean. The Lord had told them some were unclean. And they weren't supposed to eat them. And Peter says, no, all these unclean animals, they're common. I've never eaten them. The Lord tells Peter, call not that common which I have cleansed. He says, you don't have the right to tell me what's good and bad. You don't have the right to tell me what's clean and what's not clean. And if I'm telling you it's clean, then it's clean. Regardless of this woman's status, regardless of this woman's past, you see evidence of a child of God. and that woman that God knows in a way that the people did not. Time and time again, you see that they did not. And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that your terror has fallen upon us and all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. She said, we're terrified of you. We're terrified of you as a people because of the Lord, because the Lord is with you. And wherever you have gone, the people that you have fought have been decimated because the Lord's been with you. And we're terrified of it. As a people, we're terrified of it. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt. And what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord, your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. How does she know that? How does she know that the Lord is God in heaven above and God on earth beneath. This pagan, Gentile woman who doesn't know God the way that the Jewish people do, that God has not revealed himself in a way that he's revealed to the Jewish people, how does she know it? The only way is because God has impressed it upon her. God knows this woman in a way that the people do not, just as he does with every one of his elect children. He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Now, therefore, I pray you swear to me by the Lord, that's the fourth time, since I have shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father's house and give me a true token that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brethren, my sisters, and all that they have and deliver our lives from death. She asked for her family first. doesn't mention herself by name. She only includes herself in the collective part of her family. She's worried about them before she is herself. She says, let that be the token for me that you keep us all alive. And the man answered her, our life for years. If you utter not, this our business. And it shall be when the Lord has given us the land that we will do kindly and truly with thee. And she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon the town wall. And she dwelt on the wall. Remember, they weren't getting out the same way they came in. But her house, being on the city wall, she dropped the cord, she dropped the line down, and they were able to escape that way. And she said unto them, get you to the mountain, lest your pursuers meet you, and hide yourself three days until the pursuers return, and afterwards you may go your way. And the men said unto her, we will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, that thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by, and thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren into thy father's household. home unto thee. And it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of the house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless. And whosoever shall be with thee in the house, this blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him." There's a lot you can go into with that. But I don't know if it was our purpose to completely deviate from what we're talking about this morning or this afternoon. The fact of the matter is, this woman, as an elect child of God, was known in a way by God that she wasn't known in a way by others. She led these men down to safety, she kept them safe, and then she led them out to safety to go back to their own people. knowing full well what was going to happen to her lands if these people invaded. Now fast forward. I'm not going to tell you the story, but you fast forward a little bit. Go all to chapter 6. Chapter 6 starts off a certain way. Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel, and no one went out and no one came in. It means it was straightly shut up. They've got the walls, they've got the gates, they've got everything shut up. Nobody's going in, nobody's going out. They're anticipating the battle. Battle comes. Jericho falls. 21 verse 6, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city. Both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep, and ass with the edge of the sword. That seems pretty harsh, right? Not the first living thing in Jericho was left alive. Even the young and the old. Seems pretty harsh, right? Well, it does until you go back and read the very first verse of chapter six. Then it kind of makes sense. Now, Jericho was straightly shut up. You know why it was shut up? Because Jericho resisted the truth. The truth was the one true living God and his people were coming to claim what was God's. And they didn't see it. They resisted it. And they shut themselves up altogether. And they paid a horrible price for it. Not the first living thing was left alive. We can pay a price as elect children of God when we resist the truth. As the church, we can pay a price as the church when we resist the truth, when we shut ourselves up straightly. That's a tremendous lesson that we have, because the consequences were dire. The consequences were dire for Jericho. They lost everyone, almost. But Joshua said unto the two men that spied out the country, go into the harlot's house Why not go into Rahab's house? Why not go into the woman who was friendly to us? Go into the woman who spared your lives and delivered you from the hand of those who would have killed you? No. It was still. Go into the harlot's house. Bring thence the woman and all that she had, as she swore to her. And the young men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brethren and all that she had, were brought out of her kindred and left them with the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire and all that was therein, only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron, they put in the treasury for the house of the Lord. Joshua saved Rahab, the harlot, alive in her father's household and all that she had. And she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day. The Lord knew Rahab in a way that others didn't. Knew her in a way that even Joshua, the man he chose to lead his people, didn't know her. Joshua's still referring to her as the harlot. But the Lord delivered her and delivered her family. And even though she was a pagan Gentile in a Gentile land that was full of adultery and all other kind of great sins, he brought this woman into his family. He brought this woman into his chosen people. He knows us in a way that we don't. In the New Testament, Rahab is only listed three times. Let's look at them. Hebrews chapter 11 is that great chapter of all the examples of faith. And when you start on these examples, you start basically with the beginning of mankind and you go down and you're given a list of all the faithful examples that they were. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. By faith, Noah, being worn of God of things not yet as seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out to a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered a child because she was past age. You have all these tremendous examples of faith when you go down through the line of history. Sarah being the first woman that's mentioned. And then from there you go into even other examples of faith that are men. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau according to the things to come, concerning the things to come. By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph. By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was he had three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. All these examples of faith, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down. After they were accomplished about seven days, by faith the harlot, her label comes before her name even here, by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not. when she had received the spies with peace. Some 1,500 years later, this woman is written about. And even though she is written about in a chapter that contains great examples of faith and hers is listed as a great example of faith, the first thing that you hear about her is her label, the harlot. James. Chapter 2, James is all about works. He said, wait a minute, how does works actually apply to us? We believe in grace and salvation by the grace of God alone. There is no other way. When James talks about works, James is talking about how you were justified by your works in the view of others. That's how they see that your faith means something. Because it's not just words. You're truly out in action, in servitude, in love, in compassion, in charity. You're truly doing the things that you were speaking of. But James talks about this woman's faith through her works. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness and he was called a friend of God. You see then how by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Likewise was not Rahab the harlot justified by her works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way. Paul Lister is a great example of faith in Hebrews. James Lister is a great example of faith and works in his letter. But she's still referred to as the harlot in both those. 1,500 years later, this story of this woman has gone on, but she is known in no other way to them other than the harlot. But the Lord has a way of seeing past all your previous mistakes, and your previous misgivings, and your previous sins, those that afflict you and bring you down, regardless of those past mistakes may have brought upon a label to you that you continue to carry to this day, the Lord knows you in a way where that label doesn't carry over. We said three ways, three times, right? Three times she's mentioned in the New Testament. We just mentioned Hebrews. We just mentioned James. Go with me to Matthew chapter 1. And we'll close here. Matthew chapter one, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob. Jacob begot Judas and his brethren. And Judas Phares and Zamar. And Phares begot Ezra. And Ezra begot Aram. And Aram begot Amenadab. And Amenadab begot Nassam. And Nassam begot Salmon. And Salmon begot Boaz of Rakeb. And Boaz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David the king. You continue reading on down, you have the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, all the way down to his birth. There's two women that are mentioned. One of them's pretty familiar to you. Boaz begot Obed of Ruth. Ruth, you know, she's got a book that bears her name. The story bears her name, how she was redeemed. A pagan Gentile from an idolatrous land was redeemed by Boaz and brought into the family. Boaz's mother is the only other woman that's mentioned. And Salmon begot Boaz of Rakeb, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word, which is Rahab. Nowhere in the genealogy of Jesus Christ is this dear woman mentioned as the harlot, because God knew her in a way that men did not. So does he with all his elect children. May God bless you.