Could we turn again to the passage from which we were reading, that's Joshua chapter 2 and reading again from verses 18 and 19. Joshua chapter 2 and reading again at verse 18. The words of the men of Israel speaking to Rahab, Behold, when we come into the land, 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, and all thy father's household home unto thee. And it shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy 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, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. Now those of you who are present on Friday evening might be inclined to accuse me of colluding with our senior minister in our choice of texts. Because of course on Friday evening, We heard Mr. McLeod preaching from Joshua chapter 6 about the fall of the city of Jericho to the people of Israel. And indeed I was rather nervous when I heard him choose a text from Joshua because I wondered would I have to break out my books halfway through the weekend and find another text for the Sabbath evening. But of course the Lord knows best. And in Mr. MacLeod's sermon, he addressed the experience of the people of God in this venture, the people of God entering the land and engaging in this conquest. Now, we come to consider those who are not the people of God. We enter the city of Jericho itself. We come to the house of Rahab the harlot. And we see here the Lord's dealing with one who is not of the people of God, but who has been chosen to become part of the people of God. Think of this woman, Rahab. Think of this woman. She is a harlot. And of course, we are before a family audience, so we will not go into sordid details. But sufficient to say, here is a woman who earns her bread by the most immoral acts imaginable. On a daily basis, who degrades herself in the vilest way, who is treated with scorn and with contempt by her community and by the men who make use of her. She is one who is despised, who is regarded with contempt, who is regarded as nothing by those in the society in which she lives. But God, he has a different perspective. He looks upon us with different eyes. We look with human eyes and we see in Rahab the harlot, nothing beautiful, nothing lovely, but the Lord had chosen her and had set his love upon her, and the Lord would work in power to achieve her salvation. This is thus an immensely positive and immensely exciting passage. It speaks to us of hope, hope for the darkest and most degraded of sinners. Hope for someone who was beyond the pale, even in a heathen society. It speaks of hope of salvation for those who have lived long in sin, for those who are steeped in darkness and in immorality. It tells us of the power of God to transform lives, to change hearts, to work mightily to achieve salvation. Let us then come to this passage. to encourage us to believe that God may indeed have a purpose of salvation even for such as us. For we who love sin and who walk in the ways of sin and maybe never thought for a moment that we might ever be the people of God. And those of us who have known that transformation already let it encourage us. to be faithful in praying for the work of God, encouraged to believe in the power of God, seeing God at work in the life of Rahab. Let us then be challenged, encouraged, and above all brought to worship the God of salvation, the God who achieved the salvation of Rahab. This then will be our subject for tonight. Salvation, salvation by faith in God's appointed leader. Salvation by faith in God's appointed leader. And of course the leader of the people of Israel at this time is Joshua. Moses has died and Joshua, as we saw in Joshua chapter 1, Joshua has been raised up to take his place to lead the people of Israel. And these two spies who are here dealing with Rahab in the city of Jericho, they are his representatives, his spokesmen. Ultimately it is with Joshua that Rahab deals and if we were to flick forward to chapter 6, which we were reading on Friday night, we would see there that the salvation of Rahab is of course ultimately achieved by Joshua, the leader who commands that she be brought forth to safety. So we're speaking here of Joshua and Joshua points us forward of course to the New Testament Joshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same name, you see. In the Hebrew, it sounds exactly the same. Jesus is rendered for us in the Greek, so it's the same name. It's like John or Ian. It's the same name, just rendered in a different language. The Lord Jesus Christ was called after Joshua. The meaning of the name is Jehovah is deliverance. So this passage, it's all about a saviour, Joshua, the saviour. And it's all ultimately about God's appointed saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom we have to deal with if we wish to be saved. So with these thoughts, let's come to look at this passage. And let's first see the solemn challenge of it. Judgment by God's appointed leader. Judgment. We see it spoken of by Rahab in verse 9. She's speaking to the spies and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 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 unto the two kings of the Amorites. that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed." Rehab is saying in this passage that she knows, she understands that there is a condemnation that has gone out against the people who are occupying the land of Canaan. This land has been promised by God to the people of Israel. And she's acknowledging that. See what she's saying. She's recognizing that her own people, her own city, her own fellow citizens have been condemned by God and they are going to die. They are all of them going to be swept away by the people of Israel coming in to take possession of the land that God has given them. They were, you see, a deeply sinful people, a wicked people. They were steeped in idolatry and the worship of false gods. They had continued and persevered with this. Along with that went much wickedness, much outward sin. They were engaged in much sexual immorality that went alongside the worship of these idols. These idols had temple prostitutes, both male and female, associated with them. They had child sacrifices. They were wicked, vile religions. And these people were engaged in these vile practices. God had seen their sin. God had judged it. And now he was executing sentence upon them. Already, she's mentioning the Amorite kings on the other side of the city of Jordan, her own people over beyond the river. They had already experienced conquest. And she knew that the city of Jericho would be next, that Jericho too must fall. The people, you see, of Jericho had been hearing the rumors. They'd been hearing of this great people, Israel, whom God had brought out of captivity in the land of Egypt. They'd been hearing of these miracles, of how God had worked to sweep aside the great Red Sea so that the people could cross on dry land. They'd been hearing stories from merchants and travelers about the pillar of cloud, the pillar of fire, the manna which God was feeding them by in the wilderness, the miracle. the power of God at work. They realized, you see, here is the enmity, not of man, but of God. This is God's work. God is sending judgment upon the land. Death for them was coming. The end was near. The army was approaching that would destroy their city. You and I are in much the same situation. You and I stand before God under sentence of death. God has seen our sin. God knows it. He knows everything that we have ever done. The things that we have done when we thought no one was watching. The thoughts that we have had that we thought were utterly private. The words we have spoken, the lies we've told, the wicked things we've whispered, that we thought no one could trace back to us. The Lord knows. He knows everyone of your sins, just like He knows all of my sins. And He knows the wages of sin is death. The sentence has gone forth already. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. And the sentence against every human being in this world is one of death. Death deserved for sin. Death's meeting with us is certain. It is written, as it were, on the tablets of the universe. It's already been set in stone. Death is approaching. The army is massing at the border. It is approaching. It is coming. It is near. How will you and I prepare for that end when we must meet our God? See the response of the city of Jericho. It's described in verse 11. Rehab says, As soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. Neither did there remain any more courage in man because of you. For the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. See what she's saying? They were afraid. The people were afraid. They weren't showing it. They were doing their best to conceal it. But Rahab, who knew them, she could see the fear that was in every heart at the thought of this great army with the power of God behind it, approaching, drawing near, threatening their safety, threatening their peaceful ways of sin. The end was coming. God's reckoning was approaching. And maybe you feel the same. You know that death is coming. You step out of this church door and what's the first thing you see across the road? It's like a river of grave running down towards the shore. And how long before it's your turn? How long before that river carries you away? How long before death is knocking? We can have, you see, arrogant boasts of how we're going to do this and that in our lives and how death will only come for us when we're old and haggard and there's nothing much left for us in life anyway. but in the face of the reality of death, the cold, cruel reality that can come at any time, young or old, of that silent casket that goes down into the ground, never to be raised up again. Before that reality, our arrogant boasting, it's gone, isn't it? We're silenced by it. We look ahead and what do we see? It's a gaping pit before us, a great chasm yawning, and no matter what we do, the accelerator, it's hard on the floor, isn't it? And the speed is going, and we are advancing and advancing, and sooner or later we're going down. We're going down. Are we ready? That's the challenge. Are we ready to face the judgment of God? The result. What is the result? We see it in this passage. The result of all that Jericho was seeing of all that they were hearing of the people of Israel. What was their response? You see it? They were hardened. The more that they heard, the more determined they were in sin. Look back to verse 3. The king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house, for they becomes a search out all the country. He's determined to do everything he can to protect his city against Israel. He's going to fight. Come to verse 7, and we see it again. The men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords. And as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. They were going to protect their city. They were going to defend their sinful lifestyles no matter what. What we're seeing here is no repentance, no change. They're not putting on sackcloth and ashes like the people of Nineveh did when Jonah preached to them. They're not pleading with God that he would teach them the worship of the true God, that he would show them how to live so they could live in peace in his land. No. They were hardening their hearts to continue in sin. Stubbornness right to the end. It's incredible, isn't it? Tragic. And yet are you not the same? Wasn't I the same until the Lord worked in my heart? Wasn't every believer who now believes the same? Hardened against the warning of death, hardened against the danger of the judgment of God. As long you see as there is no repentance, There is no preparation to meet with the Lord Jesus. There's no readiness to come there. You're resisting his gospel message. You're determined to protect your sinful lifestyle. I'm not ready yet. It's not time for me to change. I might become a Christian one day, but not yet. Not yet. The truth is that you're bound by it, aren't you? You're like the child sitting on the railway tracks. And the train is coming, you see. And the child can hear it. And the tracks are rocking. And the lights are shining. And the train is accelerating. And the sound of it is coming, the roar, faster and faster. And the child is gazing, fascinated by the lights, unable to move out of the way. You're like the fly caught in the spider's web. And the strands abound tighter and tighter around it. And the more it struggles, the worse it gets. and the spider is watching and waiting to consume its prey. Death is waiting. Death. And you and I are not preparing. We are hardening our hearts until we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us see the danger. Let us see the urgency, the need for Jesus Christ as Saviour. You must meet him one day, that is certain. It comes to every person at death. But you can meet him in two ways, you see. You can meet him as the judge who must judge sin righteously. The soul that's in it shall die, and the Lord Jesus, the righteous judge, must judge the sinful soul. But you can meet him in a different way. You can meet him as saviour. as one who has loved you with intensity from before the foundation of the world, who gave his life for you, whose blood covers your sins. You can meet the Lord Jesus as one who has walked with him through this life, as one who knows him, as one who trusts him, and as one who is going there to meet his compassion and his mercy and his love. That's your only hope in death. Apart from that, Only judgment, only judgment. Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? But that then brings us, you see, to the positive message of this passage, because this is not a dark passage. It is a passage that speaks of Rahab the harlot brought out of that city of danger, that city of destruction, doomed to death. See, we've seen already judgment by God's appointed leader. But now let's see, secondly, faith in God's appointed leader. Faith. Rahab, you see, is different. She's met the spies. She's helped them. God is working within her, and God is bringing forth faith. We see it here in a few different respects. Look at the beginning of verse 9. And she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land. And again, at the end of verse 11, for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. You see, she knows who God is. She's recognizing it. She's acknowledging it. God is a true God. He's the God of heaven, the God in control. He's the one who has given this land to the people of Israel. And there can be no fighting against God. She's recognized it, you see. She's seen it. And faith, you see, begins with seeing. Seeing what God has said. Understanding God's message for us. Are you understanding today that this world is condemned to destruction? Are you understanding Jesus Christ as the only hope in the midst of a sinful world? Are you realizing He is God, He is in control, He is able to save if you will but call upon Him? That's the path of faith. Are you coming to understand, to discern these things? Faith begins, you see, with that felt need, that recognition, I need help. I am a sinner. God is a judge. I am guilty before him. Therefore, therefore, I need help. I need salvation. I need God to work in my life. Apart from that, I've got no hope whatever. God must make this clear to you. God must open up your mind to discern it. Just like he opened up Rahab's mind to discern it. God must work within you. So how then will you respond to this? Will you ask God to work? Will you ask God to show you the extent of your sin? To show you your need of the Lord Jesus as Savior? Or would you rather just carry on with your life as it is and not think too much about death and about what comes after? Recognize the reality, the justice of God, the sins that you have committed against Him, the hell that awaits. for those who are found without Christ in the day of judgment. And that brings her to change her conduct, to change, to act differently, to act not as the harlot of Jericho, but to act as one of the people of God. We see it in verse 4. Look at the beginning of verse 4. And the woman took the two men and hit them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were. The king has come looking for them, and she responds by prevaricating, indeed telling an untruth to this powerful, dangerous king. What a fearful thing to do, to tell a lie to someone who can order your execution in a moment. You might say, well, that's an awfully wrong thing to do, to tell a lie to anyone. But let's not go down that side alley. Let's just stick with the central point. Rehab was a sinner. She was a wicked woman. We've accepted that already. Let's recognize, here she is acting from a good motive, whatever the rights and wrongs of the action be. Her motive is to save the life of the two men of God who have come to her. Her motive is good. She wants to protect them. Verse six, she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. She hid them, you see, determined to protect them, recognizing these are men of God. These are agents of this great power which is approaching, which will conquer my city. Therefore, I will act to help them, not to hinder them. She was expressing, you see, her faith in God. Having recognized God is the true God, His judgment is real, therefore she was acting as one of the people of God, rather than an enemy of God. Her works, you see, were demonstrating the faith that was within, her belief in the true God. We see it brought out in a couple of different places in the New Testament. Twice, the inspired writers of the New Testament refer back to Rehab. They actually use her as an example of this. They're teaching about faith, and they're saying, faith expresses itself in works, good works, works on the side of God. And they're saying, look, for example, at Rehab. We come, for example, to Hebrews 11. By faith, the harlot Rehab. perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. By receiving the spies, by keeping them in peace, she was showing her faith. Then again, in the epistle of James, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. Faith, therefore, expresses itself in action. Rae have expressed her faith in God by changing her life, by living not as a harlot of Jericho, but as one of the people of God, protecting the men of God, sending them on their way in peace. This is the change that God's power works in us. We call it conversion. It's the change that turns us from the way of death, the way of selfishness, of sinfulness, to the way of godliness and of holiness and of loving the law of God and living according to the law of God. It's the change that God works in us. We can't do it by ourselves. Why? Because we love sin too much. We love sin too much to be able to change ourselves around and to walk in ways of holiness. But God's power works. to give us, you see, a new desire. A new desire for His glory, for His cause, and for the advancement of His kingdom. We mustn't make this too magical a change. It's not that overnight we're suddenly turned into good people. It doesn't mean that we'll be radically different personalities from what we were before. There'll still be the battle going on within us every day between our sinful desires on the one hand, and our desires for the kingdom of God on the other hand. But the change is that there is a battle, that there is a desire for God's kingdom to advance. And you see, we mustn't be too harsh on those who are young believers who have just come to the faith. We must recognize God works in conversion, but that conversion progresses and advances over time. The process that we call sanctification. And over time we are taught more, how to walk more faithfully, more fruitfully in the ways of the Lord. Let us not, people of God, be those who judge the young believer too harshly. We're told in the scriptures, in the word of God, that he does not quench the smoking flax. And isn't that a lovely thought? That even when we're, just as it were, starting to smoke with that flame of God's power, God's spirit, that the Lord is not quenching that, but bringing it into flame. Let us be hard judges of ourselves. Let's look hard upon every error that we make and set a good example for others and not be too ready with our buckets of water to quench the smoking flax of those who are maybe just beginning on the Christian walk. But you see Rahab, she is acting in support of the people of God. Her faith expressing herself in works. She is making a clean break. She's no longer one of the people of Jericho. She's left that lifestyle. She's changed. She's now acting as one of the people of God on the side of the Lord. And that leads her then to make this plea for mercy, which we find in this passage. The plea for mercy, which we find at the beginning of verse 12. Rehab says, Now, therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house and give me a true token, and that you will save alive my father and my mother and my brethren and my sisters and all that they have and deliver our lives from death. She appeals to them. Judgment is coming on my city. My city is going to be conquered. Do not let me be killed. I have helped you. I have stood on the side of the people of God. Now help me secure my salvation. And this is the plea of everyone who needs the power of the Lord to work in salvation. We've said already that faith begins with recognizing, with discerning the reality of judgment, the solemn reality that we need a savior. And faith expresses itself by calling upon God, by crying out to him that he would indeed save us. That he would act to protect us from this judgment. That he would give to us that path of salvation which is spoken of all through the Bible. The way of the Lord Jesus Christ, not the way of the evil one and the way that leads down to hell. Rahab is calling for mercy. She's calling and asking these representatives of Joshua that they would grant her her life. And we too, we must call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and ask that he would give us our life, that he would give us salvation ourselves. The challenge for you and me is to seek the Lord, to seek all our hearts, to recognize that this world is coming to an end, that it is under sentence of death, that Jesus Christ is a savior, that he has the way of salvation. therefore what is the response of faith? It is to appeal to God, to desperately call upon God that he would save and the word encourages us so to do and tells us that him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. We have such encouragement to call upon the Lord, such encouragement ask for his salvation, to seek his salvation, to knock upon the door and beg for admittance and beg that we might have a place inside the home, the everlasting home of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this brings us, you see, then to the encouragement of this passage. We've spoken of judgment by God's appointed leader and of faith in God's appointed leader. But thirdly, let's see salvation granted. by God's appointed leader. We come, you see, to the personal commitment that we find in verse 14. This personal commitment to her salvation. The men answered her, our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be when the Lord has given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. You see they're committing themselves. Their oath is by their own lives. They are swearing by our lives we will act to protect you. We will guarantee by our own lives that you will be safe. We commit ourselves to that And later on, of course, in the book of Joshua, the chapter we were reading on Friday night, chapter 6, we see how Joshua agrees with this and how Joshua orders the men during the capture of Jericho to go in and to protect Rahab and to bring her out in safety. Joshua acts to protect Rahab. And this applies just as much to you and I today. We too are offered a personal commitment by the Lord Jesus Christ. He offers to be our savior. He offers his life for ours. He offers it and indeed he has already given his life on behalf of all his people. He has shed his blood so that our blood need not be shed. He commits himself to it. And how do we respond to that? Hear the word of the Lord, says the Lord Jesus. This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. See his promise. Everyone who comes to me, I will raise up at the last day. They will be part of the kingdom of heaven. So how do you and I respond to this? Are we those who love our sinful, self-centered lives so much that we will refuse the offer of salvation? That we'll refuse a place in heaven? That we'll refuse the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and we'll say, no, I'll take my chances. I'm happy with my life. I don't want to give up my sins. Let me just carry on as I am. Don't you see the folly of it? Don't you see the foolishness of what is being described? The Lord's judgment is coming. Will we not embrace the salvation offered by the Lord Jesus Christ? See the mark of safety that is given. Verse 18. The men say to her, behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by. And thou shalt bring thy father, thy mother, thy brethren, and all thy father's household home unto thee." And they're saying to her, this will be the safe place, this house where we have been kept safe by you. Mark it out for us. Mark it by the scarlet rope and that will be the mark of safety. The house where the scarlet rope is, that will be a safe house and everyone in there will be preserved. It's striking, isn't it? The scarlet rope. It immediately leads us to think, does it not, of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. To think of that as the great mark of safety. The Lord's people, those sheltered under the blood, those for whom Christ has died. Now there are some commentators who say, oh no, that's terribly fanciful, it just so happened that the rope was scarlet, it was just a coincidence, it could as easily have been any of half a dozen other colours, we shouldn't read too much into it. But to me that's missing, the whole significance of this passage, because this passage is full of blood. See, it's just blood, blood, blood. Come to verse 19. It shall be that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy 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, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him. Rehab has acted to protect the spy's blood. She has protected their blood and given it to them, given them their lives. And they will now guarantee their blood to protect her blood and all of her family. Their blood is committed for her blood. It's speaking of blood. Why was the rope scarlet? Because it was a transaction involving blood. It was life itself that was being dealt with here. The rope was chosen because It was scarlet. It had that significance. And of course, the spy must, must have thought, as they were engaged in this transaction, of the mark of the blood over the doorpost and on the lintels of the houses in Egypt. The lamb had been slain, the blood was put up there to mark out the houses of the people of God. The houses so marked, these houses would be safe. The houses without it, these houses would be judged. And that was what happened during the exodus as the people were brought out of the land of Egypt. So if we see it then, whether directly or indirectly, as being a sign of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, sign of the safety that we have when Jesus Christ has committed his own life to preserve his people. We saw it this morning, didn't we? Illustrated for us in the communion sacrament, the wine that is poured out signifying the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that was poured out as he died. Jesus poured out blood so that we need not experience everlasting death in hell forever. He shed his blood so that our blood would not be shed forever and ever. This place of safety, you see, is to be sheltered in that house which is marked by his blood, where the scarlet cord is in the window, where the blood is on the door posts and on the lintel. That is the safe house, the house of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to you and me, the challenge is, well, will we come into it? The door, you see, is standing open. It is the door of the sheepfold and it is there. The Lord Jesus is calling us to come in. He is the shepherd. He will protect and defend this house. He has committed his blood to make this house a safe place. And we are safe if we are found in the house of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will we come in? Will we turn aside? into the house to which he calls us. The Lord Jesus says, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee. This is the place of safety. This is the place where we can be safe in Jesus Christ. Will we come to him? And will we ask Him to be our Savior? Let's see that Rahab's faith was vindicated. Rahab was saved. She was protected in the midst of the destruction of Jericho. As the walls were falling down, as the walls were crumbling, as the first people were being slaughtered, as the people of God were engaged in bringing God's judgment upon that wicked, sinful city. One house was safe. One family was safe. The house that had the scarlet cord. We see it. If you have your Bible open, flick over to chapter 6, verse 22. Let's see the fulfillment of God's promise to Rahab. Verse 22, But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye swear unto 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. And they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein, only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and of iron they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had. And she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Rahab had trusted, trusted in Joshua, trusted that he would do the right thing, trusted in the spies who'd been there, that just as they had committed their lives, so they would do the right thing, so they would secure her salvation. She trusted and she was saved. She was protected, she was brought out. Now we see eventually that Rahab was married into the family of Israel, that she became part of the people of God. This sinful woman, this despised, contemptible harlot became part of the family of God, became a mother in Israel. It's a beautiful thought, isn't it? If we come to Matthew chapter 1, we find that she's mentioned there. There are three women mentioned there. It's the line of men running down to Joseph, which was supposed to be the father of the Lord Jesus Christ. The line of men, but three women mentioned. We have Tamar, a heathen woman who had become part, under very immoral circumstances, under strange circumstances, had become part of the family of God. Rehab, again a deeply immoral woman who again had become part of the family of God. Ruth, again deeply, again a heathen, that is to say a worshipper of false gods, and again brought in by the power of God into the family of God and married to Boaz and part of the family of God. And each of these three unlikely women, each of these three sinful women, part of the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ, each one a mother in Israel, each one part of the great family tree of the Son of God. It's magnificent, isn't it? It's thrilling. This is God's power in salvation, to turn the vilest, ugliest, and most immoral and unlikely of people into his people, his children, his loved ones. How do you and I respond to all of this? We think, well, I'll never be one of these Christians. I can never be good enough to be a part of that company. I'm not even sure I want to be part of these people, part of that strange lifestyle that's so different from the way I live my life. Well, look at Rahab. See what a change in her life. If it could happen with her, can it not happen with you? Can God's power not work? If you recognize, yes, the Bible is true, yes, judgment is real, then your only hope is Jesus Christ. Will you not accept him as your savior? Will you not come seeking that he would have mercy on you, like Rahab appealing to the men of God that they would help her and would give her salvation? Will you not? Will you not come and accept this savior? His offer is fresh. His arms are outstretched. His love is worn towards all that call upon him. Will you seek his face? Will you ask that he would be your savior? him. Seek him and find that he is ready to be found. Seek him and find that he loves to receive sinners. Come to this mercy and find that it is rich towards all who call on him. Says the word of God, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way. and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. This is the love of God. This is the mercy of God. Let us come and let us embrace it for ourselves. Amen. The Lord blesses us.