Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): Faith has the incredible ability to radically and dramatically change people. Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: Christians are not just nicer people. They are transformed. They are absolutely new people. Think about this person, this Rahab. She was a prostitute living in sinful degradation. She was a Canaanite destined for sure destruction because the judgment of God was upon the city of Jericho where she lived. Yet, God saved this woman.

Would you believe she is listed here in the Word of God as one of the heroes of the faith, a champion of faith? How did it happen? It is the transforming power of faith.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the dynamic biblical teaching of pastor and author, Adrian Rogers. In Joshua Chapter 2, we meet Rahab, a Canaanite woman living in spiritual darkness. After God saved her, she became part of the bloodline of Jesus Christ.

As we learned in part one of today's message, Rahab's story reveals that God works on both sides of our circumstances. The Holy Spirit also convicts others through people who are living and walking in victory. How did Rahab respond to the Spirit's conviction? If you have your Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter 11 and look at verse 31 as we hear part two of "Transforming Power of Faith."

Adrian Rogers: A lady that I know who is a great testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ and one of the finest soul winners in America is named Iris. Iris was a prostitute before Jesus saved her. Iris said this, and it has always lingered deep in my heart. She said, "When I learned about the Lord Jesus Christ and someone witnessed to me and led me to Christ, I got on my knees a filthy prostitute and I arose a virgin in the sight of God."

Do you believe that is possible? It is absolutely possible. Christians are not just nicer people. They are transformed. They are absolutely new people. Think about this person, this Rahab. She was a prostitute living in sinful degradation. She was a Canaanite destined for sure destruction because the judgment of God was upon the city of Jericho where she lived. Yet, God saved this woman.

Would you believe she is listed here in the Word of God as one of the heroes of the faith, a champion of faith? Rahab, delivered from judgment. Rahab became the great-great-grandmother of King David. She married one of the princes of Israel. She is a part of the bloodline of our Savior. This woman who was a harlot, no longer a child of hell, but a citizen of heaven. She is not walking the backstreets of Jericho, but now she's walking the streets of gold in heaven.

How did it happen? It is the transforming power of faith. By the way, in order to understand all of this, you have to go back to the book of Joshua, chapter 2. So, just turn left in your Bible and keep going for a long time, and you'll come to the book of Joshua, somewhat near the front of the Old Testament.

In Joshua chapter 2, we're going to find the story. I want to give you the background. The children of Israel have come out of the land of bondage, out of the land of Egypt. Now they are right on the threshold of Canaan. Only the River Jordan stands between them and the Promised Land. General Joshua wants to know what is on the other side of the river, so he sends out some special operational forces to go across and to reconnoiter and to spy. He takes some men we call them today spies. They went over to spy out the land.

As they cross Jordan and go into Jericho, which was the first formidable city there, Jericho was great in antiquity, one of the oldest cities on the face of the earth, and great in iniquity. God was going to destroy Jericho and bring judgment upon Jericho. They go to Jericho, and they end up there seeking refuge in the house of Rahab, who, as we have learned, was a harlot.

I want you to see four things that God did to transform this woman. The first thing I want you to see is what I'm going to call the confronting power of the providence of God. Look, if you will, in verse 1: "And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there." Now look, if you will, in verse 4: "And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were."

Joshua says, "Go spy out the land." They come to a particular house. Was that by mere chance? No, it was the will of God and it was the providence of God. Let me tell you how the providence of God works. God works on both sides of the equation. God will find a person whose heart is tender, a person who wants to know God, a person under conviction, a person seeking God.

God will take a witness, a messenger, a soul winner, and work in that person's heart as well as He works in this person's heart. Then God gets the two together. We call that divine providence. The Bible is full of all of those kinds of stories. The providence of God that confronted her, that's the first thing.

The second thing I want you to see is that the Spirit of God convicted her. This woman is under great conviction. How did this pagan Canaanite woman, how did this prostitute get under such great conviction? It's quite easy to see. Let's look in verse 9: "And she said unto the men," that is these spies who found their lodging there at her house, "I know that the Lord hath given you the land."

Notice the conviction she's under. "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 ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye 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."

Watch her conviction now: "For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." What a statement. God, He is God in heaven and earth. He is the God of might, the God of miracle, the God of power. How did this woman know this? Because she said, "We have seen what God has done for His people. We've seen how God opened the Red Sea. We've seen how God piled victory upon victory. We have heard what God is doing for you."

What convicts people? How does the Holy Spirit of God do it? He doesn't do it in abstraction. He does it through people who are living and walking in victory. How did the Holy Spirit of God convict her? She saw what God had done in the heart and lives of His people.

There was the confronting power of the providence of God. There's the convicting power of the Spirit of God. Thirdly, I want you to notice the confirming power of the Word of God. People are not going to be saved apart from the Word of God, no matter how you live. They can see the power of God in your life, but they still need a word from God.

Continue to listen in Joshua chapter 2, verse 11: "And as soon as we had heard these things..." What did she hear? She'd heard what God had done for His people. "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. Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that ye will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token."

That is, show me grace, kindness, and give me a token of it. "And that ye 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." And the men answered her, "Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business." That is, if you do not disclose that we're here, we will lay down our lives for you if necessary. "Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee."

Skip on down to verse 21. Here's the key: "And she said, According unto your words, so be it." Underscore that. "According unto your words, so be it." And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line or cord in the window.

Was this just a conversation? No, it was a message from Almighty God. How can you be so certain? Put in your margin James 2:25: "Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers?" Now they're not called spies. They're called messengers.

They were there with the Word of God. She received the messengers. And again, verse 21, "According to your words." These men were speaking to her the Word of God. They were divinely appointed by providence to bring to this woman the Word of God.

Are you certain that she was convinced by the Word? Absolutely, because the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 17, "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." You cannot have faith until you get a word from God. You might as well try to ice skate on hot water as to have faith without hearing from God. Here was a woman confronted by the providence of God, convicted by the Spirit of God, and confirmed by the Word of God.

She believed. In order to believe, you have to have something to believe. Hebrews 11:31: "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not." She was confirmed by the Word. She did believe.

Not only was she confronted by the providence of God, convicted by the Spirit of God, confirmed by the Word of God, but she was cleansed by the grace of God. Notice the cleansing power of the grace of God. Look, if you will, Joshua 2, beginning in verse 18: "Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this scarlet thread in the window."

In another place, it's called a cord. Don't get the idea of a sewing thread here. These men had to hang on to this and go down the wall over it. "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," underscore this, "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."

He's tying the idea of blood with the scarlet cord. He's saying to this, "Look, Rahab, we're going to come. We're going to come as the avengers of God, and there's going to be sure destruction upon this city. The only way that you can be safe is to take a scarlet ribbon, a cord, a thread, a sign, hang it there in the window. Get all of your loved ones on the inside, and when the invading army comes, when judgment comes sweeping through, when I see the cord, I will pass over you."

Does that remind you of anything? Where did these men get this idea? God said, "Take the blood of the lamb and put it upon the lintel and the doorpost of the house. The death angel is coming through, and when the death angel sees that scarlet blood, when I see the blood, I will pass over you." They had no Passover lamb there in Rahab's house, but they knew the principle.

They knew that God in mercy would forgive on the basis of a blood sacrifice. Hebrews 9:22, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." This was their token, their sign. This is all in their mind. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. They said, "This is our idea. We're going to get Rahab spared the same way we were spared by faith in a merciful God."

All of the Bible is about a blood sacrifice. You cut the blessed book anywhere, it will bleed. The blood of Jesus seems to stain every page. If you began with Abel's lamb and you go right on through to Noah's sacrifice, you go right on through to Abraham's ram there on Mount Moriah, go with all of the smoking sacrifices on every Jewish altar to finally you come to Calvary where the Lord Jesus Christ hung in agony and blood. All of it is saying, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you."

The Bible says there in verse 31 that she was delivered from destruction. She perished not. That is what it says. Does that not remind you of John 3:16? "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish." She didn't perish. She was delivered from destruction.

Not only was she delivered from destruction, but she was radically changed on the inside. She had a character change. How do you know that she had a character change? Because the Bible tells us that she was justified. She was justified. James 2:25, "Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified?"

She was justified. That is, she was delivered from destruction and made right, pure in the sight of God. We sing that great song: "Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath and make me pure." That is what it's all about. He not only delivers us from hell, He gives us a brand-new nature.

You say, "Pastor Rogers, that's fine for those harlots. I hope those harlots get saved. That's fine for those drunkards and those murderers. I hope they get saved." You missed the point altogether. Do you know what Jesus said there in the Gospel of Matthew to the self-righteous religious Pharisees? He said, "Harlots and unjust tax collectors are going to go to heaven before you do."

Think about it. The message here is this, and I want you to get it. I don't want you to miss it. There is no one so bad he or she cannot be saved. Do you believe that? There's no one so bad that they can't be saved. Harlot? Yes. Adulterer? Yes. Murderer? Yes. Sexually perverted? Yes. God forgives. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin. Don't you let that dirty devil tell you you've done too much, you're too bad, you're too wicked, you can't be saved. The God that saved Rahab is the God who can save you.

That's the first thing: no one so bad they can't be saved. Now listen carefully. There's no one so good they need not be saved. That's what Jesus was warning the Pharisees about when He said the harlots and prostitutes are going into heaven before you.

Jesus transforms. It was an old violin, and it was battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it barely worth his while to spend much time on the old violin. But he held it up with a smile. "What am I bidding, good folks?" he cried, "and who'll start the bidding for me? A dollar, and who'll make it two? Two dollars, and who'll make it three? Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three."

But no, from the back of the room a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow. Wiping the dust from the old violin and tuning up all the strings, he played a melody soft and sweet, as sweet as the angels sing.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer, in a voice quiet and low, said, "What is my bid for the old violin?" and he held it up with the bow. "A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two? Two thousand, who'll make it three? Three thousand once, three thousand twice, going and gone for three."

The people cheered, but some inquired, "We don't quite understand what changed its worth?" The man replied, "The touch of the master's hand." And many a life out of tune with God, all battered and scarred with sin, is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd much like the old violin. A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, a game, and he travels on. He's going once, he's going twice, he's going and almost gone.

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd can never quite understand the worth of a soul and the change that is wrought by the touch of the Master's hand. That is what happened to Rahab. That is what happened to me.

You're not perfect, but if you're saved, you're a changed person. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And friend, if your religion has not changed your life, you better change your religion. He's not here just to make you a nicer person. He is here to radically, dramatically, eternally transform you. And if God saved Rahab and God saved Adrian Rogers, God will save you. He's in the life-changing business.

Guest (Male): Is that what you want for your heart and life, not to become a nicer person, but to be transformed by the love and the forgiveness and the grace of God? Pray with me now.

O God in heaven, I know I'm a sinner. I'm separated from You, but I believe that Jesus paid the penalty for my sin on the cross, and He rose again to new life so that I might have His righteousness. So right now, I surrender my life to You. I don't trust in anything that I do. I trust fully in what Jesus did for me. Come into my life. Change me from the inside out. I want that kind of transformation that I've just heard about. Do that in me and help me walk with You as You are my Savior and Lord from this day forward. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, if you prayed a prayer like that from your heart, we would love to celebrate with you. Go to our website, lwf.org/radio and click "Find God's Love" at the top of the page. You'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith. Again, click the tab that says "Find God's Love" at lwf.org/radio. Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you today.

Carrie Vaughn: Hi, this is Carrie Vaughn, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you. To give a gift today, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD. That's 1-877-568-3463, or write to us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

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