“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace,” Hebrews 11:31.

Just before we start, let me make a comment or two which have occurred to me as we sang our opening hymn.  Notice that Rahab has linked to her name that which she had been in former times. It is sad that what Christians may have been before they were saved, lives on in the memories of those who knew them and in their own memories as well.  When Paul wrote to Timothy he mentions what he had been, 1 Timothy 1:12-14. He never forgot his foolish ways before conversion.

The Lord forgets our sins (Jeremiah 31:34) and will not remember them again but our memories live on to trouble us.  Boys and girls, obey the Lord and walk in uprightness and so avoid the sad memories of folly and sin committed when we lived in disobedience and rebellion.

Now, consider our verse for today.

1. Faith delivered Rahab from perishing.

The Greek word appears nowhere else in the Bible. To ‘perish’ in your sins is an utterly tragic and unique end. 

2. Her faith was seen in that she believed the reported accounts of God’s actions and purpose.

Joshua 2:9-13. Note the word ‘know’ at the beginning of her statement of faith. She had heard and come to understand the truth about the Lord.

3. True faith is always accompanied by holy works.

She ‘received’ the spies and hid them.  * That is, she ‘received with the hand’. She welcomed them. * She did so ‘with peace’. She was not an enemy but a friend of the men of Israel. * By nature we are enemies to God and His people.

Roman 5:10, Colossians 1:121. Rahab showed she was a new person, 2 Cor 5:17. It was not just that she ‘said’ that she believed, but she acted out her faith and that most heroically, endangering her life to do so.

4. Her actions brought salvation to her whole household.

“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 sware unto her,” Joshua 6:2.  Faithful obedience does result in this. Andrew: John 1:36-42; Jailer: Acts 16:30-34.

5. Best of all this woman became part of the royal line from which our Lord Jesus came!

Matthew 1:5, 16. When you are saved you become part of the Saviour’s family. Matthew 12:48-50.