Welcome to Harmony Primitive Baptist Church. This is Elder Neal Phelan, Jr. preaching for regular Sunday morning services. I do hope that you've made some preparation before you've come this morning and that you've asked the Lord to bless us with his presence and bless the message today. I've been preaching through some of the characters that we find in the scriptures. I've preached on some of the men that we find in the Bible. Last time I preached, I was talking about some of the women that we find in the scriptures. And this being Mother's Day, I thought that we would continue with that theme and think about someone in the scriptures that became a mother, a most unlikely character that we read about. And so this morning, as we continue with our study of some of the women in the Bible, I want to talk about Rahab that we find in the scriptures. She's mentioned in four different places in the Bible. I'm going to begin in the book of Hebrews. If you have your Bibles, you want to turn with me. If you didn't bring a Bible, you'll find one in your pew there somewhere. There'll be one around. If you're looking for one, somebody can help you find one. I'm going to begin in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 31. We understand the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, we refer to this chapter many times as the Faith Hall of Fame because there are so many of the patriarch's names that are mentioned there. It is a whole chapter that deals with the subject of faith and talks about the faith of many of God's people. And in verse 31 we read, By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. Now, as you read that scripture, you find a commentary on her life that she was a harlot. We find that God doesn't mince any words. He never condones sin. And almost every time that you read of her mention in the scripture, it does attach that adjective with her name. And as we read this, we find that we find faith in a most unusual place, and that is in the life of a harlot. Now, I hope I have your attention already this morning, because that's going to tell us that God is able to take the worst of sinners and bless us and use us in his kingdom. And sometimes we find him approaching us and blessing people at times when they themselves were not seeking the Lord, but how that the Lord sought her out and changed her. This is an example of how God can take the worst of sinners and lift them up above their sin and use them very powerfully in his kingdom. When we think about her life, we know that she lived in a pagan nation. They worship the false gods of the Canaanites. There were no preachers. There were no churches. There were no services, no Bibles, no priests, no temples. She was also a Gentile. There was no family to take her to church, to tell her about church, to tell her about the God that created the heavens and the earth. And yet we find that she makes a remarkable impression upon the writers of scripture, how that God used her in a very powerful way. She's mentioned, as I said several times in the Bible, she's mentioned in Joshua, chapter two. We're going to turn there in just a moment, which we find that her story and her faith takes up an entire chapter of the Bible. She's mentioned in Matthew chapter one, verse five, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. She's mentioned in Hebrews 11 and 31 in the Faith Hall of Fame that we've already read to you this morning. And she's used as an example of faith by James in the book of James. And we're going to look at all four of those places this morning. So I hope you'll pray for us that we might learn from this very remarkable woman how that God lifted her up above her sin and used her in a very special way. in her life. So at this time, I'm going to turn back. And by the way, since this is Mother's Day, we're going to see that how her faith blessed her become the mother of some very important people. You might use the word important, but I guess that we might say some very remarkable people in the scriptures. So let's turn back and read her story in the book of Joshua and get her life before us, at least a little glimpse of her life that we have in scripture. It's in Joshua, chapter two. It's after that the Lord had blessed his people after they had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. And now they've come back to Kadesh Barnea and they're about to cross over Jordan and enter into their land of promise. And Joshua is now their leader. Moses has died. And we read in chapter two that Joshua is going to send out two of his men to spy out the land of Canaan that belonged to them already by inheritance. Now, you may be here this morning. And I will tell you, or you are here this morning, but you may be visiting this church for the first time, but you may be spying out the land this morning. You may be over in the land of Canaan today and spying out something and seeing what's over here. And then that's what they were doing as they were crossing over Jordan to spy out the land. So we're going to begin in verse one of chapter two. This is a wonderful story, so stay with me this morning. 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. So in the very beginning of this story, we find that the two spies are sent out to view the land of Canaan to see what God had given them. And of course, the first place that we find them Finding shelter and a safe place to stay was at the harlot's house, whose name is Rahab. It was told 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 thine house, for they become to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men and hid them and said thus. There came men unto me, but I wish not whence they were. And it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out, whither the men went I want not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. But 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." Now, here we're beginning to see her faith unfold as she was approached by the king. And as the story goes, she told them that the men had escaped her house and they had left the gate and gone back to their home. If we understand the laws in that day, we know that what she told them was in jeopardy of not only her own life, but the life of her family, her mother, her father and her brothers and her kindred. And I can tell you that it took great faith on her part. To stand up in the face of, you might say, the legal, the corrupt legal system in that day and to protect God's people that had come over to there to spy out the land. And as we continue to read here, we're going to find what moved her to make such a decision. Now, as we come to church this morning, we're not coming in a way that we might fear the government. There have been times that God's people have met in churches. And when they met in those churches, they knew that the government could visit them and possibly put them in jail or put them to death. And I believe that we see that we live in a very blessed time in our society today. But yet we find so many Christians that take it for granted. We must remember how blessed we are to be able to come here this morning, unhindered and unharmed to worship the God that we believe in. And so here we find her as a female. risking her life and the life of her family to protect two men that she has never met before in her life. And we find her testimony in the next few verses. And verse eight, it says, and before they were laid down, she came up unto them upon the roof and she said unto the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that your care is fallen upon us. And all the inhabitants of the land think 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 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. Now, therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness that you also show kindness unto my Father's house and give me a true token." Now, we see her faith. Here she is, living in a land that there were no churches, no Bibles, no priests, no preachers, no family to tell her about the God that created the heaven and the earth. And here we find her believing so strongly in this God that she is willing to give her life to protect these men. As I said, here we find faith in a place that we would not suspect it, not only in her own personal life and the life that she was living in sin, but also in a place that there were no preachers in churches. Now, as we read this, I want you to stay with me this morning because you're going to come to some theological problems that you may have in your Christianity. If you have believed in your life that the way a person gets to heaven and believes in God and has faith is by coming to church and hearing a preacher preach and reading your Bible. Because you're going to see the sovereignty of God displayed in the life of this individual. You're going to see how God reaches the center behind gates where there is a place where there is nowhere to worship. And we're going to learn this morning that salvation is truly by God's grace. Now, I talk to Christians a lot of times about grace, and I find that many times when I talk to a Christian about grace, if you ask them if they believe in salvation by grace, the first thing they say is, yes, I believe in salvation by grace. And then you ask them to explain what salvation by grace is, and I find that 90% of Christians, they cannot explain what salvation by grace really means. And you begin to talk to them about what salvation by grace really means. And you find that when you begin to use the terms that we must use to describe salvation by grace, they have never heard of these terms and they've gone to church much of their lives. They're about they believe in their mind. They know what salvation by grace is. They've been taught grace maybe from their youth up, like the Apostle Paul thought that he knew his religion. And you begin to talk to them about the terms that you must use if you're going to talk about grace and they don't even know what they are. If we're going to talk about salvation by grace, then we're going to have to talk about the doctrine of election, that God chose his people in Christ before the foundation of the world. And you talk to Christians and you start talking to them about grace and telling them about election, and they don't even understand what election is. Well, some of them in their mind, they've got this, somebody's told them, now if you talk about election, then you're going to be a Calvinist. And so you certainly don't want to be a Calvinist, so you can't talk about election. But you find that all through the scriptures, the apostles talked about election. Peter said, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. The apostle Paul wrote in the first chapter of the book of Ephesians, according if he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. I mean, you find election all through the New Testament, and that was before John Calvin was born. So people have a prejudice in their mind concerning the doctrines of grace, and they never can come to the position that they actually believe in grace because the terminology that we must use To talk about grace, they have already rejected the terminology in the Word of God. But this woman we find belonged to God. She was one of those that we read of in Ephesians chapter one that was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. She was a woman that God loved even in the midst of her sin. And that's an amazing thing. We think that we must do some good things for God to love us. No, God loves his people in spite of their sin. So you start talking about grace, you know, you've got to throw works aside. Another word that we use in our terminology that's found in the scriptures is the doctrine of predestination. If you're going to talk about grace, if you really understand salvation by grace, you've got to know something about predestination. And that's found in several places in the scriptures as well. Again, that's a term that's discarded by many Christians because they say, well, if you believe in predestination, you must be one of those Calvinists. Well, I can assure you, I'm not a Calvinist. But I believe in predestination, but the reason I believe in it is because it's found in the word of God. The Hebrew predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his own will, that's found in Ephesians chapter one, Romans chapter eight and verse 30, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Now, that was before John Calvin was ever born. Somebody was asking me, tell me that they had a problem with predestination a couple of weeks ago. And they said, well, you know, I just don't like the idea of predestination. And I said, well, what's so bad about predestination? It just means that God loved the people and he predetermined to save them. What is wrong with that? I can't find anything wrong with the doctrine of predestination. And it's really not that complicated. It just means that God predetermined to do something to save his people from their sins. So when we read about the life of this woman, we're reading about grace on every page. She is a woman that God loved. She is a woman that God chose. She is a woman that God regenerated. She is a woman that God used in a very special way in her life. And we find her all through the scriptures. We see her testimony of faith that she believes in this God. Now, there were many in that day that did not believe in this God, even though that God had blessed the Israelites and blessed them to overcome Sihon and Og that are mentioned here, the two great kings, had blessed them to walk through the Red Sea dry shod, had blessed them to cross over Jordan when its banks were full and stopped up the stream. But yet there were unbelievers in that day. And there are believers in this day. He talked to some people about the Red Sea and God blessing the Lord's people to walk through the Red Sea, they still cannot believe that God can do such a thing. But we understand our God is the God of miracles. If he isn't the God of miracles, he's not a God. She continues to talk about. Her faith. For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. She knew about all the other gods of their country, of their city, all the pagan gods of the Canaanites. But yet she believes in this God. Why is it that she believes in this God when she has all the other gods around her? Well, let me ask you a question this morning. Listen to me. Why do you believe in this God? Why do you, this morning, if you do believe in this God that created the heavens and the earth, I'm challenging you this morning. Listen to me. Why do you believe in the God that created the heavens and the earth? Well, somebody might say the reason I believe in this God that created the heavens and the earth is because my parents told me about this God. Not really. I mean, you can't believe in something that does not exist, obviously. But I find a lot of people that, you know, even children, their parents tell them about the God that created the heavens and the earth, and they still do not believe in this God. You may say, well, I believe in this God because I happen to attend church in my life. This lady had never attended a church in her life and she still believed in this God. And you find, you know, we stop and you think about the roots of our faith and where it really comes from. The reason that she believed in this God was because that God had reached her, that God had regenerated her, that God had called her with his spirit. And that's a theological problem that Christians have when we talk about people like Rahab in the Old Testament that were children of God, that were believers in this God. They cannot imagine how this woman could actually come by any kind of faith that they may have themselves. And she had not gone through all the systems that the churches have given people today whereby you must become a believer, and she was already a believer. I mean, this lady is a theological problem to much of Christianity today. And we're going to unfold this and peel this back a little bit more as we go. And there might be some here this morning that are hearing what I'm saying, but they just don't want to believe this. But I'm going to tell you, this Bible that we read today comes in the face of our own works. And it shows us that our works are nothing. That we don't get to be a child of God by our works, but that God sovereignly calls us and arrests us and changes us by His Spirit. As we continue to read about her, she makes an agreement with them. I mean, she is in full belief that these men and this country and this God is going to overtake this country. I mean, there's not a doubt in her mind. And she says, I pray you, swearing to me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, That you will show kindness to 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. Now, we could look at this woman's life and we could say, you know, this woman is living a very ungodly life, and she was. But you know what? She showed more faith than some people that I see that are living supposedly godly lives. I mean, here's some people that think they're walking the walk and talking the talk. And when you look at their faith, you know, this woman is willing to risk her life. To save these people. And so she makes this oath with them, she makes them swear. And the men answered her our life for years, if you 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." Then she led them down by a cord through the window. And her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto them, Get ye to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned, and afterward may go your way. So apparently she lived on the very top of the wall. It was a broad wall, large enough for a house and even a street in front of it. And that's the way they built some of the walls in that day to keep out the enemy. And if you lived on the top of the wall, you were fairly well off. Not just anybody could live on the top of the wall. She apparently had a pretty good business going on. But as we read the account of the walls of Jericho falling in, if you read if you've read the rest of the story, as they say, You find that the walls fell in, but the only part of the wall that did not fall in after they marched around Jericho was her house. God preserved her, preserved her family, her house, brought them out safely, and the Israelites honored their oath with her and her family. That was all because that she believed in God. And she acted upon the things that she believed in. And we find this in the worst of sinners. Now, I don't know about you this morning. You may be sitting there off in La La Land today and you may not be paying any attention. You may be here because it's Mother's Day and not here because you came to worship the Lord. I don't know. But I'm going to tell you something. When I read this, I find great encouragement for myself because it tells me that God can use a sinner. And he can use the worst of sinners. And for a sinner, if you're here this morning and you're a real sinner and you know you're a real sinner, this ought to give you great encouragement to know that God can love you and use you in his service. Now, we've looked at her little story here in Joshua, chapter two, but I want to go over to the next scripture. I've already read you in Hebrews 11. As I said, her life has some theological problems for people. You read Hebrews chapter 11. I think the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. He's writing it to some Hebrew people mainly. Of course, it's preserved for us today as Gentiles. But here he's taking this whole chapter and he's dealing with the subject of faith. And faith is one of the subjects that is spoken about most frequently in churches. But most of the time, faith is talked about. It's talking about you doing something and you using your faith and exercising your faith and etc. and etc. But here is the problem that many people have with Hebrews chapter 11. The Apostle Paul ties the Christian faith to the faith of the Old Testament saints. It is the exact same faith. And we all get it from the exact same place. We all get it from the bank of faith. Who is the Lord? He gives us faith sovereignly by His Spirit. It is a gift of grace. Now, I'm a preacher, and I like theological arguments. I like to read about theological discussions. I like to talk to preachers about theological things. And so some theological things just don't make any sense to me. Now, if you're a Christian, you ought to be a little theologian yourself. I find that some Christians, they just believe anything they hear. They're tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. They don't think about the things that are being taught them. But faith and some people say, here's how you get faith. You go to church, the preacher preaches the gospel, and when you hear the gospel, you get faith. Well, how did she get it? That's the theological problem they have with everybody in the book of Hebrews chapter 11. You go back to the Old Testament, you read by faith, able, offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than came. The gospel was not even preached back then. It was not even understood then. Until Christ came, it was hidden that he was the Messiah, that he was going to die for the sins of his people. You read about faith, Noah being warned of God. I mean, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. You read about Abraham, that he went out going to a place by faith. These all died in faith, the same faith that you and I have. So where do we get faith from God? And of course, if you really want to get the scripture, it's found in Galatians 5 and 22. If you're taking notes this morning, that faith is a fruit of the spirit. A fruit of the spirit. And anyone that is born of God's Spirit has faith. They didn't get it by me preaching to them or any preacher preaching to them or anything they heard. They got faith just like they got every muscle in their body. I like the example that some people use about faith, that they compare it to a muscle in your body. You know, you didn't do anything to get your muscles. You were passive in that when you were born of your natural parents. And when we're born of our spiritual parents, we're passively received faith. And the more you exercise that faith, the stronger it gets, just like the muscles in your body. And we as God's people, the more that we exercise the faith that God has given us, the stronger we get. Little trials we face as we're growing up, we use them by faith. We tell the truth. We do what is right. We trust God in it. Our faith grows and grows. And the older we get, we face greater problems in our life, don't we? I mean, everybody here this morning is facing some kind of a problem. But you know, it's through these trials and tribulations in our life that we exercise our faith, and our faith gets stronger in God. And you know, this next trial comes along, and it is so great, you wonder, do I even have enough faith to face this trial? I thought I'd been gone through the worst trial I could possibly go through, and I've proven my faith to God, and now I'm going through a great trial right now in my life, and I don't know if I've got enough faith for this one. We want to cry like the apostles, Lord, increase my faith. I need some more faith. But you see, if we hadn't gone through those small trials in our lives, we certainly wouldn't be prepared for the big ones that we face when they come along. But it's through the trial of our faith that God is glorified. We give God glory when we face our trials by faith and we We're telling the world that we believe in this God and that we trust him in the midst of our trial. And he got us through the last problem. He's going to get us through this one. But some of the problems that I've already mentioned that people have in Hebrews 11, as Paul attaches her faith to the Christian faith. They can't understand how that could happen. It tells us that faith didn't come by hearing the gospel. Tells us that she was a born again child of God, and she was in possession of faith even in the Old Testament. And you talk about people, about how people in the Old Testament were saved and how people in the New Testament were saved. I was talking to somebody last week or a couple of weeks ago, and he said, well, I believe that people in the Old Testament, that they were saved by keeping the law. And I thought to myself, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in my sight, says God. Nobody can keep the law. We should never believe that. And if you're going to be justified by the law, then you're going to have to keep every bit of it. You cannot fail in one single point if you're going to be justified by the law. And there's no way that sinners can do that. Only one has overcome the law and lived up to the law to perfection. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why death had no power over him. And he rose from the grave. If righteousness come by the law, the apostle writes in Galatians, then Christ is dead in vain. He need not have died if we can keep the law and you can't keep the law this morning and you can promise God you're going to be good. You're going to be a good Christian the rest of your life. And I'm going to tell you, you're going to fail. You're going to fail, you're going to make some mistakes and you're going to look back and say, man, how could I have done that? And you're going to go back to the Lord and say, I'm going to start all over again, Lord. Wipe the slate clean. You got your balances up here. You know, you got your good works over here and your bad ones over here. And you're trying to work this law thing out. You know, you're still under the law. You may be a Christian this morning and saved, a saved person, but you still got yourself under the law. Get yourself out from under the law and look to the one who kept the law for you, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. He kept the law to a jot and a tittle. He fulfilled it for us. My faith is not in my works, but it's in Christ's works. And what he did for me. Let's look at the book of James, where she's mentioned again, our time is running out. And in the book of James, she is used as an example of faith. Now, isn't it amazing? That here is a harlot that's mentioned all through the Bible. Now, I'm not saying she didn't stay a harlot. We're going to find her repentance in just a moment. You know, God does not condone her sin. I'm not condoning her sin this morning. But I'm exalting God's grace, how God can use someone that's involved in sin just as she was. In James, chapter two. We find James giving a dissertation on the subject of faith as well. And as he's doing so, He speaks about Rahab. In verse 25. Likewise, also was not Rahab the harlot again uses the term justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out Another way, for if the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. What does that mean, anyway, when we read that passage of scripture? Well, he's talking about faith, that's what he's talking about, but he uses works to talk about her justification. It has to do with something like like the. The collection we're taking up for the tornado victims and for what we're doing for them as a church. And I'm not telling you this to get you to give something that's up to you between you and the Lord. But, you know, the James is writing about our faith. And how that you can be a possessor, you can be in possession of faith right now, if you're born again, child of God, this morning, you are in possession of faith. But the only way that anybody knows you have faith. is by using your faith, which we refer to as works. And so if I have faith. And one of you is starving to death. And I say, well, you know, you're starving to death. I'm going to pray for you. And hope that you don't starve to death and you find some food somewhere. That's not faith. Faith is saying, I see you starving to death. I'm going to go get you something to eat. And I'm going to feed you. And that's putting our faith into action. And that's how we exercise our faith, like exercising our muscles. And that's the exact example that James uses here. In verse 14, he says, What does it profit my brethren, though a man say he has faith and does not have works? Can your faith save him? That's not talking about eternally. That's talking about your faith here in this life, overcoming in this world. Overcoming sin, overcoming Satan, overcoming temptation, overcoming falling prey to the false doctrines of this world. And then he says in verse 15, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit? Did it help anybody? Did it help you? No. Did it exercise your faith? Did it show your faith? Did it give God glory? Did it shine your light? Did it do any of those things? No. It did nothing. Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. That doesn't mean it's nonexistent. It means that it is dead. It is unprofitable in your life if you're not using the faith that God has given you by His grace. And so when we're looking at Rahab the harlot, James uses her faith and says, look at the example of this woman. She was in possession of God's faith. But look what she did with it. She didn't say, well, I hope you guys make it out all right tonight. Meanwhile, I'm going to be up in my room packing to get out of this place before you're surrounded in the walls fall down. No, she exercised what she truly believed in. What do you believe in today? Do you believe that there is a God that created the heavens and the earth? Do you believe that there is a Christ who died for your sins? Do you believe that you're an unworthy sinner and that Jesus Christ, because He loved you with an everlasting love, that He died for you? Are you exercising that faith? Are you doing anything about it? Are you trying to shine a light in your life to show that there is a God, that you believe in this God? Are you living up to the life that God has given you? And that's what faith is. We've got all kinds of degrees of light in this auditorium today. Some of you know more about God's Word than others. Some of you are living up to everything you know. But some of you are putting a bushel over your light and you are not living up to what God has already given you. God does not require anything of us that he has not given us, but he's given you light and understanding. Then our by our faith, we live up to what he has given us. And that's all this woman did. You know, we look at these people with those are incredible people in one sense, they were, but they were just normal people just like you and I that walk the shores of time. And that God gave him some light and they lived up to it, and that's all God ask of any of us. Whether we're the worst of sinners or the best of saints, just live up to what God's given you. And I'll tell you, if you just do that, that'll be the greatest thing you'll ever accomplish in your life. As they say, the Bible's not that hard to understand. It's just hard to do what God says in His Word for us. And there are no big Christians. There's no big ones and little ones. We're all sinners saved by grace. All we're doing is walking in the light God's given each one of us, using the gift that God gives us, whether it's to be a preacher or whatever we're supposed to do. Your job may be to come here and occupy a seat on these pews to be an encouragement to somebody else. And if you're doing that and that's what God's called you to do, you're just as important as Rahab or Abraham or Moses or anybody else, because that's what God calls you to do. We don't have to be important people. Nobody's important in God's house except Jesus Christ, isn't he? He's the only important one. But we find that faith blesses us, just a little act of faith in ways we could never imagine. It takes us places we never knew we would go. Well, finally, my last scripture this morning is over in the book of Matthew in chapter one. You know, sometimes you read over in the book of Matthew chapter one, you're reading all these genealogies and you wonder, what in the world are all of those genealogies there for anyway? The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren and Judas begat Phares and Zerah and Tamar and Phares begat Ezram and Ezram begat Aram, Aram begat Amenadab, Amenadab begat Nason, Now, somebody read your family names off this morning. And, you know, they might be reading names like this that might be hard to pronounce and, you know, might be boring. But, you know, you read this, but you come on down through here and you find that Matthew's building a case here, by the way. Jesus Christ, the Messiah that was to come through Israel, was going to be of the line of the tribe of Judah. That means he was coming through the house of Judah. And Matthew is building a case here that our Lord came through Judah, and he's showing the exact genealogy that Christ came through. But the point I'm getting at is you get over here and verse four, Aram begat Amenadab, Amenadab begat Nason, Nason begat Salmon, Salmon begat Boaz of Rachel, I mean, of Rakeb, which is Rahab. You find Rahab mentioned in verse five. Now, you don't find many women mentioned here, as a matter of fact, over in Hebrews 11, there's only two women's name mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 in the Faith Hall of Fame. Rahab and Sarah, the wife of Abraham. And here you only find a couple of women mentioned, and they are not women that we would be proud to talk about in a family circle. One of them is Rahab and the other is Tamar. And I'm not going to tell you about Tamar this morning. You read for that yourself. But she wasn't a very notable character either. But you find that after Israel had marched around Jericho, the walls had fallen down. That is pretty apparent that one of those soldiers fell in love with Rahab. Now, this is a love story, too. If you like love stories, here's a wonderful love story. So here's a woman that was living an ungodly life. And here is one of God's men in Israel that falls in love with her, forgives her for her past. And they have children. And I want you to look at the genealogy of this. Salmon married Rahab and had a child whose name was Boaz. Do you remember Boaz? If you've ever read the book of Ruth, you know who Boaz is. Boaz was the rich man. That married the daughter-in-law of Ruth when she came back. They had a child. Excuse me, married Ruth herself, excuse me, and they had a child who was Jesse. Do you remember who Jesse was? Jesse was the father of King David. Jesse begat David, the king. And David begat Solomon. You see some great kings. Some very notable characters. She was the mother, the grandmother, the great grandmother, the great, great grandmother, and I think if we look at it, be David's great, great, great grandmother, is that right? because she acted on faith. You see the great places that faith can take you, and I told you I was going to tell you about her being a mother this morning. And we find her being the mother of some very notable people because of her faith. But one of the great things that we read of this is we find that in her lineage, we find our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, don't believe that in any way Jesus Christ was Not perfect, impeccable and sinless because of the genealogy he came through. You know, all of us fell on Adam, Christ didn't fall on anybody, his father was God, he is the son of God, fairly the son of God. But yet, as we read on down through here, we read about David and you read the genealogy in verse 16, Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. Who is called Christ, now we understand Jacob was not his Father, the Holy Spirit. Mary was conceived of the Holy Spirit. But yet, if you're wrecking a genealogy, that's exactly the line that you find our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ coming through. So we see that as we begin this morning, we're talking about Rahab the harlot and her faith. And if you would have just read about her back then and said, oh, that's just Rahab the harlot, you've never thought anything about her. But yet through a great trial, Through a trial, through the destruction of her city, she became somebody that's mentioned not only in the Faith Hall of Fame, but in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. I hope that this has been a blessing and maybe an encouragement to you this morning as we've read about her and that we can see that God can use the greatest of sinners in his service. If you're here this morning and you've not made a public confession of Jesus Christ and you'd like to be a part of this church, by letter of baptism, we encourage you to come forward as we stand and sing. Thank you for visiting Harmony Permanent Baptist Church. This has been Elder Neal Phelan, Jr. preaching for regular Sunday morning services.