How could God use a harlot to carry out His work? Rahab stands as a prime example of how God can use anyone to carry out His will.

3. Joshua 2:1-18
1 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out
two men from Acacia Grove to spy
secretly, saying, “Go, view the land,
especially Jericho.” So they went, and
came to the house of a harlot named
Rahab, and lodged there.

4. Joshua 2:1-18
2 And it was told the king of Jericho,
saying, “Behold, men have come here
tonight from the children of Israel to
search out the country.”

5. Joshua 2:1-18
3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab,
saying, “Bring out the men who have
come to you, who have entered your
house, for they have come to search out
all the country.”

6. Joshua 2:1-18
4 Then the woman took the two men and
hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men
came to me, but I did not know where
they were from.

7. Joshua 2:1-18
5 And it happened as the gate was being
shut, when it was dark, that the men
went out. Where the men went I do not
know; pursue them quickly, for you may
overtake them.”

8. Joshua 2:1-18
6 (But she had brought them up to the
roof and hidden them with the stalks of
flax, which she had laid in order on the
roof.) 7 Then the men pursued them by
the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And
as soon as those who pursued them had
gone out, they shut the gate.

9. Joshua 2:1-18
8 Now before they lay down, she came up
to them on the roof, 9 and said to the
men: “I know that the LORD has given you
the land, that the terror of you has fallen
on us, and that all the inhabitants of the
land are fainthearted because of you.

10. Joshua 2:1-18
10 For we have heard how the LORD dried
up the water of the Red Sea for you
when you came out of Egypt, and what
you did to the two kings of the Amorites
who were on the other side of the
Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly
destroyed.

11. Joshua 2:1-18
11 And as soon as we heard these things,
our hearts melted; neither did there
remain any more courage in anyone
because of you, for the LORD your God,
He is God in heaven above and on earth
beneath.

12. Joshua 2:1-18
12 Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me
by the LORD, since I have shown you
kindness, that you also will show
kindness to my father’s house, and give
me a true token,

13. Joshua 2:1-18
13 and spare my father, my mother, my
brothers, my sisters, and all that they
have, and deliver our lives from death.”

14. Joshua 2:1-18
14 So the men answered her, “Our lives
for yours, if none of you tell this business
of ours. And it shall be, when the LORD
has given us the land, that we will deal
kindly and truly with you.”

15. Joshua 2:1-18
15 Then she let them down by a rope
through the window, for her house was on
the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. 16 And
she said to them, “Get to the mountain,
lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there
three days, until the pursuers have
returned. Afterward you may go your way.”

16. Joshua 2:1-18
17 So the men said to her: “We will be
blameless of this oath of yours which you
have made us swear,

17. Joshua 2:1-18
18 unless, when we come into the land,
you bind this line of scarlet cord in the
window through which you let us down,
and unless you bring your father, your
mother, your brothers, and all your
father’s household to your own home.

18. Joshua 2:1
Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out
two men from Acacia Grove to spy
secretly, saying, “Go, view the land,
especially Jericho.” So they went, and
came to the house of a harlot named
Rahab, and lodged there.

19. • God isn’t concerned about who
you have been but who you can be

20. She was an Amorite whose iniquity was
finally “full” (Genesis 15:16).
“They were grotesquely violent, totally
depraved, thoroughly pagan culture so hell-
bent on pursuit of everything evil that God
himself had condemned them and ordered
the Israelites to wipe them from the face of
the earth (Deut. 20:17).” ~ John MacArthur

21. • She was a prostitute, selling herself to the
most wicked men in that already-wicked
city.
• She epitomized the vileness of the
Amorite culture . Her whole life had been
devoted to the profane pursuit of the
carnal.
• She profited well from her sinfulness.

22. • Name other biblical characters who had a
past that would seemingly disqualify them
from serving God in their capacity?

23. Ephesians 2:1-7
1 And you He made alive, who were dead
in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you
once walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit who now
works in the sons of disobedience,

24. Ephesians 2:1-7
3 among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh
and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because
of His great love with which He loved us,

25. Ephesians 2:1-7
5 even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ (by
grace you have been saved), 6 and raised
us up together, and made us sit together
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

26. Ephesians 2:1-7
7 that in the ages to come He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace in His
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

27. • God isn’t concerned about who
you have been but who you can be
• Faith in the true God changes us

28. Joshua 2:3,4
3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab,
saying, “Bring out the men who have
come to you, who have entered your
house, for they have come to search out
all the country.”

29. Joshua 2:3,4
4 Then the woman took the two men and
hid them. So she said, “Yes, the men
came to me, but I did not know where
they were from.

30. Joshua 2:8-11
8 Now before they lay down, she came up
to them on the roof, 9 and said to the
men: “I know that the LORD has given you
the land, that the terror of you has fallen
on us, and that all the inhabitants of the
land are fainthearted because of you.

31. Joshua 2:8-11
10 For we have heard how the LORD dried
up the water of the Red Sea for you
when you came out of Egypt, and what
you did to the two kings of the Amorites
who were on the other side of the
Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly
destroyed.

32. Joshua 2:8-11
11 And as soon as we heard these things,
our hearts melted; neither did there
remain any more courage in anyone
because of you, for the LORD your God,
He is God in heaven above and on earth
beneath.

33. Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is
no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself for
me.

34. • God isn’t concerned about who
you have been but who you can be
• Faith in the true God changes us
• We can have an enduring legacy

35. Joshua 6:25
And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot,
her father’s household, and all that she
had. So she dwells in Israel to this day,
because she hid the messengers
whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

36. Matthew 1:5,6
5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz
begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,
6 and Jesse begot David the king.
David the king begot Solomon by her
who had been the wife of Uriah.

37. Hebrews 11:31
By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish
with those who did not believe, when
she had received the spies with peace.

38. James 2:21-25
21 Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he offered Isaac his son
on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was
working together with his works, and by
works faith was made perfect?

39. James 2:21-25
23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which
says, “Abraham believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness.”
And he was called the friend of God.
24 You see then that a man is justified by
works, and not by faith only.

40. James 2:21-25
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also
justified by works when she received the
messengers and sent them out another
way?

41. • God isn’t concerned about who
you have been but who you can be
• Faith in the true God changes us
• We can have an enduring legacy
• We are also saved by the “Scarlet
Cord”

42. Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, and let us reason
together,” Says the Lord, “Though your
sins are like scarlet, They shall be as
white as snow; Though they are red
like crimson, They shall be as wool.

43. Romans 5:8,9
8 But God demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more
then, having now been justified by His
blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him.

44. Ephesians 1:7
In Him we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of His grace …

45. • God isn’t concerned about who
you have been but who you can be
• Faith in the true God changes us
• We can have an enduring legacy
• We are also saved by the “Scarlet
Cord”