Lessons From A Prostitute [Lesson 1]

When a person reads the Bible eventually they will reach the book called "Hebrews"...and near the end of the book of Hebrews they will come to a chapter that is the equivalent to the "hall of fame" that we spoke of in the last entry.

As you go through the Hebrew's Hall of Fame...you notice that it is a hall of fame that is noting people for their great acts of faith.

And sure enough...as you get near the end of the chapter [11] you notice that it mentions a prostitute named Rahab...not in a bad way...but in a very good way!

For us to better understand who Rahab is, we will need to go back into history...back into the ancient history book of the Old Testament...back into the book called Joshua...to get a clearer picture of who this woman really was...and what she really did.

We will do that next time...but before we do I need to say a couple things first...

1. Some Christian's try to be more holy than God...

...they work very hard trying to clean up the mess that they think that God left laying around...
...God gives us His inspired word...every bit of it is from His mouth...there is no mess...no clutter...no "unwanted" or "unneeded" stuff that God thoughtlessly forgot to hang up.

If you don't believe me...just pick up a children's bible story book from a mainstream evangelical publishing house...

All the stories have been neutered...all the "bad" stuff has been removed...hmmm....if it was so "bad" I wonder why God didn't remove it in the first place?

And I wonder why He commanded His people to pass these "words" down to their children...?

Let's stop being God's editors...God did not ask for our help...so let's not give it...all right?

2. Chapter 11 of Hebrews tells of people doing great and mighty acts...all of these great and mighty acts flowed from a faith they had...a faith in the Triune God of the Bible...

We are told by this God that "faith" isn't something that we work up from the depths of our inner self...but instead it is a gift that He gives to whomever He pleases.

So the Faith Hall of Fame really is pointing us to the greatness of the God, in whom all these people were trusting in...because all their great acts were actually God working in and for them.

3. God is the only non-sinner in the Bible...in human history for that matter. God in His mercy "saves" sinners...and then in His mercy He uses sinners to do great and mighty acts, in His name...so everyone in the Bible...from the prostitute to the king are only sinners to varying degrees...

...again...everyone except God...this includes the God/man, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

...and God uses these sinners to build His kingdom...a kingdom that shall never end...

Next time we will look at Rahab.