Courtney Gilmore The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.
Joshua 2:11
When Rahab met the Israeli spies, she professed her faith in their God. She even called Him by the personal name of Yahweh. She protected them because she feared their God much more than she feared the king of Jericho.
Everyone for miles around had heard everything God had done for the Israelites since they left Egypt. They knew He had parted the Red Sea for them to cross, and that He drowned the Egyptian army by pouring the water back over them afterwards. They also heard how the Israelites had defeated the nations east of the Jordan River, and those in the west were afraid of them. But, instead of confessing their fear and acknowledging that Israel’s God was too powerful to beat, everyone but Rahab resisted.
Rahab had no faith in the gods of Jericho or the power of the people, but she believed that Israel’s God could save her. Because she placed her faith in Him, He did save her. But everyone else resisted Him and fought a war that they couldn’t win. Rahab was a prostitute from a foreign land, yet God saved her because she put her faith in Him, joined His people, and made Him her Lord.
God is in the Business of Saving Sinners
Jesus also encountered a sinful woman as He sat down to eat with some of the religious people. This woman cried and kissed His feet as she anointed them with oil. When the self-righteous men rebuked Him for allowing such a sinful woman to touch Him He replied:
I entered your house and you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.
Luke 7:44-47
Then He turned to the woman and said:
Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.
Luke 7:48, 50
They rebuked Jesus another time for eating with tax collectors and sinners and He said:
Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.
Mark 2:17
Saved Through Faith
God has always revealed Himself to the world through His people. He is not exclusive. He wants everyone to know and follow Him. Some recognize Him for who He is, but they resist Him and fight against His people. These people will not find salvation. But those who recognized Him as the Almighty, One and only, true God and choose to place their faith in Him, will be saved.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We all need saving and we all receive salvation in the same way.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8
Rahab was a foreign prostitute. Very likely, so was the woman that Jesus forgave of her many sins. Tax collectors were cheats that prayed on vulnerable people for their own benefit. No one’s sin is too great to be forgiven. So, when God reveals Himself to us, we can either resist Him or place our trust in Him.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. The Scripture say, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:9-13
Links
This is an excerpt from “Your Faith Has Saved You” taught on Podcast and YouTube and as a written on Substack. Read the beginning of the lesson for free on Substack or in its entirety, along with over 25 previous lessons, for $6/month or $60/year. Once subscribed, you’ll receive one lesson each week thereafter.
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