Can you think of the last time when someone was merciful to you? This will be different than another person showing you a random act of kindness, for we often mistake grace for mercy. When someone has given you something good which you know you do not deserve, that would be grace. You?ll see gracious people everywhere if you care to look. But what about merciful people, have you experienced someone not giving you something negative or condemning when in fact you did deserve it? That would be what mercy looks like. There is an intriguing story before us this morning that has a double edge of mercy, mercy for the one who knocks and mercy for the one who answers the knock. Turn with me to Joshua chapter 2.

Let's think for a moment about the characters that are set before us.

There are the two spies, apparently novices at this trade. I'm not sure if they were wearing plaid shirts and spandex shorts, but what is clear is that they weren't very good at being secret spies. It appears their ?cover? was blown the minute they entered Jericho , the king knew about their presence within a few hours, Rahab picked up on who they were almost immediately. Was it the river mud on their clothes, the accent of their voices, the type of clothing they wore? we don't know. The two spies had come at the command of their general, Joshua. They had walked the ten miles to the Jordan , crossed over it and then walked the next seven miles to the fortress of Jericho . Coming through the open gate of the city, they found their way to a common rooming house, run by a woman well known to the city.

Rahab the harlot is an intriguing character, a woman who certainly had been a prostitute, though if she still was is uncertain. In fact the evidence that she no longer was is more compelling? the flax on her roof was there to be woven into cloth, a new work. The two spies who came to her home were looking for lodging not a brothel. Likely her past had stuck to her with a description that uniquely marked this Rahab. We know that she had a family of father, mother, brothers and sisters, but no husband nor children. We also know that it was this Rahab who eventually would marry a young man from the Israelite tribe of Judah, a man named Salmon. We know that she would become  the mother of a son called Boaz, who married Ruth. This woman called Rahab would be part of the genealogical descent of both Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus Christ.   Now, the topic of Trusting in Mercy.

I.      We Are In Need of Mercy Because of Who We Are.                                             Who were the spies but enemies of Jericho , who was Rahab but an enemy of Israel ? That's who they were, they were on opposite sides and the bridge to uniting them was mercy. The intent of the spies was to be faithful to the task they were ordered to, even the absolute destruction of the people they walking amongst. If they were caught they would be put to death, that is the price they were willing to pay. Of all the people that they should seek to lodge with in Jericho , they pick Rahab the harlots house. Anyone else would likely have turned them over to the guards. It seems that mercy begins by the providential hand of God directing us to where He will give mercy, though the people He has set there. Rahab seeks to show mercy to those who would destroy her city and kill her countrymen. In our story Rahab is a heroine, if the king were to tell this she would be a traitor. Clearly, the spies needed mercy for they had been detected, they were known for who they were before they even saw it. Clearly Rahab needed mercy, the destruction that awaited her city was certain. There is a parallel here for us isn't there, for we too need mercy. What I mean is that we easily believe that we haven't been detected by God for sin we have done. We think that because others have missed it so has God. But our sin is seen by Him, it has been evident to Him that we were self focused beings from the moment we were born, we were at enmity with God because of that, we were His enemies and in need of mercy. Like Rahab we are in the face of inevitable consequence because of who we are, our sin will call upon us the death penalty. What we need is mercy, what we need is a Savior, even Jesus Christ. We need mercy because of who we all are. There is none who is better than another, by the mercy of Christ we are both saved. Like the scarlet rope that saved the life of the spies, the scarlet rope also saved the life of Rahab. We all need mercy because of who we are in our sin natures. Jesus Christ is our scarlet rope, even His death on the cross for our sin.

II.               We Are In Hope of Mercy Because of Who God Is.                              There are at least three aspects of Who God is that impress Rahab:

1.     He is Powerful ? There is an impressive feeling that comes over you when you experience what ?powerful? can mean. Powerful forces in a storm, in an earthquake, in the birth of a child? these impress us with a sense of awe. God is powerful, God is powerfull, God is power, full. The Red Sea drying up, the defeat of kings, the authority over heaven and earth, Rahab believed in the full power of God.

2.     He is Purposeful ? the nation of Israel had been moved from a place of captivity, to a place of wilderness and transition, to a place that God had purposed for them. The purposes of God, though, are not focused on our experiences or well being'they are focused on the revealing to us of Who He is and the inviting of us to begin to discover the depth of Who He is for all eternity. That is the glory of God and is His (and ours) chief purpose.

3.     He is Providential ? God provides in accordance to what He knows lies ahead. Both Rahab and the two spies know that God had provided this land. He has provided victory over impossible barriers, over armies and flooding rivers, and greater than these, He has provided faith. How many people in Jericho knew about the nation of Israel camped 18 miles away? How many people heard about the miracles that had attended Israel ? I would say that all had. It was Rahab alone that would exercise a faith in the living God, a faith that would save her and would help save those in her family. God provides faith, not just an ability to believe the unseen, but to believe and then act on what you believe. (See Hebrews 11: 31; James 2:25). God enabled Rahab to hear, then to believe and then to act on that belief. The same has happened for you this morning.

III.                       We Are Invited To Trust in Mercy.                                                                        Both those who knock and those who answer the knock had to trust in mercy. So mercy has a human component to it, even to the point of life and death for both parties, and mercy has an ultimate and divine component. Jesus put it like this, ?Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.? Who can you be merciful to but other people, and from whom will you receive the greatest mercy but God. Here's the point, when you are being invited to trust in mercy it is an invitation to trust in doing it as well as in receiving it.

The saving mercy of Christ is contractual. Let me explain. Just as Rahab struck a contract with the spies and they with her, whereby both parties had to obey certain responsibilities, so is the mercy of Christ an agreement or covenant. For Rahab it was a three part covenant, 1. Tie the cord in the window; 2. Stay in the house; 3. Be true to your oath. Mercy was dependent upon the observance of these things. The mercy of Christ for you and I is dependent upon these things: 1. The sufficiency of His blood to pay the price of our sin?Yes it is sufficient. 2. The necessity of being in the family of God by faith that He has forgiven my sin and made me His child. 3. Faith is made alive by action. By these things we know we can trust in His mercy, forever.

Rev. Spence Laycock pastors at Church of the Open Bible, Ponoka, Alberta, Canada.
www.churchoftheopenbible.ab.ca