Pastor David's Sermons

8/2/08

Joshua Part 4: Troublemakers

We’ve come to the point in our study of Joshua and the children of Israel, where they have just defeated the great city of Jericho, and they have watched the walls of the devil’s fortress crumble, as God’s kingdom advances.

 

Remember that Joshua is a type of Christ.  Joshua and Jesus are the same name.  Both Joshua and Jesus are Captains of their people.  The children of Israel experience victory, conquest with Joshua, and the people of God, throughout the ages, experience victory and conquest with Jesus.

 

Joshua the son of Nun.  Nun means “eternal one.”  There are a couple of very important Joshuas in the Old Testament.  You have Joshua, who led his people from Egypt to the Promised Land, and you have Joshua the High Priest, who led his people from Babylon to the Promised Land, later on.

 

The most important Joshua—Jesus Christ—is leading His people out of this sinful, dark world, to the heavenly Promised Land.  Amen?

 

Pilgrim’s Progress—that classic book written by John Bunyan—is the most translated and read book, besides the Bible.  It’s a great allegory of the Christian experience.  In fact, the main character, Christian, flees from the city of destruction—this world, which is doomed, and he travels to the celestial city—Heaven.

 

You have Jericho—a city of destruction as well—an accursed city.  And God’s people are saved from destruction because they made a covenant with God—a covenant of loving obedience.

 

You and I are saved from destruction, because we make a covenant with God, of loving obedience.

 

Now, the booty or the spoils of Jericho were to be consecrated to God.  Everything in Jericho—both people and things—were accursed.

 

“Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.”  Joshua 6:17, 18

 

This world is on death row.  This world is accursed before God.  The things in the city of Jericho were to be burned, isn’t that right?  Everything was to be burned with fire, but the precious metals were to be saved for the Lord and His purposes.

 

If they were to take anything from the city, except precious metals for the sanctuary of God—it was SIN.

 

“Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, ‘Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho.’”  Joshua 6:26

 

The city was doomed forever.  It wasn’t to be rebuilt.

 

God told them that ALL ISRAEL would be cursed, ALL ISRAEL would be TROUBLED, if they took any accursed things.  That’s why this message in entitled “Troublemakers.”  The Bible says, “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”  Isaiah 48:22  Those who persist in a sin, and hang on to the accursed things, will also be TROUBLED; THEY WILL FIND NO PEACE, NO REST, TILL THEY CONFESS FULLY THEIR SIN TO THE ONE SINNED AGAINST, AND TO THE LORD.

 

We also have to remember that the people of God are a COMMUNITY.  What one part of the community of faith does AFFECTS THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY.  If one part of the Body of Christ is diseased, THE ENTIRE BODY IS AFFECTED.

 

We’re talking about CORPORATE GUILT.  SHARED GUILT.

 

The name Achan means “trouble.”  He was a greedy, covetous man.  The Bible says, In Joshua 7:1,  “But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel.  Joshua 7:1

 

Now, you might be saying, “That isn’t fair!  Why should the acts of one man affect the whole nation?”  But there are lots of times when the actions of one person affects the whole group.  Certainly this is true in the military.  I remember when I was going through my officer basic course for the Army chaplaincy over at Fort Dix, New Jersey, I forgot one time to put my helmet on during a field exercise.  Not only did I have to do pushups for the next half hour, but my whole platoon had to extra PT for an extra half hour as well.  A simple act, or lack thereof, can truly put the entire group in danger, at times.

 

In the business world as well, the actions of one person can drastically affect the well-being and success of the entire company.

 

In America, we are very, very individualistic.  We pride ourselves on it.  We sometimes forget that WE ARE OUR BROTHER’S KEEPER!  WE EXIST IN COMMUNITY WITH FELLOW BELIEVERS!

 

The Lord’s Prayer says, “Lead US not in to temptation.”  “Deliver US from evil”, etc.  When the prophet Daniel was praying before God, he said “Forgive US, FOR WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU.”  Sin can indeed be corporate in nature.

 

When we sin against God, I mean continue in sin, THE BLESSINGS AND CURSES COME INTO PLAY.  BLESSINGS AND CURSES ARE SHARED WITH THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH.  SALVATION CANNOT BE SHARED.  WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE SAVED BY GRACE DOES NOT AFFECT WHETHER I AM.  BUT THE RESULTS OF OUR SINS ARE SURELY SHARED.  THEY IMPACT THE CHURCH, MOST DEFINITELY.

 

We should care about our brother and our sister.  We should care about our husband, our wife.  We should care about how we are influencing the young people.  We exist in community.

 

The Lord had made short work of Jericho.  Israel was moving right on to the next city to be conquered—Ai.  Now, Ai was a relatively small city.  No reason to be afraid of Ai.  In fact, it seemed like such an easy win for them, that they just sent 3,000 men to conquer Ai.  Just a small contingent.

 

“but they fled before the men of Ai.  And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.”  Joshua 7:4, 5

 

Why?  Because of the sin of Achan.  The power of God had withdrawn because of sin and willful rebellion.  God had warned them that the whole camp would be affected.

 

SECRET SIN.

 

Achan stole something he wasn’t supposed to have.  And everybody was affected.  YOUR DECISION TO FOLLOW THE LORD, OR TO COMPROMISE WITH THE DEVIL, WILL RESULT IN BLESSING AND VICTORY ON OTHERS, OR CURSES AND MISERY ON OTHERS.

 

So, as you’re going through your day, and you’re making choices on whether to give in to the devil or to fight the good fight of faith and be obedient, and you’re thinking “what will this mean for me?”  Stop thinking of it that way.  IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT YOU. 

 

Start thinking “what will it mean for Christ and His Church?”  We are all part of the Body of Christ.

 

The people of God could not stand before their enemies, and be victorious, while there was sin in the camp.

 

Just think about how blessed we would be in bringing in our community—in soulwinning—in our personal lives and families—just think how blessed we would be if every one of us was particular about obeying God.

 

If we would get rid of the accursed things that we might have in our lives, in our houses, the things, relationships, and activities that are not pleasing to God—if we would be determined to consecrate to God what belongs to God—what kind of blessings would He pour out on His people?

 

He tells us.  There would not be room enough to receive it all—right?

 

And the converse is equally true.  What kind of curses or lack of blessing do we bring upon ourselves, our families, our church, when we CLING to the accursed things that He has convicted us to let go of?  Are we, by our actions, an impediment, an obstacle to the well-being of others?

 

Let’s read on in our story.

 

Achan.  Secret sin.  Is there really any such thing as secret sin?  There is a spiritual world that is OPEN.  GOD SEES EVERTHING YOU DO.  ANGELS ARE ABLE TO WATCH, TO BE PRESENT, TO SEE EVERYTHING WE DO.  There are unfallen worlds that are watching as well—they may not be able to be as involved as the angels—but in this GREAT CONTROVERSY BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, THERE’S NOT A SINGLE SECRET IN THE UNIVERSE!!

 

We are confined to the three-dimensional.  We figure, if no one can see it with their naked eyes, then nobody knows—right?  GOD SEES EVERYTHING!!  THERE’S NOTHING HIDDEN FROM THE LORD!!

 

We are told in Hebrews 4:13, “All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

 

Moses, in Numbers 32:23, says, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”  YOU NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER GET AWAY WITH ANY SIN.

 

You might say, what about the sins that Jesus forgave me for?  You didn’t get away with it.  Somebody paid.  And not only did Jesus take upon Himself the penalty of our sin—YOU CAN’T SIN WITHOUT HURTING YOURSELF IN SOME WAY.

 

How many of you remember sins that God forgave you of?  You still remember?  They’re painful, aren’t they.  So the idea that you get away with something—YOU’RE KIDDING YOURSELF!!  Nobody gets away with anything.
 

You might be able to slip through a stop sign, or speed without getting a ticket.  You might be able to break a few social or civil laws and get away with it.  But it’s not so with the Law of God.  It can never be broken without consequences.  Never.  Someone’s gonna be hurt.  Someone will pay.  Jesus paid.

 

There’s no such thing as secret sin.  Here, you might be thinking you’re hiding it from all the other mortals all around you.  BUT ALL HEAVEN SEES WHAT IS GOING ON!!

 

You know, there’s a good way to ascertain who is a real Christian, and who is a hypocrite or lost.  A good litmus test is this: WHO ARE THEY TRYING TO IMPRESS?  ARE YOU MORE CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF YOU, OR WHAT GOD THINKS OF YOU?

 

The genuine Christian is not preoccupied with trying to impress those around them.  They are interested with what HEAVEN thinks.  And they live their life based on that criteria—what does Heaven think?  That’s what makes a big difference in their life.

 

THERE IS NOTHING SECRET.

 

Now, after Israel lost this battle at Ai, they began to mourn.  They wondered what happened.  Now, they had only lost some 36 men—you wouldn’t think that’s a crisis.

 

But remember—they had just gotten through with a HUGE victory over Jericho—and then they get SOUNDLY defeated by this little bitty city of Ai.  And they knew they had some pretty ominous, large battles just around the corner.  They thought, “This is going to embolden the other nations and make them strong and brave against us—their FEAR of us won’t be there anymore.”

 

AND SO THEY WERE RIGHTLY DEJECTED, DEPRESSED, AND IN MOURNING.  PTSD—POST TRAUMATIC STRESS SYNDROME—EN MASSE.  “We are vulnerable.  We wanted them to know we were invincible—and now they know that we CAN be beaten.”

 

You know—the strongest Christian can be beaten if there is unconfessed sin in the camp.  Unforsaken sin.  The strongest church can be weakened if there is open and unconfessed sin in the camp.

 

Now, Achan was just a basic sort of dude.  Just a regular guy.  He thought it wouldn’t make that much of difference if he just took one or two little things for himself from the big city of Jericho.  Who would even notice such a small thing anyway?

 

It’s easy to excuse or rationalize away what we consider to be a small, seemingly inconsequential sin.  We stretch things a bit.  We figure that God’s grace must be pretty wide, so we can sort of compromise here and there with the more minor things, and get away with it.  We forget that any departure from the revealed will of God constitutes sin, and is deadly.  Even one tiny, minor little deviation—one little bitty stretch—one little sin by one person would have been enough for the entire plan of salvation to be set in order, and Jesus to perish on a cruel cross for the breaking of His law.

 

God’s will means something.  His Word means something.  It stands fast.  It is unchanging, because God is unchanging.  We dishonor God when we rationalize, when we stretch things, when we compromise with sin.

 

Now, when this defeat at Ai occurred, Joshua tore his clothes, the Bible says, and he fell on his face before the Ark of God, and mourned until evening.  God told Joshua that ISRAEL has sinned.  It’s corporate guilt.  The whole nation is under scrutiny because of the sin of one man. 

 

Reading from Joshua 7, starting with verse 10:

 

So the LORD said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?  Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.  Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.  Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the LORD God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”  Joshua 7:10-13

 

And so God told Joshua that in the morning He was going to narrow it down, starting with tribes, moving to families, moving to households, and finally arriving at the person who was responsible for bringing the accursed thing into the camp.  Very systematic.  God can easily bring to light that which is in darkness, isn’t that right?  MAKE VERY SURE YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT SIDE, MY FRIEND.  DON’T HOLD BACK FROM GOD WHAT IS HIS.  VOLUTARILY PASS UNDER HIS SCRUTINY AND EXAMINATION NOW—TODAY—LET YOUR SINS GO BEFOREHAND INTO JUDGMENT—TO BE COVERED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, JESUS CHRIST.  DON’T BE CAUGHT WITH UNCONFESSED, UNFORSAKEN SIN!!

 

So it was narrowed down to the very man—Achan.  Look at verse 19 and following:

 

Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done:  When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”  Joshua 7:19-21

 

The garment was meant to be burnt.  The gold and silver were supposed to be consecrated to the Lord, for holy use.  Achan had robbed God of what was rightfully His, and he had hung on to the accursed things.  He would be burnt along with the garment.

 

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.  And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD.  Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor.  And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
 Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.  Joshua 7:22-26

 

Achan’s sin not only affected himself.  It brought a curse upon all of Israel.  His sin caused the destruction of his entire family.  PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE DO NOT LIVE IN ISOLATION!! OUR ACTIONS, OUR HOLDING OUT ON GOD, BRINGS DISASTER UPON OUR FAMILIES!  UPON OUR CHURCH!!

 

Achan, his family, his possessions, the accursed things, his animals—all were burnt with fire, and then they were stoned as well.  It was a double sentence.  You might say this sin of presumption brought about the second death.  It stands as a perfect example of how dangerous it is to knowingly continue in a sinful course, when God has shown you that you must surrender to His will.

 

There are eternal consequences associated with presumptuous sins; sins that we keep doing, while convicted, thinking that we will be spared or unnoticed.

 

Right now I would like us to kneel together before the Lord.  Please kneel with me.