Avoiding the Agony of Achan, Part 1a

Turn me in your Bible, if you would, to Joshua chapter 7. Joshua chapter 7. And tonight we're going to talk about how to avoid the agony of Achan. How to avoid the ag of Achan. So, at the very outset, you need to understand that when we talk about avoiding the agony of Achan. This means that what we hear will be powerful, will be truthful, will be painful, will be useful, will be insightful, but ultimately it will be Delightful. I have to say that at the outset because what we're going to cover, first of all, is the articulation of Aiken's agony.

And then we're going to look at how to avoid Achan's agony. How do we not find ourselves in his predicament? How do we avoid the agony that came upon his life so that we don't experience that? And how do we avoid the agony? Of our sin affecting other people's lives. Maybe you're here tonight and you're in extreme agony because of your sin. I don't know. Maybe your sin has affected somebody else in such a way that they are in ag. We all need to realize what God thinks of sin and how God views sin.

Yes, he treats it harshly in Joshua chapter 7, just like he did in Acts chapter 5. But as Israel was embarking on the land of Canaan and they were the people of God and they were to represent the truth of God to a pagan society, he wanted them to get the message, you got to be a pure people, you got to be a holy people, you got to be a clean people. And he's not going to stand for any sin. Because if you're going to represent me, who is holy, God says, then you can't live in sin and expect to represent me effectively.

So, when you come to Acts chapter 5 in the New Testament, same thing. The church has just begun, and God says, listen, the church has got to be pure, it's got to be spotless, it's got to be blameless.

And if you've got people living in sin, then I've got to send a message to the church, and I to send a The message to those in Jerusalem that I will not tolerate sin, so he killed Ananias and Sapphir because they lied. That 's always God's message. He is holy. And he wants his people to be holy. Because they have to represent him to a lost world. And so, we need to be able to go back and look at Aiken's agony.

How did it all begin? How did it transpire? How did it move from bad to worse? And there are several things I'm going to want you to see. Number one is this: I want you to notice, first of all, his arro.

His arrogance. That's where it all begins. The Bible says over in Joshua chapter 6, God made it very clear, verse number 18.

Keep yourselves from the things under the ban, lest you covet them and take some of the things under the ban. So you would make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. God says, I want to let you know from the outset that you can't take anything that's devoted to me.

When it's under the ban, it's devoted to me. These are the first fruits of the spoils there in Canaan.

They're all mine. There, you can't have them. They 're all devoted to me. If you take them, you'll bring a curse upon Israel. You 'll bring trouble upon Israel. Now, for some reason, Achan didn't think that that applied to him. Some reason, Achan got this idea that he could sin. And get away with it. That somehow he was above the law of God, that he was better than the law of God, or that God's law did not apply specifically to him. He really believed that he was exem from the consequences of the law.

But he was wrong. He was dead wrong. And you must understand that sin at its base level is an arrogant spirit that says, God, whatever you have said doesn't apply to me. I can get away with it. That might be for somebody else, but it's not for me. Or, you know what? I can do it, and I can get away with it because of who I am. Pride and arrogance was that first sin committed, of course, by Satan, who believed that he could be like God.

He wanted to be like God. He wanted to usurp God. And so when he fell, he deceived Eve into thinking that she could become like God. See, we forget that Satan was the first Mormon.

We forget that Satan really believed that he could be God and that anybody else could be God if they just chose to be. But you can't become God because there's only one God. And yet, Eve bought into that deception that there was something missing in her life. She lived in a perfect environment. Because it was created by God. And yet, Satan deceived her into thinking that there was something she was missing. She could be just like the God who created her. And arrogance and pride begins to move us toward rebellion.

And that's why the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3. That you don't put a novice into leadership in the church unless they be ensnared by the devil. They be. Caught in the trap of Satan. That is, they get puffed up with pride and think themselves better than they ought to think of themselves. Folks, we need to sit back and think, okay, where am I? What is it am I doing that I believe I can get away with? That God doesn't see, or God doesn't care about, or that the consequences don't apply to me. Because that's why we sin.

And that's what led Ach to look at the mantle and to look at the silver and to look at the gold and say, you know what?

I want that. I want that. When we sin, at the base level, we are saying, God, what you have given me is not good enough. I can do better than you can. In an essence, that's saying that I am better than God. And I set myself up as God by making that decision. And that was Achan. That was his arrogance. That was his pride. Listen to what the Bible says in the book of Proverbs concerning pride, Proverbs chapter 15.

Verse number 25, the Lord will tear down the house of the proud. God tears down that house. God tore down Achan's house. He died. His family died because of his arrogance. Proverbs chapter 16, verse number 5: Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly, he will not be unpunished. If you are proud of heart, you will be punished, the Bible says.

Verse number 18: pr goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. Proverbs chapter 21. Verse number 2 says, Proud, haughty, scoffer are his names. Who acts with insolent pride? And then in verse 10 of chapter 22, drive out the scoffer, the arrogant man, and contention will go out, even strife and dishonor will cease. That's a perfect illustration of Joshua 7. Drive out the arrogant man, the one who scoffs against the law of God, and dissension and strife will cease. And that's what happened in Israel.

That dissension, that strife, that inner turmoil that they experienced ceased when Achan was removed. The Bible says over in Proverbs 28, verse number 25.

An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper. He'll prosper. See, the arrogant man just stirs up strife. He causes problems. And Achan caused trouble. That's why Joshua said to Achan, Why have you troubled us this day? Why have you caused strife among us this day? Why have you done this to us? It was because he was an arrogant man. He was a prideful man. He believed that his way was best. The Bible says over in the book of Obadiah, a prophecy against Edom.

Edom, they are the descendants of Esau, the Edomites. It says in verse number three, the arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock.

Now, those of you who have been to Israel with me and have been to Petra, you understand the red rose city of the rocks. They're in Petra. That city carved out of stone. The Edomites lived in that city, and they believed it was an impregnable fortress, and they believed that no one could defeat them. And the prophecy to Edom was that you are deceived, you who live in the cleft of the rocks, in the loftiness of your dwelling place, who say in your heart, who will bring me down to earth? You can't bring us down.

Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. God says, I am going to bring you down.

You see, that's the problem with our arrogance. We don't take God seriously. We don't think that God is going to deal with us. We say, yeah, God's not going to go around killing anybody. God's not going to kill us because we stole something. God's not going to kill us because we lied. God doesn't do that kind of stuff anymore, really. Who said? You? That again emphasizes your arrogance by saying God can or will not do this anymore. But it all began with his arrogance. And then, number two, it led to his attraction.

His attraction. Or you could say his appetite. And that is, Ach spells it out for us in Joshua 7. He says, Truly I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle. Remember what the Bible says in 1 John chapter 2?

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pr of life. Why don't you love those things? Because the world's passing away and the lust thereof, but he who does the will of God abides forever. And here was a man who, because of the boastful pride of life, caused great trouble upon his people and his soul. But his attraction, he says, I saw something. And remember, we told you last week, it wasn't just a casual glance. It was that first glance, that second, third, fourth, and fifth glance that turned more into a longing for what was there.

See, his attraction was based truly on his appetite in the depths of his soul. That caused him to continue to look and to continue to lust after that which was not his. It was God's, but he wanted it. That's why the psalmist said in Psalm 119, 37: Turn my eyes from beholding van. Turn my eyes from beholding that which is empty, that which is worthless. He says, I looked at it, I saw it, and it was beautiful to my eyes. It was beautiful to my eyes. Let me tell you something about sin.

Sin becomes beautiful to the eye of the one who has an appetite for the things not of God. Remember what the psalmist said in Psalm 27, verse number 4? The psalmist said these words: One thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek. That I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. You want to know why people don't come to church? It's because they have another attraction. They see something else more beautiful than the Lord.

That's why people don't come to church. There's something else more beautiful to them than the Lord. Maybe the beauty to them is their job. Maybe the beauty to them is their sleep. Maybe the beauty to them is is of a vacation, going away for the day. But there's something that attracts them more than God. There is no excuse to miss church unless you are attracted to something else other than God. That is a whole a cold hard fact For if you're attracted to God and his beauty you're like the psalmist that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold his beauty To meditate upon him.

But if you have another att, if something else is more beautiful to you than the Lord. You don't show up. You examine your life and you ask yourself, what is more beautiful to you than the Lord? Because that's why you move away from the things of God. And here was Achan, who saw something else more beautiful to him than the law of God and what God had said. Oh, I saw it, and it was beautiful to my eyes. And every time I think of this whole scenario about him looking, I'm drawn back to the book of Genesis and I'm drawn back to the man Lot.

Remember him? The Bible says in Genesis chapter 13, verse number 1, that Lot look towards Sodom. That was the downfall of Lot. The look's a killer. I'm telling you, it's a killer. And the reason we look, the reason we're attracted is because of the inner appetite. That's why the Bible says these words over in the book of Mark, verse number 7, or chapter 7, I'm sorry, verse number 20.

That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornication, Thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. The reason a man covets something, as Achan did, the reason he longs for something is because on the inside there is an appetite for something other than the things of God.

And so it moved him away from God. And if you go back and you read Genesis chapter 13, you realize that Lot looked towards Sodom. You see, what happened in Genesis chapter 12? Helps you understand Genesis chapter 13. Because Lot, yes, he went down to Egypt when there was a famine in the land. God had brought Abraham to that great promised land. Remember that? And there he was, and God had given him a great promise that he would be a father of a great nation. But there arose a famine in the land. And Abraham didn't seek after God.

Instead, he just picked up his family and he went to Egypt. Wrong move, bad move. Went to Egypt, picked up Hagar. Well, you the rest of the story, okay? But they didn't seek after God. But Lot also went with him, and Lot got the taste of city life. He got the taste of the world. He got the taste of the good life, in quotes. He got the taste of those things that are appetizing to the world. He got there, and then, of course, they went back. They went back to Canaan. But Lot looked towards Sodom. And as he looked towards Sodom, He longed in his heart for the things of Sodom.

That's surely what he wanted. So, when you read on in the book of Genesis, you come to Genesis chapter 13, verse number 12, he says, And he pitched his tent toward Sodom. So first of all he looked and he looked and he saw something that was just appetizing to him and in his heart he longed for that which was there.

He got a taste of it while he was in Egypt and he longed for it and that's what he wanted. So he began to lean. Towards Sodom. Like the leaning power of Pisa, began to lean towards Sodom. Didn't move into Sodom. Because it was too wicked. But he just wanted to get a little closer to it. So he pitched his tent towards Sodom. He looked. He longed. He leaned. Then once he leaned, the Bible says in Genesis 14, verse number 12, he li in Sodom.

He couldn't stand being on the outskirts of the city, so he moved into the city. He looked, he longed, he leaned, he lived. And after he lived there for a while, the Bible says in Genesis 19, 1, he led in the city.

He became one of the men at the gates. He became one of the leaders of the city. So he now led in the city. And when you come to Genesis 19, verse number 6 to 8, you realize he loved the city. He loved the city so much that he was willing to give up his daughters, to give up his daughters to the men of the city. But although he looked, and although he longed, and although he leaned and lived and led and loved, he ultimately lost. He lost everything. He lost his testimony. He lost his family. He lost his ministry.

He lost his city. He lost it all. And isn't it ironic? That as they ran out of the city, of course, they had to be dragged out of the city because they wouldn't move. So the angel had to take them by the hand and drag them out of the city. Who was it that look back? The wife. All because one man decided to look toward the things of evil. He lost everything. That was his attraction. That was Achan's problem. He went into the city of Jericho. He saw the spoils of Jericho. He looked. He looked again.

He looked a third time. He began to long toward those things in Jericho. And as he began to lean toward those things he longed for, he picked them up and wanted to live with them. And as he lived with them, he fell in love with them. And as he fell in love with them, he would lose not only them, but his own life as well. See, a lot has a testimony about how to lose in life. And it all begins with the attraction. It all begins with the attraction that's based on the appetite of the heart. That was Aiken.

Folks, that's us. Let's be honest. Why do we sin? Because we don't think that God's going to do anything. We think that we're above the law of God. We have a distorted view of God that, you know, He's so graceful and loving and forgiving. It's not going to be a big deal, but it is a big deal. So our arrogance leads us to look toward those things that are not ours. And long for those things that are not ours. And learn to love those things that God says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, but we do.

Tend to move toward those things. And all of a sudden, my world comes crumbling down. And that was Aiken. And that's why we have to look at what led to his agony.

I mean, this was all agonizing, but he just didn't recognize it yet. And I'll show that to you in a second, but it begins with his arrogance, it moves to his attraction, and then it moves to his avarice.

His greed. He goes, I saw, Joshua chapter 7, I saw how beautiful the mantle was from Shin, the 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold, 50 shekels by weight. Then I coveted them. This was the lust of the flesh. This is his avarice, his greed. Remember what the Bible says in Proverbs 15, 27?

He that is greedy for gain trou his own soul. Remember Ach's name means trouble. He was buried in the valley of trouble and Solomon Through the inspiration of scripture, it's almost like a play on words. He who is greedy for gain, as Achan was, he trouble his own soul. Are you greedy for gain? A lot of people greedy for gain. Always want more. Got to have more. Got to do all I can to get more. And you become greedy for gain. And the book of Proverbs says, Listen, if that's your pursuit, it's going to trouble your soul.

It will trouble your soul. It won't put your soul at ease. And here was the man who coveted those things that were not his. The lust of the flesh is that whole desire for those things that are evil. You ever think about covetousness and what it does? You know, we hear a word like covet, and we hear a word like greed, and we kind of pass it off as no big deal. Do that. We always, you know, want something more. There's never enough. Remember, we told you the last time that covetousness is a dissatisfaction with God's destiny for your life.

That's why we covet. We're not happy with what God has given to us. We covet another man's wife because we're not happy with the wife God gave us. We covet another man's house because we're not happy with the house God gave us. We covet another man's job because we're not satisfied with the job that I have. We covet someone else's clothes because. I don't have those clothes, and I want those clothes. We covet another man's or another woman's physique because my physique is not like that. And so we're dissatisfied with God's destiny for our lives, His arrangement for us, and we're saying, in essence, God, you know, your plan for me is kind of like a C plan or a D plan, and I need an A plan.

And that family has an a plan, and I want what they got. And that's covetousness. It's a longing desire for that which is not mine. And the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, verse number 4, that the end times will be marked by people who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God