The Effects of One Man's Sin, Part 1a

Joshua chapter 7 is where we're at this evening. Joshua chapter 7. Tonight we're going to talk about the most unpopular topic there is, and that is sin. Let me.

Share with you how one man describes sin. He says, Sin stains the soul, it degrades a person's nobility, it darkens the mind, it makes us worse than animals for animals. Cannot sin. Sin pollutes, defiles, stains. All sin is gross, disgusting, loathsome, revolting in God's sight. Scripture calls it filthiness in Proverbs 30, verse number 12, and Ezekiel 24, verse number 13. Sin is compared to vomit, and sinners are the dogs who lick it up. Proverbs 26, 11, 2 Peter 2, 22. Sin is called mire, and sinners are the swine who love to wallow in it.

Psalm 69, 2, 2 Peter 2, 22. Sin is likened to a putrefying corpse. And sinners are the tombs that contain the stench and foulness. Matthew 2, 2. Sin has turned humanity into a polluted, befouled Race. That pretty much describes what sin is. Sometimes we like to categorize our sins, thinking, well, there are big sins and then there are little sins. There are sins that really matter to God and sins that really don't matter to God. But all sin matters to God. And therefore, we must come to a place in our lives where we learn to hate sin.

Psalm 97:10 says, You who love the Lord hate evil. Need to come to a place in our lives where we hate that which is evil because we love the Lord. Proverbs 14, verse number 2 says, He who walks in his uprightness fears the Lord. But he who is crooked in his ways despises him. If you're crooked in your ways, if you're not upright in your ways, you demonstrate the fact that you despise the God of the universe. But if you are upright in your ways, walking according to the law of God, then you demonstrate that you love The Lord God, and you fear His name.

The message about sin certainly is not popular, but very pertinent to the needs of man. And Joshua chapter 7 is a chapter about sin in the life of one man. And how it affects a whole nation. So, let me read to you the story.

It might be a familiar story to some of you, to others, it might be completely new. But it's a story that tells us about sin and its effects. Joshua chapter 7, verse number 1. But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban. Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth, east of Bethel, and said to them, Go up and spy out the land.

So the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, Do not let all the people go up. Only about two or three thousand men need to go up to A. Do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few. So about 3,000 men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about 3 of their men. and pursued them from the gate as far as She, and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth, on his face before the ark of the LORD, until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why didst thou ever bring this people over the Jordan? Only to deliver us into the hand of the Am, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan. O Lord, what can I say, since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth.

And what wilt thou do for thy great name? So the Lord said to Joshua, Rise up. Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them, and they have even taken some of the things under the ban, and have both stolen. And they are deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. Therefore, the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed.

I will not be with you anymore. Unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst, rise up, consecrate the people, and say, Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord the God of Israel has said. There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst. In the morning, then, you shall come near by your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which the LORD takes by lot shall come near by families.

And the family which the LORD takes shall come near by households, and the households which the LORD takes shall come near man by man. And it shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him. Because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel. So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel nearby tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zarah, and he brought the family of the Zarah near, man by man, and Zabdi was t And he brought his household near, man by man, and Ach, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zarah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken.

Then Joshua said to Achan, My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to him, and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. So Achan answered Joshua and said, 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 from Shin, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold, 50 shekels in weight, then I coveted them. and took them, and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath it.

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was concealed in his tent, and or excuse me, with the silver underneath it. And they took them from inside the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord. Then Joshua and all Israel with him. took Ach, the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that belonged to him, and they brought them up to the valley of Ach.

And Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned them with stones, and they burned them with fire. after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones, that stands to this day. And the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Ach to this day. Quite a story, isn't it? Makes you want to go home and confess your sin. Make sure nobody else finds out about it.

It's interesting how God told them to deal. With the sin in the camp. Tonight, I want to begin by talking to you about the disobedience of Ach. And I want to move from the disobedience of Achan to the disaster at AI. And Lord willing, begin to look at the despair.

Of Joshua. Those are our first three points as we begin our study on sin and its effects. The effects of one man's sin. Upon an entire nation. Notice how the chapter begins.

It begins with but. We call them but because it tells us about the greatest theological truths known to man. They give us a great contrast between what was and what is, what was before and what is now.

You must realize that the first six chapters of Joshua are all about victory. It's all about winning. It's not about losing. It's all about seeing the hand of God move in a great and strategic way with the people of God. It's all about the blessing of God. But something happens, something changes all that. And therefore you need to understand that what takes place in chapter 7 is absolutely unique. In fact, it is so unique, this is the only loss. In Israel's campaign in the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua.

Under the five to seven year campaign where Joshua would lead these people into the land of Canaan, this is the only time they lost, and this, listen, is the only time. There were casualties. Now you think about that. There is no recorded casualties in any other battle they face or fight. But this one. There are 3 men who die. 36 men out of 3,000. And if it was us, we'd think, well, that's not bad odds. I mean, we got 3,000 guys going to war. Only 36 of them die. That's not too bad, right? Unless you're the wife of the man who died, or the son or daughter of the father who was killed in battle, and then it's a big deal.

But to God, it was a huge deal. To Joshua, it became absolutely mammoth to him. Because he was told in chapter 1, the land was theirs. Only be strong and be courageous. Everywhere your foot treads, you shall win. It shall be yours. Just be strong and courageous. Obey me. So Joshua only knows victory. He only knows they're going to win. I mean, it's like, you know, you're going to go into the game tomorrow, and you know you're going to win because God already said you've won. And so, you don't fear losing, you just want to know what the score is going to be.

Well, you won't know that until the game is over, right? And so, they're going in knowing they're going to win every battle, and then all of a sudden they lose one. How does that happen? How is it when God promises victory, I lose? And this is the good application for us. You know, we go to battle and we expect to win. After all, we are overwhelming conquerors to Him who loved us. We expect to win every battle, and all of a sudden we lose one, or two, or three, or four. and we can't understand why we're losing.

How is it I've lost? How is it I'm not gaining the upper hand? How come I'm still in the same predicament, the same situation, facing the same problems I was the day before that and the day before that and the day before that? How come things aren't changing? Joshua 7 gives you the answer. And Joshua 7 opens up to us some of the scenarios that takes place. That causes us to lose the battles that we face. So it begins with that great big but.

But look what it says. It says, But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban. For Ach, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban. Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. Now, what is the thing that's under the ban? Well, go back to Joshua chapter 6. And it says in verse number 17, and the city shall be under the ban. It and all that is in it belongs to the Lord. Only Rah the harlot and all who were with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers from whom we sent.

But as for you, only 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. But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord. They shall go into the treasury of the Lord. So. Israel knew that Jericho was under the ban. Jericho was the first fruit of their victory.

And therefore, it would all belong to God. Everything in Jericho was his. He could do whatever he wanted to with it. So they killed the inhabitants of the city. They burned the city. They kept some of the treasury for the Lord to put in. For him, they were under the ban. It was all God's. And God tells Joshua, and Joshua tells the people, you can't touch. What's in Jericho, it's God's. You know, we forget that everything we have is God's. Everything. There's nothing that we had that's not God's. He owns it all.

And when you mistreat and misuse and abuse the things that God gives you. You have violated a basic principle of stewardship in Scripture. God never looks favorably upon that. And here was a man named Ach who decided to take some things that were devoted to God. When it's under the ban, it means it's set aside and devoted to God. And Ach saw, and what he saw he coveted, and what he coveted after he took. And he hid it in his tent because that's what he wanted. And this would bring great despair and despondency to Joshua.

Because sin does that. Sin creates great sorrow. And Joshua would face a sorrow unlike he had ever faced before because he had been promised victory, he knew not defeat. He knew that if you followed God, everything would come out the way God promised. But all of a sudden, something happened. There were casualties of four. His soldiers run away from those in AI. And he's despondent. He doesn't get it. He doesn't understand it. And yet, and yet what has happened is that there's sin in the camp, and Joshua doesn't even know it.

He doesn't even know it. He doesn't know what's happened yet. He has to go to God to ask God because he doesn't know what has taken place. And so we got to understand that sometimes there are things that take place in our lives that we never understand, and yet, because there has been sin in the camp, it affects everybody. In the church, as leaders, as elders, we pray, we plan, we prepare to accomplish a great work. For the Lord. And we set that work in motion, and it doesn't go as we thought it would go.

Sometimes we ask to ask the question, why is that? A lot of times, it's because there's sin in the camp. And that sin in the camp hinders the progress and the work of God. And we need to understand that one little sin destroys. Ecclesiastes 9. 18, one sinner destroys much good. One sinner destroys much good. Remember, way back in Genesis chapter 12, when Abraham almost lost his wife because of his sin? Remember way back, I think it's 2 Samuel 24, where God told David, do not count your soldiers. And David just couldn't resist the temptation, and he took a census, and 70,000 soldiers were killed.

Because he sinned against God. When Jonah sinned against God, he almost sunk an entire ship. And that's why the Bible says in Hebrews 12 verse number 15 these words Hebrews 12 verse number 15 The church must look diligently upon sin, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause tr.

Ach's name means trouble. He was buried in the valley of trouble. And we have to make sure that in the church, root of bitterness doesn't spring up within the church because it causes an aching-like experience. A troublesome experience, just like Achan caused in the nation of Israel. And so we begin to realize that this was an incredible thing. Now, look what the text says. The text says very clearly these words. The sons of Is act unfaithfully. Oh, wait a minute. I thought it was just Achan who sinned.

Why is it God says that the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully? Why is God blaming everybody for the sin of one man? Because God looks at his people as a unit, the people of God. And he shows and emphasizes that that one person who is a part of that unit affects the entire unit. That's why the Bible says in Matthew chapter 18, when you know your brother has sinned, you are to go to your brother in private and confront him, right?

And if he repents, you've won your brother. If he doesn't repent, then you go with two or three other witnesses. If he repents, you've won your brother. If he doesn't repent, then you tell it To the church. Why? Matthew 18 is the very first instruction that God gives to the church.

And the church hasn't even been born yet. That's not till Acts chapter 2. But the very first instructions that God gives to the church is this: you got to make sure you deal with sin before you do anything else in the church.

Before you have a music program, before you have a youth program, before you have any kind of program in the church, before you have any kind of ministry in the church, make sure that you deal with sin first First, because if you don't deal with sin first.

it will ruin every program and every ministry in your church. See that? That's why you got to go to your brother when he sins. You see, Satan wants to destroy the church. Satan can't conquer the church from the outside, so he's got to corrupt the church from the inside. You understand that, don't you? Because he can't conquer from the outside, he's got to work on you and me on the inside and destroy it from the inside out. Remember back in Acts chapter 5? Acts chapter 5, there's another one of those but in Scripture.

Acts chapter 5, verse number 1. But, you see, there's another one. You got to go through your Bible and just circle all the butts in the Bible and then do a great study on all those buts and realize the contrast that God is trying to bring out to help teach you great and valuable lessons. But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapph, sold the piece of property and kept back some of the price for himself with his wife's full knowledge. And bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet.

But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard it. And the young men arose and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.

That's amazing. Great fear came upon all who heard it. Why? Because all the guy did was tell a lie. It wasn't a big deal. It wasn't even a big lie. And after all, he gave to the church. It wasn't like he held back the proceeds from the sale of property and kept it for himself. He gave to the church. He was a good giver in the church. But he lied about how much he sold the property for. And Peter says, Why has Satan filled your heart? He lied. He died in church. I mean, how does that going to bring the unbeliever to church, right?

I mean, who's going to want to go to that church? If you go to that church there in Jerusalem, man, you're going to fall over dead if you die. Let's stay away from that church. But great fear came upon the people. And then it says this. Now there elapsed an interval about three hours. His wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her. Now, why has it been three hours? Because Sapphire was shopping. She was shopping with the proceeds, man. She was at the mall. She got this nice little hat, you know, and she got this nice little skirt, and she's all dooded up, and's ready.

To go, and she comes walking to church all fine and dandy, thinking, Man, this is great. I can go to church now, and I can look good when I go to church. She gets to church and she faces Peter. And it says, Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price. And she said, Yes, that was the price. Then Peter said to her, Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold! The feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well.

And she fell immediately at his feet. and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead. And they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things. Absolutely. And it says in verse number 13 or 12, but at the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were taking place among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico, but none of the rest dared to associate with them. However, the people Held them in high esteem.

Nobody wanted to be with them, but they certainly respected them because they dealt with sin. And God sends a message to the early church. You know what? If you're going to worship me, you've got to worship me in spirit and in tr. You can't be a liar. You can't have sin dominate your church. Now that's a pretty loud message. But God wants you to understand that what your church needs is not more programs. What your church needs is not more retreats. What your church needs is not more mission st. What your church needs is a holy people.

That's it. A holy people. Committed to serving a holy God.