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

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. And so he'll attack your children. He'll attack your husband. He'll attack your wife. He'll do whatever he can to separate on the inside, to take you apart, to destroy your testimony, to destroy your family. It's not going to be the opposition from the outside. It's going to be the corruption that happens on the ins. And we need to be aware of that because it helps you become more and more discerning in the church.

So that's the disobedience of Achan, which leads us to the disaster at A. This was a disaster. Joshua sends the spies out. Now that's a good thing. It's not a bad thing. He's done that before. He did that with Jericho, right? They sent the spies out and they came back, reported back to Joshua what had taken place so he knew what was going to happen. Now, they knew that God had given them the victory, but that does not negate the fact that you still have to fulfill your responsibility as a believer and a follower of God.

And here was this man, Joshua, who was a leader, who was a military strategist, knew he had to see what the next battle would entail. A was the next town in line. And they were just going to go right down the line. It went to Jericho. Now it's going to AI. Send the spies out there to oversee what was taking place. And they come back. They come back. And I want you to notice the counsel that they give.

Listen to what they say. They returned, verse 3, 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 Ai. Do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few. Now you might think that that's probably good advice. That's good counsel. We don't have to have the whole army go up there. All it needs about 3,000 people. Everybody doesn't need to be involved. Just a few. That's all we need. Now, according to chapter 8, verse 25, there's only 12,000 inhabitants of Ai.

That would mean there was probably somewhere between 2,000 3,000 soldiers in AI. So sp go back and say, all we need is about 3,000 men. That 's all we need. Nobody else needs to be involved. It's okay. We can go up and we can take this city, no problem. But.

The counsel they gave was different than the counsel they gave when they returned from Jericho. For in chapter 2, verse number 2, it says, Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all The land. They came back and said, We know the Lord has delivered this people into our hands. The Lord was left out of their council when they returned this time. You see, they had won a major victory in Jericho. They had seen God do a great work. And you know, one of the things that happens to us is when we see God do a great work, we tend to begin to go out on our own and think we can do it independently of God.

Not that we necessarily have to, but we just tend to do that. And that's what happened with these people. They left God out of the picture. But I want you to know something. God had already departed from Israel. And it wouldn have made a difference if they took 600,000 troops or 10 million troops. They still would have lost. Why? Because it's not about the number of troops you have, it's about whether or not God is with you and God goes before you. That's what it's about. And they had to learn that lesson.

And the council while it might have sounded really, really convenient and really, really good, it was really bad, bad counsel. Because One of the effects of sin is leaving God out of your thinking. Now remember.

Israel knows nothing of Ach's sin. Joshua knows nothing of Achan's sin, and sin has already begun to run its effect in Israel. See, this story is amazing. Because you see, some of you out there have probably committed some sin, maybe even today. Or maybe last week. And yet you do not know that the effects of that sin have already begun to take place in the assembly of the people of God. But that's how sin works, you see. And one of the effects of sin is leaving God out of the thinking process, out of the decision-making process.

And that's what these spies did. You don't have to have everybody involved. Let me tell you something.

Everybody's got to be involved. You will note. You will note that when they go to AI, everybody goes. And from here on out, everybody goes to war. Everybody does. Because God wants you all involved. I mean, it's a very practical scenario when you look at the church.

You know, sometimes we sit back and think, you, we've got so many people serving here and so many people serving there. You all don't need to serve. Yes, you do. Everybody needs to serve. Everybody needs to be involved in the ministry to some degree, some way, somehow. There's never an excuse for you to sit back and stay home and take it easy. And you will note that from here on out, when they go to war, Joshua gathers all the army. And nobody else is standing back again. You're all going to be involved because that's the way God wants it.

God never gives you an excuse not to be involved. He always gives you everything you need to be involved. So the counsel they gave was not the wisest of counsel by no means. Which led to the character of the disaster. Look what it says. It says in the battle accounts, pretty short. It says, verse 4: So about 3,000 men from the people went up there. I mean, they're going up to AI thinking, this is not a big deal. I mean, look what we did at Jericho. That was no problem whatsoever. Sang a few songs, gave a few shouts.

The walls came down. We destroyed everybody in the city. We burned the city. It's cakewalk. No problem. And AI, 12,000 people? Well, small, little, weak city. We can handle the weak city. We don't need to take all of the big bullies with us, the big, strong soldiers. We just take a little bit of them with us. Because we can handle this. We can do this thing. So about 3,000 went up to Ai, and the men of Ai struck down about 3 men and pursued them from the gate as far as Sheb. and struck them down on the descent.

So the hearts of the people melted and became as water. This is Israel looking like cowards, running in fear, scared to death. Oh, we get in and what's going to happen? Being chased, being pursued. And 36 men lose their lives as they begin to run in fear because you see, sin causes man to fear. It causes man to run in fear and hide because he has absolutely no confidence that he can win. And they went with confidence. They went thinking they were going to win, but they had forgotten to include the Lord.

There was no ark of the Lord that went with them. There was no ark of the covenant that went with them. To signify the presence of God going before them in this battle, they just took off and said, You know, we can do this thing, let's go do it. And all of a sudden, the tables are turned. What happened? This was a major upset. This was a major defeat for Israel. Especially after God told them in Joshua chapter 6, verse number 3, that they would slay all the mighty men of valor in Jericho. But sin renders man hel, where once he was dominant.

Sin does not strengthen. Sin weakens. And these men had lost their courage to fight. And they lost 3 m in battle. The wages of sin is death, no matter how you cut it. And these men died. Which leads us to the cause of the disaster. Why is it that happened? Is it because they didn't send enough troops? No. No? But it's part of it. They didn't send enough troops because of the sin. They didn't do what God wanted them to do because of the sin. It says in verse 11, these words. Israel, God says, has sinned.

They have also transgressed my covenant, which I commended them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and 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. Can't stand. You transgressed my law. You transgressed my name.

You have sinned against me. You have demonstrated your unfaithfulness. You see, one man's sin affected. the outcome of a battle. One man's sin affected the spies and their thinking. One man's sin affected the leader. In the promises that he received from God. One man's sin affected everything in Israel. This is an amazing story about how far-reaching sin is. I love what A. W. Pink says when he says, Weigh attentively the statement of verse 12, my reader, for it casts a flood of light upon the reason why the visible cause of Christ is in its present lamentable condition.

What took place at AI has been and is being duplicated in thousands of churches and assemblies the world over. Instead of enjoying the blessing God. His frown is upon them. Instead of overcoming the enemy, they have humiliated or are humiliated before him. How many a minister of the gospel has, to the best of his ability, faithfully preached the word, yet to no effect, unless it be to considerably reduce the size of his congregation How many a one, fearing that he was a misfit, has resigned his charge and has accepted a call to another part of the Lord's vineyard, only to discover after a short time that there That their conditions are just as heartbreaking as those in his previous sphere.

A spirit of deadness rests upon his church. The power of the Spirit is markedly absent. Souls are not converted, nor are they convicted. You see the effects and the casualties and the cause of defeat in Christianity centers around the sins of man. And we want to minimize it. And we want to give excuses as to why we lose, as to why things don't happen as they should. But could it be that the effect of one man's sin permeates an entire church or churches? And some people come back and say, well, you know, there are churches that are growing, there are churches that are afire for the Lord, churches with hundreds, churches with thousands of people in them.

They must be doing some good. They must be doing something for God. God must somehow be blessed. that ministry but very very often man is unable to discern between the effects of Ishmael and the effects of Isaac in the church Both are products, but one was a product of the flesh, and one was a product of faith. Ish was a product of the flesh, of man's own plans, of Abraham and Sarah's design to bring the promised one. Isaac was the one that was conceived supernaturally. Ishm was the one who was conceived naturally.

One in the flesh, one in the spirit. Both were products, but the end result was devastating. And it is to this very day. Because that's the effects of sin. And the Christian needs to be able to discern what is the result of an Ishmael effect versus what is the result of an Isaac eff. In other words, what is there because of the flesh and what is there because of faith? Israel loses. It leads us to point number three: the despair of Joshua.

The despair of Joshua. Verse six: Then Joshua tore his clothes. And he fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening. Both he and the elders of Israel, 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? Joshua did the right thing. He went and fell before the ark of the Lord. Ark of the Lord represents the presence of God. And he went and would beseech his God as to what it is that took place and why it happened as it did. He knew the place to go in the midst of his defeat. He knew the place to go in the midst of his despair. How many people do you know that have gone down to defeat or in the throes of despondency and despair and don't go to church? That's the place they need to be, right?

But they don't go there. Or they don't go to the Word of God and they don't open the Bible and read the Word of God because they need to see what God has to say for them. They are so distraught that they stay home or do nothing or adopt sinful measures to handle their difficulties in life. Joshua knew he had to go to the presence of God. He had to go where God was. For somehow he had to have God communicate to him, God speak to him, God show him what is wrong, what happened. And that's why the psalmist said over in Psalm 120, verses 1 and 2, In my trouble I cried to the Lord, and he answered me, Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips.

From a deceitful tongue. He went to the Lord and cried to the Lord, Lord, deliver me. Over in Psalm 66, verse number 16, come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and he has extolled with my tongue. If I regarded wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard. He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God who has not turned away my prayer nor his loving kind from me. Let me tell you something.

When you go to God, Because of your defeat, because of your despair, because of your depression, because of your misunderstanding what's taking place and why you have been facing defeat after defeat after defeat. God hears your prayer. He does. And he wants to be able to show you what it is that's keeping you from living the life he wants you to live. The great lesson about Joshua chapter 7 is that whenever there is sin and it's properly dealt with, the blessing of the Lord comes upon you. And you need to ask yourself, I've asked myself this question.

What is it in my life that's hindering the work of God at Christ Community Church? What is it I am doing or not doing that's hindering the progress of this ministry? That's keeping it from being all that God wants it to be. If just one person lives with unconfessed sin, if just one person is unwilling to deal with their sin, it will affect the entire ministry of a church. Now the grace of God, the providence of God, God overrides those things at times. But you've got to sit back and ask yourself, listen, what is it in my life that's keeping me from being what God wants me to be?

Is there some secret sin that you have? A secret sin that somehow you kind of put back in the closet that nobody knows about? Your wife doesn't know, your kids don't know, your grandkids don't know, your boss at work doesn't know. Nobody knows. So you think. Here was Ach. Nobody knew except him and possibly his family. But of the three million Jews, nobody knew what he had done. He had in his mind effectively hid it from everybody. Nobody knew. But God did. And it affected Israel tremendously. We don't know The devastating effects upon the church because of our sin.

We don't know until we confess them and forsake them. It was Puritan Thomas Watson who wrote a book entitled The God Man's Picture. In it, he talks about a man's secret sin. It says, or he says. Some are more modest than to commit gross sin. That would be a stain on their reputation. But they will sit brooding upon sin in a corner. 1 Samuel 2, 9, Saul secretly practiced mischief and will not sin on a balcony, but perhaps they will sin behind the curtain. Many carry their sin secretly, like a candle in a dark lantern.

But a godly man, a godly man, dare not sin secretly. Why? Because he knows God sees in secret, Psalm 44, 21. As God cannot be deceived by our subtlety, so he cannot be excluded by our secrecy. A godly man knows that secret sins are in some sense worse than others. They reveal more guile and atheism. The curtain sinner makes himself believe that God does not see. Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark? For they say the Lord seeth us not. Ezekiel 8. 12. Those who have had eyes think that the sun is dim.

How it provokes God that man's atheism should give the lie to his omniscience. He that formed the eye, shall he not sin? Psalm 9. A godly man knows that secret sin shall not escape God's justice. A judge on the bench can punish no offence but what is proved by witnesses. He cannot punish the treason of the heart, but the sins of the heart are as visible to God as if they were written upon the forehead. As God will reward secretly our secret duties, so he will revenge secret sins. Folks, we need to take God a little more seriously than we do, probably a lot more seriously than we do.

And we need to deal with the sin in our lives. I don't know your sins. You don't know my sins. And that's not really important, is it? Because God knows your sin, and God knows mine. And what's important is that we are willing to confess them and forsake them and get our lives right with the Lord God. Because when we cry to him and go to him, he hears. And because of his loving kind and because of his compassion, he floods us with his mercy. Because those who confess and forsake will find the blessing of the Lord, and those who don't won't.

It was Ann Bradstreet who gave advice to her son about living. She wrote a book called Meditations for My Dear Son Simon Bradstreet. One of the things she says Goes as follows That house which is not often swept makes the cleanly inhabitants soon loathe it. And that heart, which is not continually purifying itself, is not a fit temple for the Spirit of God to dwell in. That's good. This mother would give advice to her son. Make sure that your heart is clean. Make sure you confess your sin so you realize that this is the temple of the living God, this is where He dwells.

Does God dwell in your heart with the sin still residing in there? Or are you confessing that sin to Him? So the place he dwells is clean and pure and holy. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the truth of your word and the effects. It has in all of our lives. We pray, Lord, that as a people of God, we would deal with our sin. We would go to you and confess our sin, knowing that you are faithful and just to forgive us all of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You, God, are the only one who can do that.

And you, as a pure and holy Lord, want your people to live pure and holy lives. And Lord, while we'll never be perfect this side of eternity, we can strive to live the kind of life that brings glory and honor to your name. Like Achan, like his name so eloquently says, brought trouble upon the people of God. May we be ever mindful of our sin so that we can confess it and thus not bring trouble. Upon the church of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.