The Effects of One Man's Sin, Part 2

Turn and mean your Bible to Joshua chapter 7. Joshua chapter 7. And as you're turning, I just want to remind you that I know that this is not a great and popular sermon. I understand that. And yet, my prayer is that through the understanding of Joshua chapter 7, it will promote holiness in your life. Prevent sinfulness in your life. That God will do a great and might work. And tonight, do yourself a favor. When we read the text and we study the text, don't think of anybody else but you. When I study the text, I got to think of me.

I got to think of my sin. And am I willing to deal with the sins of my life so that it doesn't bring a reproach upon the name of Christ or the church of Jesus Christ? That, of course, is the most important thing, and we'll talk about that this even. So we looked at the disobedience of Ach. We looked at the disaster at AI, and we left off with the despair of Joshua. Despair of Joshua. The Bible says we'll pick up the narrative in verse number 6.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell on 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. Joshua went before the presence of God. Remember, the ark of the Lord represents the presence of Almighty God. He went to the ark, he bowed before it, and he just In humility, he would rip his clothes out of a repentant, desperate heart. Let me show you some of his despair by looking at his prayer, because it's quite enlightening to the way you and I go to the Lord a lot of times.

When you finally realize, you know, we need to go before the Lord, we need to cry out to Him. Look what He says, it's quite amazing. He says in verse 7, Alas, O Lord God. Why didst thou ever bring this people over the Jordan only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Now that prayer, the beginning of that prayer, is quite amazing. Because what he does is he questions the providence of God. Have you ever done that in your prayer life? God, why did you bring us? Why did you bring me to this place?

Why did you do this to me? It's almost as if it's God's fault. You ever been there? You ever prayed and said, God, you did this to me, God. You brought me here. God, it was you who led this man into my life, and I married him because that was your will for me. And now look where we're at, Lord. As if it's God's fault, your marriage is crumbling. Or, Lord, you know, we picked up, we moved across the country because we knew that was what you wanted us to do, and we got there, and I lost my job, and there was a car accident, Lord.

You led us here. Why? Well, what are you doing? You brought us here to die. That's what Joshua's saying. Would you bring us over here to be killed by the Am? To be destroyed? He begins to question the providence of God. I don't think necessarily because he was angry. I really believe that Joshua didn't understand what's taking place because he knew Joshua chapter 1. He knew what God had told him in the very first chapter when he said, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now, therefore, ar, cross this Jordan, you and all the people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great sea toward the setting of the sun, will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. So, Joshua already has that guarantee, he's already got that promise.

And now he's saying, well, wait a minute. It didn't quite work out, God, like you said it was going to work out. You see, we automatically bl God. You're going to see in a moment God's going to say, Joshua, get up. It's not my fault. It's Israel's fault. So stop blaming me, Joshua. It's not me. And so many times I think that God wants to say to us, hey, you know what? Get off your knees. It's not my fault. You need to deal with the sin in your life. You need to deal with the sin in your family. You need to deal with the sin in your church.

You You need to deal with the sin in your business. You got to deal with those things first. Because that's where the problem lies. Why do we automatically seek to blame God for disaster? When in reality, for the most part, it's our sin that's brought the disaster. Next thing I want you to notice about his prayer deals with his regret.

Listen to what he says. If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan. If only we didn't, in other words, he's saying, you know, if only we would have not been obedient. Then maybe this wouldn't have happened. See, because they were obedient, they did what God said. God said, The land's yours, go take it. So they're being obedient. They cross the Jordan. They do the Jericho thing. Now they do the next city in line and they're defeated. And he's saying, you know, maybe we should have been disobedient instead of obedient.

Maybe we shouldn't have followed the word of the Lord. You ever been in that situation? And thought to yourself, you know, maybe if I wouldn't have made that decision or done that incident, maybe these things wouldn't have happened. If you go back and read the history of Israel, remember when they saw the Egyptians coming at the Red Sea, what did they say? Exodus 14, verse 12, For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. That was their first response.

Here they are, having been set free from 430 years of bondage, and now they're at the brink of their freedom, and all of a sudden, the Egyptians are coming. And their only response is, we shouldn't have been obedient. Maybe we should have stayed back in Egypt. God does a great work. You know, the partner of the Red Sea. And then you come to Exodus chapter 16, and they're hungry. And the children of Israel said, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt. Would it be that we had died back in Egypt?

At least we would have died fat instead of died skinny. That's in Exodus chapter 16. Then they had a water problem in Exodus chapter 17. And the people murmured against Moses and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle and with our thirst? They were hungry. They were thirsty. Then, of course, when you come to Numbers chapter 14. The evil spies said, Were it not better for us to return to Egypt than to go into the land of Canaan?

Sometimes we say to ourselves, would it be that I had never married this person or never taken this job or never began that ministry? Maybe I would be better off. No. No. When you're obedient to God, God is not the one who causes your sorrow. God blesses obedience. And then you need to understand more about Joshua's prayer because he's a little confused. He says, verse 8, O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? He's a little embarrassed. He's a little ashamed.

What do you want me to say, Lord? I don't know what to say. All I know is that we ran like cowards. We turned our back on the enemy, and you gave us the victory before there was ever a battle, and we ran like scared babies. He was confused. I don't understand, Lord. How often in our troubles do we grope for answers? You ever face a situation where you say, Lord, I don't understand. I don't get it. What has happened? When in reality, a lot of times when we're groping for answers, the answer truly is really right before us.

It's the fact that we have disobeyed our God, we have transgressed the law of God, and are willing to admit it before our God. Like I said, not always, but a lot of times that's the case. But look what his conclusion was about the enemy. He says in verse number nine. 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. See, he knows he knows that their testimony is at stake. He knows that. Our enemies will hear this.

They're going to hear about it, and you know what? It's not going to be good for us. And is it not true that a lot of times we've got to realize that what's at stake is the name of God and our testimony in the community? That's why it's so imperative that the church deal with sin. Why? Because our testimony in the community is at stake. The testimony of your family in the community is at stake. And if you're unwilling to deal with the sin that erupts in that family and corrupts that family. Then your testimony is at stake.

Because people are watching. They're looking. And they're wanting to know what makes your life different than anybody else's. And if you're running hiding from the enemy, if you're running scared from the enemy like Israel did, you're no different than them. I remember the time when my dad gave me the testimony concerning the fact that when he and my mom were married, the night before they were married, my dad was such an alcoholic that he was drunk on the evening of the rehearsal dinner. And my mom was so upset with him.

They had a huge fight that night. And my dad was a chain smok. He smoked so much. And remember when he gave his life to Christ, his testimony was this, he says, you know, Lance, when I gave my life to Christ, I said, Lord, I am an alcoholic, Lord, I am a smoker, Lord, you need to take all that away. And you know what? Immediately it was all gone. He never drank again. He never smoked again. And he used to say to me, My testimony was at stake. He was in the Air Force, and all the guys he worked with.

If he was going to be a testimony, his life had to be different. There had to be a change from what it was before. And he knew that. And the person who led him to the Lord challenged him: Your life needs. To be different than everybody else's, and he gave the alcoholism to the Lord, he gave his smoking to the Lord, and God, in the space of two days, took it all away. He never drank again, he never smoked again. Because he knew his testimony was at st. Do we all know that? Do we understand that? I would pray that all of us would come to grips with the fact that people are looking to see: are we different than everybody else?

Are we just like everybody else? But how Joshua ends his prayer is the highlight of his prayer. Listen to what he says. And what wilt thou do for thy great n? He did not want God to be dishonored. He did not want God's name to be disgraced. He did not want God's name to be defam. He wa his concern was the honor of God. And folks, let me tell you something.

That has to be our great concern. Because if your concern is that you don't get caught, or your concern is that that the consequences aren't too severe, guess what? You won't stop sinning. The only way you stop doing the things that you do is to realize that the name of God is at stake. And people will make their assessment about God, his presence and power and purity based on how they see him working in my life. And if they don't see him working, they come to the conclusion that God is impotent, that God cannot change a life, that God cannot deal with a life.

And Joshua is concerned about the name of his God. And folks, that's the way it should be for all of us. Lord, it's your name that's at stake here. So you go from the despair of Joshua to the denunciation of the Lord. That's point number four. God says in verse number 10.

Rise up. Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Rise up, Joshua. Israel has sinned, and they have transgressed my covenant which I commanded 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 under 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 any more unless you destroy the thing under the ban from your midst.

And then he says down in verse number 13, you cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst. You have no power. You have no ability to do anything for me because of the sin in Israel. Wow. Get up, Joshua. There's always a time to stop praying and start acting. To put feet and flesh to the prayers that we offer to God. And God says to Joshua, you got to get up.

I'm going to tell you what the problem is, Joshua. It's not me. It's not me. It's not because you were obedient to me that you got these problems. It's not because of my plan for you to come to this far and further on in the l of it's not my problem, Joshua. It 's your problem. And you have to deal with it. It's almost as if God is telling a parent, Parent, look, it's your problem. You got to deal with it. You got sin in the camp. You got to deal with it. And so many times, as parents, we don't want to deal with the sin in our family.

Why? Because we're afraid we're going to push our children away. And how many times have I said, listen, if you're afraid, you Going to push your children away, they've already left. They're already gone. If you're afraid you're going to push them away, folks, I got news for you, they're gone. You got nothing to lose. Nothing lose whatsoever. And to him that knoweth to do good and doeth them not to him, it is sin. If you know what you need to do, James says, you got to do it. If not, it's sin. And God says to Joshua, get up.

It's time to arise, Joshua. I'm going to let you know it's not me. It's Israel. And God does something really unique. He describes their sin in great detail. He gives eight different phrases to describe their sin. Listen to what he says. He said, first of all, Israel has, number one, sinned.

They've sinned. They've missed the mark. They have wandered in their own way and walked from my ways. Remember what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53, verse number 6: All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way. God says they've sinned, they've walked away. They've walked away and they followed their way. And God says they have sinned.

Not only have they sinned, but they've also trans my covenant. They have transgressed my covenant. Not only have they walked away, in their walking away, they totally ignored my covenant. They passed by my command as if it never even existed. They treated it as if it made no difference to them whatsoever. They just passed by and ignored what I said. You've sinned, you've transgressed, you've ignored my commandments. And then he says in verse 11: you have taken the accursed thing. You've disobeyed.

You've simply disobeyed what I said. No matter how you look at it, sin is always disobedience. And then he says this. Verse 11. You have stolen your thieves. You have stolen something. I gave a command in Joshua chapter 6, verse number 19: All the silver and the gold are consecrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. And you stole it from me. Folks, let me tell you something.

That's a horrendous thing to do. Whenever you take what is God's and do with what you want with it, you've stolen from him. And then he says, and they've deceived me. They've lived in deception. They've tried to cover it up as if it's not important, as if I'll never find out. And they've deceived. And then, verse 11, they even put it among their own things. You've taken my things and put it with your things. That's sacrilege. That's sacrilege. God says, These are devoted to me, and you take him and you mix him with your things.

He says, You know. You've treated irreverently my things. You treated my things as they're not really important at all. And you've put them together with your things. And that's sacrilege. And then over in verse number one of chapter seven, he says, The sons of Israel have acted unfaithfully.

They haven't been faithful to me. They've acted unfaithfully. They've been disloyal. They haven't been loyal. They have acted unfaithfully. And then he says in verse number 15, these words. Because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel. This is a disgrace. This is an absolute disgrace upon Israel and the people of God. God just denounces everything. Now, think of Joshua. He's saying, listen to all this stuff. Josh's thinking, oh man, what is going on in the camp?

What's going on with the people of God? How did this happen? And God is such a merciful God. He's going to spare Israel by pointing out the sinner. Now, people don't like this part of the story. But listen to what it says. It says in verse number 13, 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 thing under the ban from your midst.

Meaning to say, God's saying, Listen, If you want to stand strong, if you want to be all you can be for me, you've got to remove that which is evil, you got to take care of that which is impure, you got to deal righteously with unrighteousness. And when you do that, you'll stand. You will not fall. Listen to what he says. In the morning, then you shall come near by your tribes. It should be that the tribe which the Lord takes by lot shall come near by families. The family which the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household 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 the Belongs to him because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel. Now, let's say you're aching. You listen to all this. This is your moment to rep. Not tomorrow. Today. But he doesn't. Because you see, he doesn't really believe anybody's going to know. He's got it hidden in his tent. And after all, there's three million people in Israel.

How long is it going to take for us to go through all the tribes and all the families and all the men in those families? That means it going to take forever. They not going to find. Who's going to take time to do all that? This was his time to repent. This was his time to get right with God. God said, could have said, we're going to do it right now.

But God was gracious. God was merciful. Because God was waiting for someone to step forward and say, I have sinned against my God. I have brought reproach upon the people of God. I have brought disgrace upon the name of God. It's me, I have sinned. But he didn't do that. Instead, he was found out the next day. And of course, he suffered an excruciating death. Because he didn't repent. You say, well, wait a minute. Joshua said, rep and give glory to God. Confess your sins. And he confessed his sins.

Yeah, he confessed his sins. All right. But you see, the time to confess it is not when it's been publicized. The time to confess it is the moment you know you've sinned. And Aiken didn't do that. And God is merciful. He who conceals a transgression shall not prosper. He who confesses and forsakes his sin shall find mercy. That's the message of Joshua 7. And God was giving Aiken that little window, that little window of time, to get it right. Remember at the beginning of our sermon, I said, I don't want you to think about anybody else but you.

And I don't know what's going on in your heart. I don't know what's happening in the privacy of your home. I don't know what's going on in your bedroom. I don know what' Not the Olvis, I do not know. And I don't have to know, but your God knows, He knows everything. And God is saying to you tonight, not to your husband, not to your wife, not to your son, not to your daughter, not to your neighbor, not to your friend. He's saying to you. Now is the time to confess your sin. Now is the time to get right with me.

Confess it, forsake it, and find the mercy and compassion of God. And watch what happens in your sphere of influence as a result of that.