The Effects of One Man's Sin, Part 3

You the Bible uses one word more than any other word to describe our Lord, and that is he is holy, holy, holy. When the angels sing praises to the name of God in heaven, it's always centered around his holiness. It's always about how holy God is. And today, in modern Christianity, we don't preach much on the holiness of God. And because we have minimized God's holiness, we minimize man's sinfulness. And when you minimize man's sinfulness, you minimize the greatness of the cross. You see, man sees his sin when he understands the holiness of God.

When God's holiness is not preached and not put on display, man doesn't see his sin clearly And that's why when the angels say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, they are emphasizing the fact that He is completely separate from His creation. He is completely separate from the angels. He is completely separate from us as humans. He is separate from creation. And not only is he separate from creation, but he is Completely separate from any corruption. And it emphasizes throughout the scripture the character and nature of our God, that he is so pure and so holy and so clean.

He has no room for evil, no room for sin. And he doesn't tolerate sin in the lives of his people. And yet, so many times we think because God is a God of love and grace and mercy and forgiveness, which He is, we tend to think that we can just go ahead and sin and it's okay. But it's never okay to sin because whenever you sin you violate the holy standard you come against the holy God The Bible says in Psalm 99, verse number 1, the Lord reign.

Let the people tremble. I don 't see too many people trembling because our God is sovereign. The Bible says the Lord reigns, let the people tremble.

Then it says he is enthroned above the cherubim. Let the ear sh. I don't see too many people worried about God's great and awesome character. So much so that they are beginning to shake at his presence. Our God is a holy God. And he does not stand for his people that he calls to be as holy as he himself is holy. The Bible says that in Leviticus, it says that in the book of 1 Peter, that we are to be as holy as our Father in heaven is holy.

When we act in unholiness, God must deal with us. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs chapter 6 verse number 12, A worthless person, a wicked man, is the one who walks with a false mouth, who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who points with his fingers.

who with perversity in his heart devises evil continually, who spreads strife. Therefore his calamity will come suddenly, instant he will be broken, and there will be no healing. The book of Proverbs describes the evil man, the wicked man, and warns that man that there one day will be a fall and there will be no healing. The Bible says very clearly in the book of Numbers, the 32nd chapter or 23rd verse, Be sure your sin will find you out.

In other words, your sin will be found out. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week or next year, or maybe not even for a few decades from now.

But your sin will always be found out. It will always be made manifest. Because God will see to it that his children will never sin successfully. Ach was a man who thought he could sin successfully. He really believed taking a little bit of silver. Little bit of beautiful articles from the city of Jericho that no one would notice and no one would care.

But God noticed. And God cared. Because God said, don't take anything from Jericho. Don't take anything under the band because those things are devoted to me. All the silver, all the gold, all the articles that are there are all mine, God says.

They're devoted to me. Therefore, you can't touch them. But Aiken somehow thought that that didn't apply to him. It applied to everybody else but him. You ever been in that situation? You know, the speed limit says 65. Well, that applies to everybody else, but me. I'm in a hurry. I've got to get to where I need to be. See? We tend to think that we are exempt from some of the laws, but we're not. And Aiken felt that somehow he had an exemption clause. And that somehow he could do what he wanted to do without any repercussions.

And so we saw in Joshua chapter 7 the disobedience of Achan. And that disobedience led to God saying that Israel had sinned against me. And then we saw the disaster at AI. When the men went to battle with 3,000 men and 36 of them were killed and they ran in fright, they ran in fear. Their hearts melted. They acted like unbelievers and not like believers because there was sin in the camp. And the sin of one man had affected an entire army. And Is lost the battle when they were told by God that he would be with them and they wouldn't lose.

That he was the conqueror, and they would obtain every part of the land their foot or feet would trod upon. Yet they lost, which led to the despair of Joshua. What happened? How can that be? How is it we can lose a war? We are the people of God. And how is it we can go down to defeat to a very small, little enemy? How can that happen when we already defeated a great enemy in Jericho? And God says, as he denounced him.

The nation of Israel. He said, Israel has transgressed my laws. Israel has disgraced me. Israel has deceived me. Israel has sinned against me. Israel has trespassed. Against me. Israel has been deceitful. Israel will no longer win. As long as sin rem unpunished. And so, Joshua soon realized that sin had to be taken care of. And so, in our lesson this evening, we're going to see how that sin was discovered. The discovery of Achan's sin. And from that discovery, we're going to look at the death of Achan.

And then next week, we're going to look at some of the decisions that you and I need to make so that we don't fall into ach-like sins.

That's where we're going. If you got your Bible, Joshua chapter 7, I want to pick it up in verse number 16. So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought the family of Judah near. He took the family of the Zarah, and he brought the family of the Z near, man by man. And Zad was taken. And he brought his household near, man by man, and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zebdai, son of Zerah, 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, Sure I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did. When I saw among the spoil, Beautiful mantle from Shin, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold, fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted. them and took them. And behold, they are concealed in the earth, inside my tent, with the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran into the tent, and behold, it was concealed in his tent, and 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 the Israel with him took Achan, 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 Achor. 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 Achor to this day. The discovery of Achan's sin. This story centers around the fact that they would draw lots. Each tribe, one of the members from each tribe, would gather together and they would draw lots. And the Bible says over in the book of Proverbs, the 16th chapter, the 33rd verse, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole decision thereof is from the Lord.

So the lot would be cast. And the lot would fall on the tribe of Judah. The lot in the tribe of Judah would be cast, and the lot would fall on a certain clan, a certain family. A certain man, and on down the line it would go. And Achan would sit back and he would watch all this. It's almost as if God would point his finger very slowly at Achan. But it's interesting to note how all this transp. And how this whole thing came about. Why is it God didn't just say to Joshua, listen, there's a problem in the camp, it's Ach.

He 's a real problem anyway. He stole some things from Jericho. Deal with him. Why didn't God just tell Joshua who it was? Why do they have to go through the whole drawing of lot thing? Very simple. God was extending his grace. Exposing the guile of Achan. God was extending his grace. You see, Achan had the opportunity to repent of his sin. This is very important. God said, You can't take anything under the b. He did. So God said, Tomorrow, this is what we're going to do. Consecrate yourselves. This is earlier in Joshua chapter 7.

Consecrate yourselves because tomorrow we're going to cast the lot. We 're going find out who this person is. Achan could have come to Joshua's tent that night and said, Hey, Joshua, don't go through all that on the guy. Guy, I'm the guy. I've sinned. It's my fault. You see, God was extending his grace to Achan, giving him an opportunity to repent. Because our God is a forgiving God. He's a saving God. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. None whatsoever. God doesn't want people to be killed.

He doesn't want them to die. That's not his desired will. It happ because the wages of sin is death. But he didn't want it to happen to people. He wants them to come to him. He wants them to repent of their sin. He wants them to get right with him. And so he gives Ach that wonderful, glorious opportunity to turn from his sin. But he doesn't. What must have been going through his mind? If you turn over to Psalm chapter 10, it says this. Verse 3: For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns the Lord, the wicked in the haughtiness of his countenance.

Does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. His ways prosper at all times. Thy judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says to himself, I shall not be moved. Throughout all generations, I shall not be in ad. Verse 11. He says to himself, God has forgotten. He has hidden his face. He will never see it. Verse 13. Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said to himself, Thou wilt not require it. See, the wicked man just doesn't believe that God's going to find things out.

The wicked man just doesn't believe that God's going to deal with the sin. The wicked man just doesn't think there's even a God that exists. God's not going to deal with me. God doesn't care about me. It's not a big deal. I can go through life and never experience adversity from God because. There is no God. And maybe Aiken's thinking, it's not going to happen. There are three million Jews. There is no way they're going to find out it was me. Can you imagine how much time it's going to take for them to finally put their finger on me?

I'll be dead before they ever figure out who I am. But it happened very quickly, see because as the dice was rolled, it slowly but surely came down to one man out of three million people. Agan was the guy. But God just kept extending his grace. Even if he would have repented and said, after it fell on the tribe of Judah, maybe he was thinking, I just got lucky. They just got lucky. They're not going to know what family I'm from. They're not going to get it. Then it fell to his clan. Then it fell to his family.

And then it made its way down to him. God was extending his grace. All he had to do was say, You don't need to go any further, Joshua, on the guy. Of his own volition, his life would have been spared. He didn't. He only repented when he got caught. And that's not repentance. That's not confession. That's not true heart repentance. That's just well, I got caught, so I guess I to own up to it. I can't get around it. And that's what God was doing. Not only was he extending his grace, but he was exposing Achan's guile.

He wanted everybody to see the hardness of his heart. God wanted everybody to know because they were all going to have to kill the guy. I mean, to stone somebody, that's a pretty brutal way to die. You know, if you were to be stoned, I mean, if you want to go, you know, get shot in the head. I mean, that's the quickest, fastest way to go, and then it's over. Okay? But to take stones and begin to pummel people with them, it takes, you know, quite a. Quite a while. You don't automatically die at the first stone that hits you.

And so God knew that the people were going to have to stone him. They had to see the condition of his heart. That he refused to repent. His heart was not tended to the voice of God. It wasn't tended to the things of God. It was hardened to the voice of God. It was hardened to The leadership of Joshua. He concealed his guilt. And that concealment would no longer be possible because God would expose him for what he was. A liar? A thief, a deceiver, and God would expose him. You see, we forget what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 55, when the Lord said in verse number 6.

Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to the Lord, and he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will. ab pardon. The cry is just turn, turn from your wicked ways because God is compassionate. He will pardon you. He will forgive you because he is so compassionate, so loving, so kind. and takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. The Bible says over in Psalm 8, verse number 5, these words.

For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and abundant in loving kind to all who call upon thee. God is ready to forgive. That's why he says, come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be As wool. He begs the sinner to come. He extends grace one more aven for Ach to repent. And he doesn't until the lot f on him and Achan is the man. And Joshua said to Acha in verse number 19, 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 any more. Confess your sin and give glory to God. How does confessing my sin give glory to God? Because it exonerates the law of God. To confess means to say the same thing about my sin that God says about my sin.

And here was Achan to confess, to say the same thing about what he did as God would say about what he did. And that gives glory to God because it demands submission to God. It demands submission to God. And it tells us that the judgments of God are true and pure and right. We forget our L is know better through his judgments than anything else. Listen to what the Bible says over in Psalm 9.

Psalm 9, verse number 4. For thou hast maintained my just cause, thou dost sit On the throne, judging righteously. Verse 16: The Lord has made him known, he has executed judgment in the works of his own hands. The wicked is snared. How does the Lord make himself known? Through his judgment. And think about the greatest judgment he ever enacted. It was a judgment at Calvary's cross when he judged your sin and my sin by placing them on his son. And having his Son experience the wrath that you and I deserve so that we can have and obtain the life that Christ now has.

And so, through God enacting judgment, we are able to see the greatness of his character, to understand his holiness in such a way. That we respond out of his love and care for his people. And here was Achan. Here was a man who really believed that no one would find out what he was doing. You know, isn't it true that when we sin, we don't think anybody's going to find out? We really don't. We really think that we can get away with it. And the Bible makes it clear: you can never get away with sin.

Can't be not deceived. God is not mocked, the Bible says. What a man sows, he shall also reap. If you sow to the flesh, you'll the flesh reap corruption. If you sow to the Spirit, you'll the Spirit reap life everlasting. But don't be deceived. You can't mock God by thinking you can hide things from Him. He is the omniscient, all-seeing, omnipresent God who knows everything you do, every word you speak, everything you Thought, you have thought, and even the thoughts that you're thinking right now, he knows them all.

And you can't hide from God. And yet, so many times we think that we can. And Joshua 7, like Acts chapter 5 with Ananias and Sapphir, tell you you cannot hide from God. And so Joshua says to him, You need to give glory to God. You need to confess your sin. And you need to do it in such a way. That you tell God you sinned against Him. Confess your sin to God. Because you know, when we sin, it truly is a sin against God, isn't it? It's secondarily a sin against my wife or my husband, my son or my daughter, my friends.

But primarily, it violates the holiness of God, it violates the law of God. So all sin is primarily against God. That's why it says in Genesis chapter 39 with Joseph, How can I do this evil deed and sin against my God? He said. It wasn how can I do this evil deed and sin against my boss by sleeping with his wife, somebody said. He said, How can I do this evil deed and sin against my God? It was David who said in Psalm 51, Against thee and thee only I have sinned. Wait a minute. He sinned against Bathsheba.

He sinned against Jariah, her husband. He lied. He murdered. He cheated. But he says, again thee and thee only I have sinned. See, I think that we'd have a better understanding of our sin if we saw it from God's perspective instead of our perspective. began realizing that we have violated a holy God and brought reproach upon the name of God and then began confessing our sins to God. And Joshua says, confess your sins and give glory to God. Honor his name because it's his name you violated. You have brought reproach upon his name.

By bringing reproach upon the name of God, you have brought reproach upon the nation of Israel. By bringing reproach upon the nation of Isra You have caused us to be a laughingstock. among the Canaanites of the land. But it's because you spoke against and lived against The God of Israel. Confess your sin. You know what he says? He says, do it now.

I like what Joshua says. He says, And tell me now what you have done. Now you tell me, right now, immediately. Confession is about. Immediacy. You need to do it now.

Sometimes we want to wait to confess our sins. Well, I'll do it tomorrow. Maybe I'll do it next week. Maybe I'll get right with God next month or next Sunday. And maybe, if I get around to it, I'll get right with the person I offended. But you know what? You got to do it now.

And Joshua says, give glory to God and tell me now, right now. Don't wait, Aiken. I want to know exactly what you have done. And you tell it to us exactly how it happened. You need to confess your sin. You need to speak forth that which you have done so all of us will hear it. Now you think about this. Aiken's thinking no one's going to know. Aiken really truly believes he has concealed this thing. He's got it hidden in his tent. It's tucked away. No one knows it's there. He's sitting back. Maybe he's in the back of the three.

Maybe he's a three-millionth person in Israel. You know, and all the lots are being cast, and you know, he's sitting back there, it's not going to happen. It just can't happen. I know it's not going to happen. It's not going to fall on me. They're not going to find out. And slowly but surely, it gets closer to his clan, to his family. And all of a sudden, it falls on him. And all The rest of the eyes of Israel looked to that one man. What shame! What disgrace! And Joshua says, right now, you tell me what you have done.

What have you done to our God? What have you done to me? What have you done to his people? What have you done?