Standing on the Promises: The Hidden Costs of Sin: Lessons from Achan and the Power of Repentance | Joshua 7

1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week?

Well, good morning.

Let me begin by reading Joshua 7, verse 1.

Joshua 7:1

Joshua 7 is where we will be today as we continue our march through the book of Joshua.

We have this week and we have next week in the book of Joshua, and so I want to read Joshua 7, 1,.

Then I'd like to pray for us.

But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan, the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things, and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your grace.

Thank you that you are so good to us.

You love us.

Lord, I just pray that you would speak this morning and give us ears to hear what you have to say, not what I have to say, not my words, but your words.

We ask this in Christ's name, amen.

Well, I mentioned a few weeks ago some house projects we were up to and mentioned the process of trying to find the right paint color and how difficult that can be and how a paint color can look at one thing, at that sample in the store, and then you get it all over a wall and suddenly it's a whole different color home.

Something that you all found out long ago is that every house project is probably going to cost you a little bit more than you thought and probably going to take you a little bit more time than you thought, potentially cost you a lot more than you thought and take you a lot more time than you thought.

There's always a kind of halfway through a trip that you have to take to Home Depot and then you get home and realize that you only got half of what you needed from Home Depot and then you make another trip back and it always takes a little longer and costs a little more than you think.

And what I think this morning is that home projects are a lot like sin, and some of y'all haven't even heard the end of that illustration.

You already say amen to that.

But what I know to be true, what you know to be true, is simply this that sin always costs more than we think it will.

But what I know to be true, what you know to be true, is simply this that sin always costs more than we think it will.

It always takes us further than we were willing to go, it takes from us, it takes us deeper, it costs us more, it always over promises and every time it under delivers.

That's just the nature of sin, and today we're talking a lot about sin.

I want to talk about a few things.

I want to talk about that sin begins in compromise, it carries consequence and it leads to death.

There's a fourth point.

I'll save for the end, but, as you see, today it's a day talking about sin, and sin is anything that you and I do that is in disobedience to a holy God, a God who gives us life, gives us everything, gives us commands, and yet we disobey Any way, we go against him any way.

We try to remove him from the throne of our lives and set ourselves on it, even if for a moment.

That is sin.

And as we see in Joshua 7, we're going to see a picture of sin, a big picture of sin.

The people have come into the land.

Last week, god did what only he can do and gave the people the land of Jericho.

We saw the judgment of God on the people of the land, and rightfully so.

And now this morning we'll actually see the judgment of God on the people of Israel.

I want to read chapter 7, verse 1 again now.

But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan, the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

Now this verse first strikes me because of this.

It doesn't make sense to me at first, because what I read at the beginning and the end, I read these words the people of Israel broke faith.

At the end, the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

But then, right in the middle, I see that it was Achan that took the devoted things.

Do you see why that's strange?

The people of Israel have sinned and yet how does it say they've sinned?

Because Achan took the devoted things.

Now, if I were the God of the universe, here's how I would have chosen to write Joshua 7, verse 1.

Joshua 7:1

I would have said the people of Israel did a phenomenal job.

They went into the land, they obeyed my commands, they devoted it to destruction.

There was this one guy named Achan.

I will take care of him on his own.

But everybody else did a great job and I give them a round of applause.

That's how I would have written it.

And yet God, in his sovereignty, says this the people of Israel have broken faith because Achan has taken of the devoted things.

We've got to see this morning that individual sin always carries communal implications.

Maybe you're tempted to believe that your sin only affects you, that your sin is just you and if there's any consequence, you'll bear it on your own and you can hide it down here and no one else has to know about it or think about it, and it will not affect anyone else.

But that's not how sin works.

I mean just a few examples.

Too often we see a high-profile situation of a minister who falls and we see a church, the community, that is impacted.

Too often we see, maybe, unfaithfulness in a marriage, and it's not just one individual that's impacted, it's many individuals.

Even when you sin, it affects this church.

Do you know that your individual, secret sin affects the church?

Well, taylor, why do you say that you know?

Every Sunday, when I'm announcing maybe a new member that comes and joins, I try to remember to say this phrase.

I'll usually say this I say we're a better church because you're a part of it.

You've probably heard me say that we're a better church because you're a part of it.

What do I mean by that?

I mean this that God his spirit has gifted you and now you're going to bring your gifts to this church to build up the church, and so we just got stronger as a church because you're a part of our church.

Now, if there are individuals that are living in unrepentant sin, the reality is God at best will have to work in spite of them.

But God can't use someone, won't use someone who is living in this kind of sin, and so actually, the church is hurting because of that individual sin.

The church is hurting because of that individual sin.

The whole body is affected because we might be missing out on the gifts that only you can bring, because individual sin always has communal impact.

But I want to say this for Israel they should get a passing grade Again.

99% did the right thing.

When I was in school didn't happen often, but if I brought home a 99%, we celebrated that was a good, that's an A+++, that's as good as you can get without being perfect.

And Israel did it a 99%.

Yet there was just this one man aching.

We see later on in our text, in verse 21, that all he took was a cloak, 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold.

That's it A cloak, some silver and a bar of gold.

I can almost hear Achan and see Achan.

I can almost imagine being Achan where you say God's given us this command.

We all seem to be doing it pretty well, but the reality is no one's going to miss this cloak.

Just a few shekels of silver, a bar of gold.

We're still doing a great job.

No one's going to know.

No one's going to miss it.

No one's going to know.

No one's going to miss it.

No one's going to come looking for it.

It's just a small compromise on behalf of Achan that affected the entire people of Israel and I believe this that sin begins with compromise.

Sin begins with compromise.

I was listening to a video of a pastor a few weeks ago and he was talking about a man in his congregation that he was talking to providing pastoral counseling for and this man, so sadly, had really wrecked his marriage and much of his life because of his own sin, because of his unfaithfulness within his marriage, and the pastor knew this man well enough to really speak straight to him and get to the root of it.

And the pastor just kind of cried out like how did this happen?

How did you get here?

And here's what this man said.

He said it started a few years ago at a restaurant.

Pastor didn't know where it was going.

It started a few years ago at a restaurant.

He said this I went to the counter, I ordered a water.

I went over to the drink machine, I filled it with Coke.

Pastor had no idea what he was talking about.

Did he even hear the question?

And he said that's where it started.

It started with a single small compromise.

And guess what?

The next compromise got so much easier and the next one so much easier, so much easier.

Now, what am I saying this morning?

Am I telling you right now that if you ever got, you know, coke instead of water, that you're heading towards some big fall?

I'm not saying that.

But what I'm saying is this you see those areas in your own life, you see where sin has affected your own life and you probably didn't wake up that morning saying, yeah, I want to get entangled in this sin.

It probably just started with a small compromise.

Along the way that grew and grew and grew.

Why?

Because that's how sin works.

It begins with the compromise.

This is why David, he sins so greatly in 2 Samuel chapter 11.

2 Samuel 11 · chapter mention

As he sins against Bathsheba, he sins against the Lord.

Where does it begin?

It begins in 2 Samuel chapter 11, verse 1, when it says this In the springtime, when the kings go to war, there was David at home.

2 Samuel 11:1

This is compromise.

It's the springtime.

Kings are supposed to be at war.

Where's the king?

Not at war.

Compromise was made.

This is Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount who says you've heard it said do not murder.

I'm sure the whole crowd was hopefully the whole crowd was excited.

They checked the box.

Jesus, we've done it.

We have not murdered.

We've checked that box.

And he says but even if you hate your brother, the judgment's upon you.

You've heard it said do not commit adultery.

I hope many in the crowd check the box.

But I've said if you look with lust after a woman, you've already committed adultery in your heart.

It's about more than the big, what we call the big sins.

It's the little compromising sins along the way.

And John Owen says this be killing sin or it will be killing you and maybe you know that in your own life that we must be killing sin or it will be killing us, and so where is the compromise in your life?

Will be killing us, and so where is the compromise in your life?

Where do you need to kill the compromise even today?

Where do you need to do what Jesus says later in the Sermon on the Mount, matthew 5, 29,.

If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Where do you need to be rid of the sinful compromise in your life?

And I don't want you to kill the compromise next week or tomorrow or in that next season of life that's up ahead today.

Where do you need to kill the compromise today?

Because sin begins in compromise.

But we need to see this.

Sin always carries consequence.

Look in verses two through five.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-Avon, east of Bethel, and said to them go up and spy out the land.

And the men went up and spied out Ai.

And they returned to Joshua and said to him do not have all the people go up, but let about two or 3,000 men went up there from the people and they fled before the men of Ai.

And the men of Ai killed about 36 of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Cherubim and struck them at the descent and the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

You and I both know sin carries consequence.

Now many look at this passage and rightfully say there's likely some pride and some arrogance here on the people of Israel.

They've just come off of Jericho.

I don't know how much they should be.

Some pride and some arrogance here on the people of Israel.

They've just come off of Jericho.

I, you know, I I don't know how much they should be.

You know, after God brought down the walls all by himself, just because of shouting and trumpets, I'm not sure how how much they should look at a people and say, hey, we don't need to take everybody.

You know two or 3000 will do, but that's exactly what they do.

But but the text makes clear, I believe, later on, that the fall here is not because of pride and arrogance, it's because of the initial sin of Achan.

We see in 10 and 11, the Lord said to Joshua get up, why have you fallen on your face?

Israel has sinned.

They have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them.

They have taken some of the devoted things.

They have stolen and lied and put them among their belongings.

And so if you want to know the consequence of this sin, if you want to know why Israel fell to Ai, a small people they should not have fallen to, it's because of the sin of Achan.

It's because they took of the devoted things.

And here's what I think about Achan that he never, in his taking of this cloak, this silver, this gold, he never considered the end.

That's what sin always does.

It shows us the excitement of the sinful act, but never shows us where that takes us.

There's never a time where Achan stopped and considered hey, this desire for a cloak or some silver and gold, it will lead to Israel losing a battle and 36 Israelites losing their lives.

He never bargained for any of that.

And yet in our own lives, in our compromise with sin, we never think about where sin can take us, we never think about where it's going.

And Satan loves to over-promise and under-deliver, and the very thing we think would would finally bring us some happiness and fulfillment.

And this sin that we promise, satan promises will give us some worth and some life.

Where does it lead us?

To the place of destruction.

And every time the consequence is so much more than we bargained for.

Look at verse 12, therefore.

The people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies.

They turn their back before their enemies because they have become devoted for destruction.

Basically this they won't win any more battles, not like this, in fact.

God says now Israel has been devoted for destruction.

The very consequence for Canaan just a chapter before.

But here's the most catastrophic consequence of all, as the verse continues I will be with you, no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.

If you want to know how sin, that consequence, gives us more than we bargained for, think about Achan just looking at a cloak.

And suddenly, where does that end?

That ends with God saying I will be with you, no more unless the sin is dealt with.

Sin always takes us farther than we want to go.

It costs us more than we ever want to pay, even those sins that we say I've got this sin, I can handle this, I've got it.

Someday we look up and we realize this sin has me, I'm bound to it.

And the consequence always comes, god says, unless it's removed.

And this is what we call repentance.

What does that word repent mean?

We use that word often.

What does it mean?

Does it mean just forgiveness?

Certainly forgiveness, a massive part of it, seeking the Lord's forgiveness which, by the way, is always there, standing ready to be provided for us.

But repentance is seeking that forgiveness.

And then this if I'm walking this way in sin, repentance says I'm now walking this way away from that sin.

Repentance is claiming the forgiveness of God and then saying I'm not going back, I'm going this direction, away from the bondage and the slavery to sin, I'm going towards Christ.

That's what repentance is.

It's a turning away.

It's a turning your back.

It's a saying in Christ I'm a new person.

So in Christ I'm going to be a new person, I'm going to live the life he's called me to, and the consequence is there.

And there's this call now for this repentance to turn away.

I want us to see this that sin begins in compromise.

Sin carries consequence, but now sin begins in compromise.

Sin carries consequence, but now sin leads to death.

Look with me Verses 16 through 21 and 16 through 18,.

We see Joshua and his team looking for the individual who is at fault here.

And then verse 18, and he brought near his household man by man and Achan, the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

Then Joshua said to Achan, my son, give glory to the Lord, god of Israel, and give praise to him, and tell me now what you've done.

Don't hide it from me.

And Achan answered Joshua Truly I have sinned against the Lord, god of Israel.

And this is what I did.

When I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak of Shinar and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels.

Then I coveted them and took them and see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath.

They finally land upon Achan and Achan has to confess.

I did it.

And let me tell you this morning a sin will always be found out.

You and I are, I hope, not arrogant enough to think I'm clever enough.

I can hide my sin.

I'm clever enough.

No one will ever know I love you.

You're not clever enough Because it's not mere humans you're dealing with.

We're talking about God here.

Sin is always found out.

There never ends up being any secret sins and with Achan here, what he thought was his secret sin, it's now known by all and now it will be punished.

Verse 25,.

And Joshua said why did you bring trouble upon us.

The Lord brings trouble on you today.

And all Israel stoned him with stones.

They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

They raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

Then the Lord turned from his burning anger.

Therefore, to this day, the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.

Achor means trouble, so they named this place the Valley of Trouble.

Sin leads to death.

Does that mean you right now, that your sin will lead right now to a physical death?

No, your sin will lead right now to a physical death.

No, it doesn't.

Thankfully, you and I are still living and breathing today, but we know where sin leads, and that is to the place of death.

We read it last week.

We say it again.

Paul tells us Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death.

This is why Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 1, you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

Ephesians 2:1

Because we are sinful individuals and therefore outside of hope, outside of a savior.

We're dead, and that's where our sin takes us.

And you see these places in your life where your sin leads you to death and destruction.

You see the places all over the world, all over the news, all over our lives, that sin has destroyed.

It has destroyed marriages and families and careers.

It has destroyed churches.

It has destroyed so many things because why?

Jesus told us this that the evil one comes to do what?

To steal and kill and destroy.

That's what he wants to do, and that's what he wants to do in your life To steal and kill and destroy and that's what sin desires.

And it leads to death and that's why Achan has led to his own death and that's why, in this moment, this valley is now named the Valley of Achor, the Valley of Trouble, and they put these stones there, really as a reminder of just the cost of sin.

A few weeks ago we saw these stones piled up that reminded us at the Jordan of how faithful our God was.

Now we have a new pile of stones and I believe that's a reminder for where sin takes us, for how seriously God takes sin.

And I wonder if we have these places in our own lives, these piles of stones that are reminders to us of where our sin takes us.

And I don't want you to go dwell there and live there.

We don't have to live in the shame of a past, but I wonder if we have those moments that do remind us of what sin costs, what it has cost me.

But the reality is this the ultimate place we can see the true cost of sin is not a pile of stones in the valley of Achor, it's at Calvary, on the cross.

If you want to know just how costly sin is, look nowhere else but the cross, because there's a fourth point.

Every summer some movie comes out and they start to advertise it a romantic comedy, something like that.

They'll say these words it's the feel-good movie of the year.

I came into this sermon thinking this is not the feel-good sermon of the year.

We're going to spend about 25 minutes talking about the weight of sin, the seriousness of sin.

We're going to dive deep into the ways we've sinned against the Holy God and we're going to come to the reality that that sin leads to death.

Sin begins in compromise.

Sin carries consequence.

Sin leads to death.

But here's the turn Sin meets its end in Christ.

This place will be called the Valley of acor, the valley of trouble.

Hundreds of years later, hosea is writing.

Hosea, an interesting individual.

He just graduated from seminary, I'm sure, and and was excited about his first ministry gig.

God, where are you going to send me?

Where am I going to go?

What great things am I going to do for you?

And what does God tell him?

I want you to marry a prostitute, and I want that to be an example of Israel, and I want you, this holy, righteous man, to marry this individual.

And she's the picture of Israel, because they've gone after all of these other gods and all of these other idols, and this will be this living, breathing picture, because Israel has run away from me time and time again.

And so Hosea may be not very excited about this particular ministry calling, but he does it.

And the first three chapters of Hosea, really, god talks a lot about just how sinful Israel really is.

And then there's a turn in chapter 2, verse 14.

There's a turn.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says behold, I will allure her, I will call Israel back, I will bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.

This is the picture of God calling after Israel, speaking to her, calling her back to him, and there I will give her her vineyards and make the valley of acorn a door of hope.

I will make the valley of acorn a door of hope.

A door of hope Because those piles of stone in our lives that we're tempted to tell ourselves that is the sum total of my worth, that my sin defines me, we're tempted to tell ourselves that my sin is too great.

There's a God who looks to us and says I can turn the valley of Achor, even the valley of Achor in your own life.

I can turn it into a door of hope.

Why?

Because Jesus went to his own valley of Achor.

Jesus went to the cross and my sin and your sin?

What did he do?

He took it upon himself.

And if you want to see where that door of hope is, look to an empty tomb early Sunday morning, where sin meets its end in Christ Jesus.

Have you sinned greatly?

Are you burdened by that sin?

Does the evil one come and tell you just how sinful you really are?

Do you wonder sometimes, can I move on past those sins of my past, or even the sins of my present?

For you there's a door of hope this morning, to the believer in the room.

You don't have to live in the shame of sin.

In fact, not only do you not have to.

By spirit, he will call you out of that and and and you never have to go back there, because you are a new creation.

The door of hope in christ has been opened for you.

To the one in this room that doesn't know christ, jesus, yet, that door is open to you, even now, to know him.

And maybe you say this Taylor, you spent 20 minutes talking about just how bad our sin was and you spent five minutes talking about how it's forgiven.

You know, is that just a license to sin?

Is this gospel stuff too easy?

Is this gospel stuff?

Is it just sweeping sin under the rug?

Like Paul says in Romans 6, 1,.

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Is this all this is?

This is not a license to sin.

This is a license to live, a license to live the life God has called us to live in Christ Jesus.

Not living as if we are defeated, not living as if we are burdened and bound and enslaved to sin, still not living in the valley of Achor, but living as those who have been set free, who know about the door of hope, who know about the gospel that is found in Christ Jesus.

That's who we are, and if you know Christ, that's who you are and that's good news.

This morning.

Maybe you're burdened by sin.

Maybe you struggle with sin.

Maybe there's sin of your past that you have trouble getting past.

You have trouble forgiving yourself, you have trouble moving on.

I pray this morning you'd lay that down.

I pray this morning you would come to a loving Father, confess your sin.

1 John 1.9,.

If I confess my sin, he's faithful and just to forgive me my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

Come to Him, let Him turn the valley of Achor into a door of hope.

This morning, if you want to come talk to me and pray with me, please do that.

You say, hey, if I come and pray with the pastor, everybody's going to know I'm a sinner.

We already know You're human.

We know.

Come pray with me, let me pray with you.

I love you and I'd be honored to get to do that.

Let me pray now.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your grace, thank you that you turned the Valley of Acre into a door of hope.

Thank you for your gospel, so undeserved, so freely given.

Lord, I pray that if there is someone struggling this morning, maybe a believer this morning that just struggles with the weight of sin in their lives, from their past, from their present God, would they be free of that this morning by your spirit.

If there is someone that doesn't know you this morning for the first time, would they taste and see the goodness of God and at that, door of hope through Christ, through the cross, through the resurrection, is open for them.

I pray this now in Christ's name Amen.

You stand and as you need to respond, you come.

I'll be right down here.