The Wages of Sin

Well, good morning to you. Good morning. Am I loud? I missed you last week. Where were you? You weren't in Kansas with me. It's good to be back. I really miss Redeemer. I was just saying this week to the staff, you know, you haven't had two pastors in one place for like two months. So

we're back. A lot of you are back from the summer travels. Can you believe it's August? Happy August. August. And we're ready to get back into Joshua. Book of Joshua, if you want to find chapter seven today, let me just remind you, or if you're visiting with us today, we do have the previous

installments of this series and the series that Matt's doing through the Ten Commandments. They're on the live stream. So if you've missed one, please go back and see if you can find that. They shouldn't be too hard to find. And this morning we're continuing in this journey

through the book of Joshua. It is good to be back with you from being out at a camp in Kansas in the middle of nowhere. Middle of nowhere. It's actually Pomona, Kansas, about

an hour and 15 minutes outside Kansas City. Wonderful people, wonderful little camp. I had a chance to go and bring actually the Joshua messages I brought to you. I was able to work on those a little bit, speak to a slightly different audience. You know you're not true

Midwesterners? Did you know that? I found out or I remembered what true Midwesterners are. You guys give me so much more response when I preach to you. You look at me, you smile, you say, mm-hmm, or you're like, mm-hmm. And I was getting nothing. So I am really glad to

be back with my people. And it's probably all in my imagination. I just love you guys. So I'm glad to be back with you. But I will say that if I were to rank challenging distractions, for preachers, while they're preaching, I was able to add a new one to my list last week.

I never took a good picture of it, but I should have. I preached in a lodge in front of an open fireplace. And inside that fireplace, I quickly realized, was a colony of bats. And they would

screech out just whenever, during the worship, during preaching, when I made a point. Bats behind me, I don't know how many screeching. I was waiting for like a scene out of a Christopher Nolan movie or something where they, you know, Batman, they kind of come out. But they never did. So I'm back.

I am not expecting any bats this morning. But if there's one or two, I'm going to be fine. I'm used to do it. But we jump back into chapter seven here. And today, chapter seven is a substantial chapter, both in length and in what goes on. If you've been familiar or heard about the story

of Achan, it is a heavy story. So we're going to divide this up into a number of scenes. I have six of them for you. And we will read a paragraph for each scene, just to give you a heads up. So let's go ahead and let's jump in with scene number one. We're calling scene

number one, the sin. Verse one, but the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the 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. We'll stop right there. Let's pray. Father, we again just invoke your presence, the manifestation of your presence that we would be attuned. We know you are always with us. But Lord, we pray that we

will be spiritually attuned to what you want to teach us here this morning in your word. We know that everything written here in this Old Testament is here for us, for the church today. So show us and lead us. And we pray this in the name of our great Savior, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. If you were with us two weeks ago and you heard about the walls of Jericho fall down, maybe you're reading verse one right now with me and you're saying, how fast did this happen? How quickly

do we move from a positive account of Israel being so faithful, following every order, every directive from Joshua, crossing the river, setting up the stone memorial, marching around a city? How many times?

One time for six days each, one time. Seven times on the last day? That's like 13 marches. Being silent the whole time while just the priests are blasting on the horns and then finally giving that final shout on the final lap on the final day and watching those walls crumble. And then

we come to this. The people, we're told, and it's really going to turn out to be one man among them as a representative. Broke faith. It's this man, we're told right up front, Achan, the son of Carmi, son of Abdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah. You know that there is

no other person in the book of Joshua that gets this much genealogy. It's almost like our narrator really wants us to pay attention to who this man is and his family line. He's listed or he's taken

some of the devoted things, which we later are going to learn consists of a fancy Babylonian robe and about seven and a half pounds of precious metals, gold and silver. And this, just after Joshua

clearly gave this command to every Israelite, let's remind ourselves Joshua 6 verse 18. This is what he was commanding the people from the Lord.

Joshua 6:18

But you, all the people, you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them, you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for

destruction and bring trouble on it. But Achan's done it. He's broken faith. Same term that's used to talk about adultery in the Old Testament. He's broken faith, betrayed the fundamental trust,

between two parties in this sacred covenant relationship between God and his people. And as a result, the anger of the Lord burned against not just him, but against the entire people of Israel.

But apparently Achan is good at hiding things. And so apart from his immediate family living with him in the tent, nobody else knows, including Joshua, who after the magnificent fall of Jericho is ready

to go at it in the next spot. And so we begin with our second scene. We're calling this scene two, The Loss. Scene two, The Loss. Verse two, 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 this is what they said to him. Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up

there, for they are few. So about three thousand men went up from there, went up there from the people, and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men,

and chased them before the gate, as far as Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. Wow! Talk about loss. We've got the loss

of protection. We've got the loss of courage. We've got the loss of actual lives in the thirty-six men. And we've really got the potential loss of this very nation and their survival. The scene is all

about loss. And Joshua has no idea what's coming. Sending out those men from Jericho to Ai, it's another spying op for our classic spy, Joshua. He sends them on what would have been three main roadways. One would go to the south to Jerusalem. One would go up north. And this is the main road

through the interior. It makes sense that Joshua would go here next. And where does he go? He sends, he doesn't himself go, but he sends the men to Ai. And I don't know if it's just me, but Ai, Ai, I couldn't help but notice the parallels. But it's not that they're Ai, the people of Ai,

in the sense that they're artificially intelligent. I would say the Ai, you could say it stands for artificial impediment. Because they shouldn't be much of an obstacle or an impediment for the people of Israel. Population, we're later going to learn in the next chapter, is a grand total of 12,000,

including the women. So what are there, maybe 6,000 fighting men? Israel, they've just marched across the Jordan with 40,000 trained soldiers from just two and a half tribes alone. In fact, if we go all the way back to the book of Numbers and read about some of the census numbers,

this nation has at least had in the previous generation like 600,000 fighting men or men of fighting age. And as those spies return with their report, it's like a reverse of what happened on that inaugural spying adventure some 40 years earlier. Remember what happened back in Numbers?

12 spies go out, 10 come back with a majority report, and they say, we cannot do this. And yet these come back with a very much like, yeah, we can do it. We can.

In fact, verse 3, don't have all the people go up. You don't need the whole army for this one, Joshua. A couple, maybe 3,000 should do it. It's a lot of toil to get up there. Take it from us.

Let's not tire everybody out because they ain't much. They are few. Joshua seems to agree. And I know a lot of commentators think that he's done something wrong and that he's gotten ahead of himself and not sought the Lord, but there is no indication

in the narrative that that's the problem here. The narrative is very clear what the problem is here. Joshua sends off 3,000 men. 2,964 come back.

They come running back. Many of them are injured and bleeding. They've been chased by the men of Ai. Joshua learns to his horror that 36 of their compatriots are dead. 36 Israelite soldiers,

which is 36 times the number of losses they had at Jericho, right? In fact, the men of Ai give Israelites the Israelite army chase. They route them, chase them for several miles. They did something that

no other army has been able to do ever. This is a bad loss. And what happens when the hearts of the people hear this news, this awful report? We're told in verse 5 that their hearts melted and became

like water. Yes, because of this one man's secret sin, what's happened is that Israel has now become like the Canaanites. Without their true God to protect them and lead them on to victory, it's now their hearts

that are melting in fear. And so we pick up our next scene in verse 6. We're calling scene 3, the inquiry. The inquiry. Follow along with me in verse 6. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the

earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? Would that we had been

content to dwell beyond the Jordan. O Lord, what can I say when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will

surround us and cut off our name from the earth? And what will you do for your great name?

Does this look like a dramatic reaction? It is. And honestly, it's not inappropriate. Joshua is shocked, quite frankly, devastated. Not only are there 36 Israelite families whose

dads and husbands are not coming home tonight, there's much greater danger now. As Joshua says, the fact is, the only reason Israel's been successful is because God's with them. The true God, the God whom the Canaanites have come to fear. The Canaanites know the Israelites are in the land

to take it. And now, if their God isn't with them, if little AI can whip them, they're going to be at the Canaanites' mercy, which they know will be no mercy. Joshua engages in all the acts of mourning

here with the elders who've joined him. He's got them before the Ark of the Covenant until sunset. Dust is on everybody's head. Everybody's face is in the dirt. This is the posture of great mourning.

Something. Something's wrong. What happened? He prays in verse 7. Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought us over the Jordan at all? Just to get us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.

Joshua starts to sound like the people of Israel from his generation a generation ago. His words quickly turn into, wouldn't it have been better, Lord? I mean, who does that sound like?

You know, honestly, Lord, we could have managed to divvy up all the Transjordanian territory on the east side of the Jordan. Sure, we would have had a little smaller real estate, each of us, but we'd be alive.

That would have been better than this. Lord, what is happening? Help it make sense. How can we go from pagan hearts melding before us, walls literally falling down before our very eyes, to your people turning their backs to run?

Literally, the Hebrew has the sense of turning the back of our necks. Our vulnerabilities completely exposed before our enemies. We wonder, did Joshua quote back to God some of the words God had told him in chapter 1?

Because what was the Lord's promise to Joshua in chapter 1? What was it, Joshua 1.5? No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, just as I, the Lord your God, was with Moses, so I will be with you.

I will not leave you or forsake you. But now, Lord, you have left us. You know, we all know, every last Israelite knows, and soon the report is going to get out from Ai, and all the Canaanites and Amorites will know that you have left us,

and they will surround us, and they will cut off our name from the earth. In other words, Lord, we're going to be toast, and everybody knows it.

But look at how Joshua closes his desperate prayer. This is noteworthy, because there's one more thing, one more big thing he appeals to. Take a look at the end of verse 9.

He says this, And what will you do for your great name? What will you do to protect your great name, Lord, for your great glory? You know, if only we could all pray like this.

Maybe not the part about like, it would have been better and complain to the Lord. But the last part. If only we could pray in complete humility, like Joshua and the elders do here.

Submission to the Lord with whatever's facing us. If we could pray like, Lord, do what you take, do what you need to, to make your name great in this situation.

My big problem here, that desperate answer I need, that healing I'm seeking. Lord, the problem I need you to fix, do what will make your name great.

Glorify your name. What a great lesson right there. Well, this sets us up perfectly for response from the Lord. And that's what we get in our next scene.

Scene 4, we'll call the confrontation. The confrontation. Pick up again, verse 10. The Lord said to Joshua, Get up. Why have you fallen on your face?

Because 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 own belongings.

Therefore, the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they have become devoted for destruction.

I will be with you no more. Unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up. Consecrate the people. And say, Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.

For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.

In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households.

And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord

and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel. Get up.

Get up. Isn't that what you want to say to your crying toddler when they're on the floor? Right? Crying, fists beating, maybe dust on their head.

I don't know if your toddler does that. Get up! That's what the Lord says to Joshua. He says it not once but twice, doesn't he? He says it again in verse 13.

Get up! In other words, God's telling Joshua and the elders, this is not the right response. Your approach is wrong. Your prayers and your mourning are unacceptable at this moment.

It's not going to do you any good. It will do you no good until the impediment is removed. Turns out God has not failed on his terms of the covenant.

Israel has. Verse 11. Israel has sinned. They have transgressed my covenant. They have taken some of the devoted things. Wait, what? Some of us might say, well, all Israel hasn't done this.

Just one man has. I read verse 1. It's just one guy. Or maybe if his family's complicit. I mean, they all live in the same tent. They probably know.

I'm sure they knew. But it's still just one family. But what this is, is the concept of corporate solidarity. Corporate solidarity. It's a concept that's weaved all throughout the scriptures.

As far back as the garden in Genesis, really. What happened back there? One man sinned, or one couple technically. And it had ramifications for the entire race that came after them.

Of course, we know that on the positive side, lest we mire in bad news, there's good news that Romans 5 tells us. Because Paul in Romans 5 says that there was a second Adam.

First Adam sinned, transgressed, plunged the whole race into ruin. Second Adam, Jesus Christ came. And by his one act of righteousness, living a perfect, sinless life, he made the free gift of grace possible for anyone, for everyone, for whosoever will come.

Corporate solidarity means that we are all in this together. That one person's work can have an impact upon the line that comes after him. And we know that scripture talks about that.

Even as Christians, we are in the line now of Christ after him. We are spiritually made children because of his work. And under the terms back here, with this first covenant, remember?

This is what Achan's grave sin has done with that covenant. It's like he's created nuclear fallout for all the people. And honestly, the fact that only like 36 of the men are dead, is probably, it should be seen as a great act of mercy.

Could have been a whole lot more. Could have been everybody. Should have been everybody. In verse 11, God goes on and he specifies the nature of the sin and what's happened.

He says it very plainly. They have stolen and lied and put my devoted things among their own belongings. Can you imagine stealing from God? This is what Achan's done.

This is why the people can't stand before their enemies, the Lord says. This is why they're turning the backs of their necks to the swords of their opponents.

Because in taking the things devoted to me, things that were to be devoted to destruction, that has rendered all of you devoted to destruction.

End of verse 12. I will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. And by devoted things, we understand that this now includes Achan and his family.

He and his sin has made the entire camp liable to destruction. And this sin must be removed. In verse 13, the Lord goes on to give some other instructions to Joshua.

He says, consecrate yourselves. Tell all the people to consecrate themselves. You've got devoted things in your midst. And what happened at AI is only going to continue to happen until you deal with it and remove it from the camp.

God goes on to specify how the process is going to happen. Tribe by tribe. Clan by clan. Family by family. Household by household. Basically four levels.

God says, all are going to come near. They're going to pass before you, Joshua. And I, the Lord, will take. Literally the word here is better translated capture.

I will capture the guilty party.

So think about this. The whole camp of Israel is told what's going to happen the next day. They're told to consecrate themselves here the night before.

What that means is that every Israelite family has a chance to go back to their tent with the wife, the kids, everybody, grandparents. And reflect on it for the night.

Do some soul searching in the process. In this corporate act of consecration. Do you wonder what Achan's family is doing? What's the thinking going on inside Achan's family tent with the hidden treasures buried beneath?

Do they really think they can hide? Are they hoping maybe that they're not the only ones? And maybe somebody else did too. And they'll get taken first.

And it'll be over. And no one will know. Maybe we won't be exposed. Maybe those lots. You know the casting of lots. How the Lord led in the Old Testament many times.

Maybe the casting of the lots will be wrong.

Make no mistake. The nature of this thing is deadly serious. Because as verse 15 specifies. Whoever is found with the devoted things. They and all that they have shall be burned with fire.

Because he has broken the covenant of the Lord. And because he's done as the Lord says. An outrageous thing. Or a treacherous disastrous thing.

In Israel. And I'm sure if we asked the 36 families who lost a dad or a husband. They would agree. Yeah. This has been an outrageous thing for us.

I'm sure if you took the temperature of the entire Israelite camp right now. As they're feeling like sitting ducks in the land of Canaan. I'm sure they would agree too.

Who knows. But that there could be a massive Canaanite Amorite coalition. On the horizon when everybody wakes up the next morning. That could be very well what they're thinking as they go to bed.

Well speaking of going to bed. Next morning comes. And here's where our fifth scene picks up. So scene number five. Number five we'll call the exposure.

Exposure. Exposure. Let's continue reading in verse 16. So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe. And the tribe of Judah was taken.

And he brought near the clans of Judah. And the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man. And Zabdi was taken.

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 have done. Do not 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 from Shinar and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels.

Then I coveted them and I took them. And see they're hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath. Again think about it.

Neither Achan nor any member of his household has confessed anything voluntarily. This is not really a confession. I mean technically it is.

This is the kind of confession you make when they've got you dead to rights. The murder weapon's in your hands. We won't hear the words from his mouth that I have sinned.

Until Joshua's right in front of his face. Saying I know what you did. Tell me now. Don't hide it from me anymore. I wonder how this process went down the morning of this next day.

I'm sure it was a clean process. But I'm also sure it was not very quick. Can you imagine the nervousness amongst all the Israelites? It's tribe by tribe as they pass before Joshua.

And it's Judah. The crowd gasps. Judah. Each of the clan chieftains are next. And we're told it's the clan of the Zerahites. Word races throughout the camp.

It's the Zerahites. Finally family by family. And the extended family of this poor Zabdi gets taken. Who looks to be the grandfather of Achan.

It's your family. Somebody in your extended family Zabdi. That the Lord captures. And finally last of all. As each family is brought near. It's down to just one.

And it's Achan. Joshua standing right in front of Achan. In verse 19. My son. It's like paternal instincts from Joshua. Their new leader. My son.

He says. Give glory to the Lord God of Israel. Give praise to him. And tell me now. What you have done. Do not hide it from me. More like. Don't keep trying to hide it from me.

Because your sin. Is now fully exposed. But this part about giving glory to God. And praise. As Joshua is asking. This now dead to rights Achan.

To confess. Please don't understand. This is Joshua asking Achan. To do two separate things. He's not saying like. Praise the Lord now. Okay.

Now. Now confess. I want you to understand. That he's asking for one thing. He's asking for a confession. Because by his confessing his sin.

This is how Achan will glorify God. The very act of confessing sin. Glorifies God. Not incidentally. This is why. We sing the kinds of songs.

That we sing here at Redeemer. And in many other churches. We sing songs about our sinfulness. About how we're sinners. We do this because. In acknowledging our need.

Our desperate need. Our sinful condition. That in itself is an act of praise.

Finally Achan speaks in verse 20. Truly. I have sinned. Against the Lord God of Israel. And he goes on to specify what he did. And he explains it in a series of four moves.

I saw. I coveted. I took. And I hid. Saw. Coveted. Took. Hid. I saw among the spoil. It always starts with seeing. Doesn't it? Just ask Eve.

In the Garden of Eden. How did your sin start? The narrative says. That she saw. That the fruit was good to eat. And that moves into the next thing.

Because it's not just seeing. I mean I can see anything. You can see anything. It's a certain type of seeing. Where it moves into desire. I coveted.

He says. At least he's honest. I saw among the spoil. And I coveted. You know. Even in the way. He refers to it as spoil. It shouldn't be seen as spoil.

Achan has warped thinking. This is not spoil. These things are the Lord's. Devoted things. But he says. I saw among the spoil. This great beautiful cloak.

From Shinar. And. 200 shekels of silver. And. A bar of gold. That incidentally. Weighs about 50 shekels. Did he have a scale in his tent? You know.

We have no idea. So it's one robe. And about. In today's measurements. About 7 and a half pounds. Of precious metals. Not. Really all that much.

Wouldn't be that hard. To hide under your tent. He says. I coveted them. That's breaking the 10th commandment. And I took them. That's. The 8th commandment.

And see. They're hidden in the earth. Inside my tent. When you hide something. You're misleading people. That's breaking the 9th commandment.

He's lying. And honestly. The precious metals. Aren't even the worst part. Or they are the worst part. I should say. The robe isn't the worst part.

The robe should have been burned. But what Achan has done. Is he's decided. To take the silver. And the gold. And if we remember. From the battle of Jericho.

Back in chapter 6. The Lord specified. The one thing. That you don't have to destroy. Is the silver. And the gold. And the precious metals. Those are mine.

Those you are to bring. Into the treasury. Of the house of the Lord. Meaning that Achan. Has literally robbed. And plundered. God himself.

Well our last scene. Is the gravest one. And we mean this literally. And we're going to pick up. In verse 22. For scene number 6. The consequences.

Take a look with me. At verse 22. I think my verse numbers are wrong. Sorry about that. Verse 22. Verse 22. So Joshua sent messengers. And they ran to the tent.

And behold. It was hidden in his tent. With the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent. And brought them to Joshua. And to all the people of Israel.

And they laid them down. Before the Lord. And Joshua. And all Israel with them. Took Achan. The son of Zerah. And the silver. And the cloak.

And the bar of gold. And his sons. And daughters. And his oxen. And his donkeys. And sheep. And his tent. And all that he had. And they brought them up.

To the valley of Achor. And Joshua said. Why did you bring trouble on 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. And 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.

So there it is. The messengers are dispatched to Achan's tent. They go in there. And behold. We hear it said. That everything is right where.

It's supposed to be. Like Achan described. The items are immediately brought. In front of Joshua. Who in verse 23. We're told very intentionally.

Lays them down before the Lord. This is like an offering. An offering that already belongs to the Lord. He pours out these treasures. A significant act.

That bears witness. Before the Lord. And everyone else. That Israel. Is now holding nothing back. That belongs to God. And then we read in verse 24.

That Joshua and all Israel. Took Achan. And the silver. And the cloak. And the gold. And the sons and daughters. And everything he owns. All the livestock.

Even his tent. And they take everyone. And everything down. To the valley of Achor. And he says these words. He says. Why did you bring trouble.

On us. The Lord. Brings trouble. On you. Today. And they're all executed. With the sentence of stoning. And then they're subsequently burned.

He's like a. He's like a shadowy Rahab. Really. Because. Achan has put himself. And his entire household. In this position. Only whereas Rahab did it to save her family.

Achan has destroyed his. And not only will Achan. Achan himself. Pay for his sins. His family will as well. Sometimes that's hard. We read that.

We say. That doesn't seem fair. To the family. Others have tried to say. Well again. Maybe they were complicit. They seem like they were complicit.

I personally can't imagine. You can dig a hole under your tent. And hide this stuff. And not have everybody else know. Just wait outside. I've got some things to do.

I'm sure they knew. But the critical thing. And the reason. That all of his household. Goes with him. Is that the Lord intends. For his name to end.

This man. Who's the only one in the book of Joshua. To get this much genealogy. It stops with Achan. There will be no one after him. Sin. Has consequences.

Grave ones. And this is a unique. Early moment. In Israel's holy war. And precedents. Are being set. And an example. Is being made. And so. There in the valley of trouble.

That's what Achor means. Here in. What one scholar calls. Devastation valley. They raise a great heap of stones. Which our narrator says. Remains to his day.

And only then. Does the Lord. Turn. From his burning anger. You know. This really is a tragic story. On so many levels. And I wish I could tell you.

That the Old Testament. Was not filled with. Similar kinds of examples. But it is. And yet. This one here today. Is a big one. This is huge.

Because for this. Second generation. Of Israelites. Right. Second generation. Who are being given. A second chance. To get to the promised land.

To have their inheritance. The ramifications. For this outrageous sin. Frankly. Are off the charts. The Lord's instructions. Were very very clear.

Don't take any of the plunder. For yourselves. Or you will bring. Trouble. And devastation. Upon your camp.

You know what's funny. And actually sad. Is that ironically. Next chapter. After the battle of Ai. If Achan had still been around. Israel was allowed.

All of the plunder. They could take anything. They wanted. But his self-centered. And absolutely. Reckless action. Resulted in terrible. Consequences.

For both himself. And for others. Around him.

Maybe you're wondering. What a story like this. Is meant to teach us. Well. Over in 1 Corinthians. Paul. Paul the apostle. Talks about. Many of Israel's.

Monumental failures. Like this one. And here's what he says. About them. In 1 Corinthians. Chapter 10. Verse 6. He says. Now these things. Took place.

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

As examples. For us. That we might not. Desire evil. As they did. A few verses later. Verse 11. He says. These things. Happened to them. To the Israelites.

As an example. But they were written down. For our instruction. On whom the end of the ages. Has come.

I think this morning's account. Is teaching us about sin. About what. Sin is like. In terms of its. Patterns. Or the pattern. That it follows.

I think it's teaching us. About the devastating. Consequences of sin. And I think it's teaching us. About what it calls for. In terms of cure.

So. So. In the brief time we have left. Let me leave you with a few. Basic points. Let me start with this one. Number one. Number one. Sin's pattern.

Often. Follows. A familiar course. Sin's pattern. Often. Follows. A familiar. Course.

Ahab. Ahab. Achan. Achan's confession. It is helpful. In one respect. Because it does reveal a pattern. I mean. You could say. That it displays a pattern.

I was going to say. Displays it in HD. High definition. That's no good anymore. It's like 4K now. We're up to. Very vividly. Displays for us.

A familiar pattern. That we have seen before. Again. I mentioned it earlier. Genesis 3. Garden of Eden. Woman is tempted by the serpent. What happened?

Eve saw the fruit. She desired. Or coveted it. She took it for herself. And after sharing it with her all too willing husband. She and him. They both hid themselves.

From the Lord. Or at least they tried to. They weren't successful. No one ever is. As Hebrews 4 reminds us. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him. To whom we must give an account.

What's Achan confess in verse 21? Take a look again. I saw. Then I coveted. Then I took. And then I hid them in my tent. You know the Apostle James in the New Testament warns us about the stages of falling into sin.

James chapter 1 verses 14 and 15. Here's what he writes. He says. First he says. God doesn't tempt anyone.

James 1:14

But each person is tempted. When he is lured. And enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived. Gives birth to sin. And sin.

When it is full grown. Brings forth death.

What's the lesson here for us? Maybe it's that we should be careful what we feast our eyes on. Be careful what we feast our eyes on for too long.

Lest we be unaware that we could be lured. And enticed. By the power of sin. Because it's there. The Lord once famously told. One of the sons of Adam.

Sin is crouching at your door. Cain. The desire is to have you. It's there. But you must master it. For Achan. The temptation was in the form of some beautiful clothes.

Can you imagine that? A robe. From Babylon. Shinar. Along with some glimmering cha-ching. Right? That's money. In the ancient world. Precious metals.

But these were treasures that God had prohibited. But he walked into crumbled Jericho. And he saw. And he coveted. And he took. And then he hid.

Like what most of us sinners do after we've sinned. We hide. I want you to know that sin often follows this familiar course. So be aware of what you start fixing your gaze on.

Because the effects. The effects. Once that conceived desire gives birth to sin. Well they can be devastating. And that's our next point. Number two.

Sin's effect. Number two. Sin's effect is to bring devastating consequences. Devastating consequences. Again I call it the blast radius of Achan's sin.

Sin's effect. It starts before discovery. Even with the death of those 36 innocent soldiers. Think about that. Men of Israel. Doing their conquest job.

They were only going to send 3,000. Were these guys maybe volunteers? 3,000? Yeah. I'll be one of them. I'll go. Let the others relax. They've done a lot of marching.

And they can sit back at camp. We'll go. They were eager. They were faithful. They were obedient. And then 36 of them got killed.

36 families would never be the same. Devastating. But that's only where the consequences started. Because what went nuclear under the tent of Achan.

Also blasted all the people around his tent. And the entire encampment of Israel. Not just his sons and daughters. And livestock and possessions.

But the whole camp. Remember before discovery. That evening of consecration. When they're on the brink of discovery. They are at this point sitting ducks for all the Canaanites.

Should they be attacked. They will lose. They do not have the Lord's help or protection. Because they're not in the bounds of the covenant. And why was everyone in the camp at such great risk?

Because the sin of this one man had removed something. And that leads into our third point. Number three. Sin's removal. Sin's removal is required for God's presence.

God's protective presence had been removed. His mighty hand that was going to fight for them. To make it so that no enemy could stand against them.

Was compromised. Forfeited. Gone.

Again remember what the Lord once told Joshua. Joshua 1.5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses.

So I will be with you. Joshua 1.9 Four verses later. Have I not commanded you Joshua. Be strong and courageous. Don't be frightened. Do not be dismayed.

For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. A promise of his presence. Symbolized in the Ark of the Covenant. Which was at the very center of everything they've been doing.

Marching around Jericho's walls. In the middle of that river. The ceremony of mourning right here. With Joshua and his elders. They're in front of the Ark of the Covenant.

And now God says to them. Stop what you're doing. Get up. Get up off your faces. I am not with you. And I won't be with you anymore. Unless you rid yourselves of those devoted things.

That one of you has taken. Verse 13. Again. You cannot stand before your enemies. What a reverse of Joshua 1. You cannot stand before your enemies.

Until you take away the devoted things from among you. Sin's removal is required for God's presence. Sin's removal is required for God's presence.

And you know that's what makes the work of the cross so amazing for us. Praise God that we live in a new covenant. That's what makes the work of the cross so amazing.

And so desperately necessary. Because the cross of Jesus is where God removed all the sin. For those who come to him humbly. Christ takes it away.

Rolls away our sin with all of its shame and punishment. Of course we know the cross meant death. It meant the death of God's own son. And this brings us to our fourth and final point for this morning.

It's about death. Number four. The cure. Sin's cure. Is found only in death. The cure for sin is found only in death. I don't know if you get any other impression out of this chapter.

Get this. The death at the end. Deaths. Should rattle us.

We remember the book of Joshua is following a people in a holy war. A very unique moment. A very different age from where we are today. We are in an age of grace.

Praise God. But that doesn't change the fact that God is still very much at war against sin. And God's war against sin is even within his own people.

That's why we're called to fight. You realize that the Bible says that apart from Christ we were objects of God's wrath. We were his enemies before Christ.

Sin brings wrath, Roman tells us. Here it's described as burning anger of the Lord. Wrath, burning anger. I'm not sure there's any difference.

And with our sins still upon us, we would all very much be devoted to destruction someday. We're in a reprieve right now in this life. But after this life come the judgment.

For those who don't have Christ, they are going to be devoted to destruction. And this is why God's people had to come before Joshua. Before this leader whose name means God saves.

And pass before him to see who would be taken. Who would be captured. Captured by the Lord. To face death. Because sin's cure is found only in death.

Romans 6.23 For the wages of sin is death. Romans 5.12 Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. And so death spread to all men because all sinned.

Hebrews 9 tells us that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. That's death. And that's why once Achan's household was dealt with.

Once the Lord brought his just trouble down upon Achan. In consequence of the unjust trouble he had brought down on God's people. What's verse 26 say?

Verse 26. And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Because sin's cure is found only in death.

I think you might know where this is going. Because the good news of the New Testament is that you and I don't have to die. For our sins. Though we should.

The good news is that we're in a new covenant now that's been cut in the blood of God's own son. The good news is that though sin's cure is still found only in death.

Now we can take advantage of a one time freely offered all sufficient death that was given on our behalf by Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus. The very one whose name means God saves.

The better Joshua. Himself went willingly to the place of execution we all deserved. He tasted death for all of us. So that if we come to our better Joshua.

And confess our sins to the glory of God. He promises to be faithful and just. And will forgive us our sins. And bring that cleansing cure for all our unrighteousness.

If you've had that cure applied to you today. Don't you think it's appropriate that in a moment we sing some songs and praise Him for it?

And if you haven't. I would just say why not? Let's pray. Father. Father. It's a humbling passage. It's a disturbing passage. But it's truth.

You've preserved it Lord to instruct us. Lord you've taught us about. The pattern sin often follows. You've taught us about the devastating consequences of sin.

And that it requires death. And Lord without. Your son. Without Jesus. And the good news of the gospel. And what he's done. This would be a very depressing message.

But it's not. Because the good news is that we have our substitute. You gave your one and only son. To mend. To bridge the covenant that we had broken.

Lord inside the tent of our hearts. We all have buried things Father. We have sinned. We have brought great trouble upon our race. And yet Lord instead of troubling us.

You poured out that trouble. That just penalty. Upon your own son for us. What can we say. But thank you. Thank you. You are a great and an amazing God.

Thank you for salvation in Jesus. And Lord our prayer is also for any among us. Any listening. Who are saying. I have not come to him. I have not bowed.

In humble confession. And I need his death. I need him to be my savior. I pray that they would come to you right now. We pray this in the name of our savior.

In Jesus name. Amen.