Let's take up our Bibles and read at Joshua chapter 7. This is the history recorded here of the sin of Achan and the attempt to conquer Ai while there was the sin of Achan that was unconfessed. the defeat of the Israelites by the few people from Ai, and then their victory after there was repentance and the discovery of the sin. This is all in Joshua 7 and chapter 8 through verse 29. We don't have time this evening to read Chapter 8. Please read that on your own, either individually or as a family. This is the victory, the outcome of this whole narrative. But we're going to read Chapter 7 and refer to the victory of Chapter 8, but focus on Chapter 7, especially as we consider this service of preparatory and discovering our sin before we would attempt to take AI or do anything. We need to have confessed sin and reliance upon God. So let's hear what God will say of this next aspect, this next chapter in the conquest of Canaan, Joshua 7, the word of the Lord. But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things. So the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and spied out Ai, and they returned to Joshua and said to him, do not let all the people go up, but let about 2,000 or 3,000 men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few. So about 3,000 men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about 36 men. By the way, that's 36 more of the Israelites who died in the conquest of Jericho. 36 of the Israelites died. But they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent. Therefore, the hearts of the people melted and became like water. And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening. He and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. Oh Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? But the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off your name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name? So the Lord said to Joshua, get up. Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived, and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. Get up, sanctify the people, and say, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel, there is an accursed thing in your midst. O Israel, you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought according to your tribes. It shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families, and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing 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 a disgraceful thing in Israel. So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites, and he brought the family of the Zarhites, man by man, and Zabdi was taken. Then he brought his household, man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Now Joshua said to Achan, My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to him, and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done. When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with a silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent and there it was, hidden in his tent with a silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him 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 still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Acre to this day. Thus far we read the sobering account of Achan and the defeat of the Israelites by Ai and the remedy, the holy remedy for the sin in Israel. We have been considering this wonderful book of Joshua and just how there's this picture in it of the taking of the land of Canaan as a picture of our receiving the kingdom of heaven. And we have seen that the Bible here is so full of pictures and types and shadows that point to the reality that we can be very blessed as we hear this in the light of the New Testament and the coming of Jesus. And Israel and Joshua, in fact, we're told in the first chapters of Joshua, had been those who started out so well, didn't they? By faith, they crossed the Jordan, the ark in between, and then they were circumcised and they celebrated the Passover. And they met the captain of the host around Jericho. Then they walked around Jericho according to the commandment of God, and the walls fell flat. Amazing how the fear of God was put on the people at that time, too. They were trembling, those Jerichoites and all of the inhabitants of Canaan, because the reputation of God had gone before them. And indeed, it was so. This God of Israel is the only God. And so the enemy's hearts have melted. There had been this literal falling of the walls of Jericho. And the upshot of it was what's recorded in the last part of chapter 6 in verse 27. The Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country. Significant is it as a picture of God being with Christ and the fame and reputation of Jesus Christ being known in all of the country as his people goes forth to conquer in his name. But now we have Chapter 7. And Chapter 7 begins with this little word, children. It's called, but. This was all well and good in Chapter 6. There had been this conquering of Jericho, and now there's a problem. Now there is sin in Israel, and the anger of the Lord upon Israel for its sins, and kindled against them so much that they fall before the meager troops of Ai. And this, I say, beloved, is a sobering account, but it's also a wonderful, salvific account of just how it goes with us. There is in the conquering of the land, in our being the people of God in life, there is much success, and we are so grateful for that. But sadly, because sin remains, there still are problems, and we can bring them upon ourselves if we do not consult with God and pray and are those who acknowledge our need of Jesus. In fact, it is the case, as we learn here, that because AI is able to take Joshua and his troops, one little sin, one little city of sin is enough to overthrow us in our pride and in our thinking that we can overcome even sin without God. We retreat, we suffer casualties, we as families, we as churches suffer casualties and we give much grief to God and we would bring a shame upon the name of Jesus as we don't go in this land, we don't live in this world in the name of God and conquering for his sake. So there is much to be sobered about here. And as we consider our sins in preparation for the Lord's Supper, this is how we should look at it. We're just like Israel. When it, after a great defeat of Jericho, thinks it can just push over the next city and live the next day without any consultation with God, this can happen to us. We end up tripping up not only, but falling back and being ashamed to the name of Christian. But after all, There's not just shame and guilt and doom and gloom here, there's plenty of that, but there's something positive here, something so positive that there's a lesson here of God's mercy. For God is patient with His people here, patient with Joshua who falls into the sin of unbelief and blames God. patient with all of the ones who were involved in discovering the sin of Achan. And he's patient and just as well to forgive us our sins for the sake of his son. In fact, if you look at the book of Hosea and Isaiah, those two prophecies, this valley of Achor, or trouble, which is memorialized when the bones of Achan are buried there with his family, is celebrated as a door of hope. And that's why I entitle the sermon, AI Aiken and the Door of Hope. There's something here that's a lesson in the troubles of life. Let's just say it that way, the troubles of life, about just how God works to lead us closer to Him in all the troubles of life, the defeats we have, the disappointing providences we experience. There's something here, everything here, of God's solution to our troubles. forgiveness and blessing in Jesus Christ. So let's consider Ai-Achan and the door of hope. First of all, sin in Israel, and this is doom and gloom for them. In fact, God says, you are doomed. You have become doomed to destruction, verse 12. Unless the sin is purged out of your midst, you're doomed. The conquest of Canaan is hopeless. So that's the first point, sin in Israel and the doom and gloom. in Israel of all people that we see. And then there's this necessary, even though brutal, discovery of sin. And finally, lessons we would learn from the Valley of Achor, the troubles of life. So we learn here there's sin in Israel. There is sin led by a man named Achan. of a certain family, who is of a certain family, who are of the tribe of Judah. That's the significant thing. Some commentators have said that perhaps Achan was being rather boastful of the fact that he was of the tribe of Judah, and therefore he thought he had a right to the accursed things. Be that as it may, he was certainly of the tribes of Israel and of an outstanding tribe from whom Jesus would come. But Achan, Achan. With all the privileges of covenant, bearing the mark of circumcision, partaker of the Passover, like many a churchgoer who is an upstanding member in the church, he takes of the accursed thing. That's his sin. The children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabar, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things. So the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Now, what are those accursed things? Those of you who may be hearing this series on Joshua for the first time need to know this, and so do we. Well, the accursed things that Achan took were the accursed things of Jericho. Remember, that's the city that was just conquered. In chapter 6 and verses 18 and 19 tells us what the accursed things are. And you by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it. Now, there were some things that were not cursed in themselves, like the silver and the gold, verse 19, and the vessels of bronze and iron, which were to be consecrated to the Lord and come into the treasury of the Lord. But Achan, it appears, took not only a cursed thing like in a Babylonian garment, but he would use the things that were not cursed in themselves in a cursed way, that is, the gold and the silver that was to be reserved in the tabernacle for worship. He took them for himself, for his family, and for his wealth, and this was a curse to him. So Jericho, the first and the greatest city of Canaan, picturing the might and the defiance of sin that remains within all of the human race against God and his people, This is the place which is under the curse and its things also. Its people must be destroyed. The things of its necromancy and witchcraft and idolatry had to be destroyed. Even the good things had to be devoted to the Lord. It was under the ban. which is the Hebrew word for herem, under the curse, separated unto destruction, as are all sinners who are under the curse and not safe in the arms of Jesus. Jericho, the picture of the reprobate of this whole world, whose cup is full of iniquity and who are now ripe for judgment, it and all that pertains to it is devoted to destruction. Its people, its men, its women, its children, its animals, all devoted to destruction, except it be for a few things for use in the tabernacle. Well, Achan took this. He took this, and he took this when he went into Jericho, a Babylonian garment, a status symbol. Must have been quite a garment. Then he took 200 shekels of silver, 50 of gold, and all these he took and hid in the earth in his tent. Achan, for this, sinned against God. In this, he sinned against God, and he also sinned against Israel, so that he's called the Troubler of Israel. Chapter 7, 25 and 26 tells us that. Joshua said, why have you troubled us? That's a key word in this text. Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned him with fire after they'd stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones still there to this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor. Trouble. to this day. Achan was the true Troubler of Israel. 1 Chronicles 2 verse 7, he's called the Troubler of Israel who transgressed in the accursed thing. So that's Achan. Not a good testimony does the Bible give of him. Some people like to think that even though there was this sin because he confessed it, there was nevertheless a reprieve for him. He would be judged this day, they say, and that's how it's expressed in this judgment, but forever he in fact would be forgiven, he and his household. I don't believe that. There's no indication of that. This is sin in its worst, and this is sin which is a troubling of Israel, and the greatest thing is it was a defiance of God. In fact, the sin against God was this, first of all, a transgression of the covenant commands. Look at verse 11 of chapter 7. Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, both stolen and deceived. They have also put it among their own stuff. Transgression of the covenant commands. What covenant commands? the covenant commands that were given in chapter 6, the covenant commands that always are a part of the covenant, and they are the commands that God gives to us and also us today in the new covenant, whereby we are to show our responsibility and our receptivity to the grace of God, our thankfulness to that, and as we prepare for the supper, this is exactly what we should be doing. We should be keeping the commandments of God in gladness to God and resolving, as we partake of the sacred elements of the blood and body of Jesus, we're going to be far from hypocrisy. We're going to be those whose theology shows on the ground and whose walk confesses what we talk about, our confession of faith. So a transgression of the covenant is a terrible thing. This is also something that was part and parcel to this taking of the accursed things, a thing called covetousness. Verse 21, when I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels, I coveted them and took them. This sounds, in fact, an awful lot like the sin of Eve. who saw the tree, the forbidden tree, the forbidden fruit, saw that it was good, coveted that fruit, and then she took them as she transgressed the covenant of God. So it showed what the Bible says is idolatry. Covetousness is having other gods than God. It is wanting something more than God. And you show that when you don't want to obey God's commandments. You show, I'm going to have another God, and it happens to be me, and I'll just do whatever I want. So this is idolatry. Then he refused to consecrate what Jehovah said might be to God, but would use that in his service of sin. So the gold and the silver, yes, indeed, they were to be spared. But not for Achan, not for his family, not for his coffers, not for his bank account, not for his IRA, but it was to be devoted to the service of God. And so all of this was his stealing from God and showing that sin had dominated him. It had taken over him. He was not saved. He did not heed the warnings. He cared little of the consequences, and he's forced to confess, and he died in his sin. All of this caused great trouble in Israel. It was not only sin against God, and sin never is. It's always against God, but it's never just against God. It's against all of his truth and against his people. Achan caused trouble in Israel. Chapter 7, we read that, verses 25, 26, called folly in verse 15. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he's transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has done a disgraceful or foolish thing in Israel. He has sinned. Striking that the sin here that is especially highlighted is the leavening of the lump. Sin is like leaven, it's like yeast, children. If your mother makes bread or some other rolls or something and it takes yeast, causes the bread to rise and makes it light and fluffy and tastes delicious. Well, sin is like that, except when sin takes over and sin is put in whatever we do, bad intentions, bad words, a scurrilous letter we write, or something else, something we do, and it's mixed into the pot, it becomes terrible. In fact, the whole thing, the whole loaf, becomes a sinful loaf, a sinful endeavor, a sinful motivation, and the guilt, even, of the whole is shared. And this is on the forefront, even, with the sin of Achan. The striking thing about the sin of Achan is Israel's sin is on the foreground. Achan's not the only one who sins here. Or we could put it this way. In Achan's sinning, sin is attributed also to the people of God. Look at chapter seven closely again. Chapter one, chapter seven, verse one. But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi did this. But first of all, as mentioned, the sin of Israel, the children of Israel committed the trespass regarding the accursed things. Verses 11 and 12, Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, for they have even taken some of the accursed things and have both stolen and deceived. They have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore, the children of Israel, not just Achan and his family who are burned and stoned, stoned and burned, The children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies, because they become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, all of Israel, unless you destroy the accursed thing from among you." Israel here is the sinful person, as it were, the whole group. the church, the people that go by the name of people of God. Achan, indeed, led the way, and his family. And I believe Achan and all of his family was burned. They were stoned, and they were burned. Some like to have that family not participating in the sin, not only, but also not being exposed to the wrath of God and the stoning and the fire. I don't believe that the narrative indicates anything like that. There is this brutal and decisive slaying of the people in the transgression, Achan and his family. But here, you see, we have God saying, this whole nation of mine, this wonderful covenant people of mine is punished here is faced with corporate guilt here, that's what it's called, this bodily or this all-togetherness here in the guilt when Achan has sinned. The sin and guilt of one is imputed and imparted to the society of which he is a member. In fact, that's how God deals with humanity in general. God has created and deals with humanity as a whole, a unit, a body. In Adam, for example, All die, Romans chapter 5, verse 10 and following. In Adam, all die. Why? Because Adam was made the head of the human race. Adam fell and the judge pronounced Adam guilty and everyone he stood for. We all are made to be Adamites. That's how we're born. That's why we're born dead in trespasses and sins. And our problem is not that we become sinners by doing things and imitating bad examples, but that we're born dead in trespasses and sins because we are in those born into the family of Adam. Then there's also, of course, nations and churches and families have this mutual connection, this two-way relationship for good or for evil. If the nation is given to sin, then the whole of us is involved in this in one way or another. The sin, in fact, infiltrates the whole, and the whole contributes to the sin of the one. And so, in fact, the closer people are united, the more this is seen, especially in the body of Christ. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, we'll get back to that later, that there's a little sin in you and it's not very insignificant at all. In fact, this is leaven in the bread. It's this poisonous thing in the bread which may rise and look delicious and even taste delicious after a fashion, but it's going to give you worse than indigestion. It's going to kill you. It's going to kill the church if sin is allowed to permeate the ranks, the ministry, and everything about us. This is the lesson of Achan and Israel, Israel and Achan. Achan's sin had affected and infected Israel. The sin of Achan was like a hidden root out of which the sin in Israel grew. Achan's sin represented Israel's sin. His was not the only sin. Israel's not just sucked unwillingly into sin, but there's this sin that's ours, And it's exemplified in Achan. And Achan's sin is something that does not simply come upon us, but it's a part of us by nature, and it is stoked, and it is worked when sin becomes manifest in one member of the body. Sin of Israel, that the sin of Israel or the sin of Achan was Israel's sin, is clear from the narrative. Israel's punished for Achan's sin, and not just for Achan's sin, but God justly punishes Israel. Israel attempts to take Ai, and their sin is exposed in this. There is no record that they consulted with God. If you think about the conquest of Jericho, lots of consultations with God, a meeting of Joshua and the captain of the host, revelations given of just what they're to do, and that this would involve this marching around, and the trumpet blowing, and the shouting, and the silence, and everything, and the ark in the midst. Much of God there wasn't there. High theology, and this would be for the conquest indeed of Jericho dramatically, fantastically, redemptively. But with regard to Ai, the little city, And Joshua's sending out spies. And they coming back and saying, you know what, this is a pushover. We need just a couple of thousand, maybe three. That's all because they're really not much. And look how much we did before. There's no record here of God in the mixed. God asked for his wisdom with regard to this. God confiding with them. No ark is taken to Ai. That seems significant to me. They are insensitive, in fact, to their sin and Achan's sin. If any church beloved is sensitive to sin, she will be able to discover it. The elders will be able to discover it. You sensitive parents will be able to discover sin in yourselves not only, but also in your children. And we as church members should be able to consult or pray to God, no sin in our lives, but also sinfulness in the congregation and in the church at large. But there's no record, you see, of this conversation. No record of this thing which always must be prior to our activity, our theology, our preaching, our praying, and that is prayer. and a humble willingness to listen to God. Don't you know how bad it goes if all of your relationship with your wife or your husband is you talking and not listening? You asserting yourself. You're having your agenda. You're wanting this or that or the other thing and all of this without listening. No listening. How much more a relationship with God. So Israel is defeated. They're defeated. And then you have this, Joshua prayer, his prayer. This is striking. Joshua is one of the outstanding characters of the Old Testament, known for his faith, Joshua and Caleb, two of the 12 spies that were faithful. They saw the same giants that the other 10 spies saw when they went 40 years ago into the land of Canaan. They saw all of the difficulties that remained, and they say to Moses and to Israel, that's no problem for God. No problem whatsoever, let's rise and take the land under God. But here, look what he says. After Joshua had torn his clothes, having heard that there was a defeat, 36 men casualties in the battle. He tore his clothes, verse six, fell to the earth on his face, it looks good. And he did this before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. And then listen, beloved, listen. to what comes out of the mouth of the captain of the host of Israel under Jesus. Joshua said, alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Oh, that we'd been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. And then he goes. Maybe to try to save the honor of the prayer and to say, Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before the enemies? The Canaanites and the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off your name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name? It sounds like he's concerned for the honor of God. However, in verse seven, I find him blaming God. Joshua said, alas, Lord, why have you brought us here? What is this, have you changed? You promised that you'd be with us. I met your captain of the host. Now what? It sounds an awful lot, doesn't it? Like Israel complained to Moses, or Moses to God at certain times. Why have you brought us out of Egypt? To destroy us in this wilderness? And here, Joshua, this is an advanced sin. Why have you brought us over the Jordan? Why have we come here? Better that we were in the wilderness. So before, better that we were in Egypt and the leeks and garlics there. Here, Joshua is saying, better we were in the wilderness and not exposed to this shamefulness and this defeat in the land which God was calling the land of promise. So for all of The piety surrounding the prayer has certainly sinned here on Joshua's part. And the sin that really was the result of his not being in prayer with God, not being in tune with God, not someone who was receiving his marching orders for every battle from God. We can be that way, can't we? The Bible says in general, be armed with the armor of God, praying and we pray in general, but we don't pray for the day ahead of us. We don't pray for the meeting we're going to have. We don't pray for strength for this job. We just kind of take it for granted. We don't pray with regard to our leisure. That's just our time, we say. And so we relegate certain things to ourselves and certain things to God, and we can take care of ourselves. Israel was saying that we can take care of ourselves and this pushover AI, no problem. And God is not in the midst of our life anymore. Practically speaking, we have disowned and dishonored him. Just like that we are. Just like Against Two, this is the lesson. These are the lessons of Israel's sins. We covet Babylonish things, don't we? Like garments. and worldly bank accounts, houses, and boats, and whatever else, whatever toys is the next thing that people like to play with. We do that. What God says is to be used for him, we take for ourselves, like our money. And we can do that. I'm first, and I have these things I'm planning for. The church, she can do all right. She can do all right on her own. And we wonder sometimes why the church doesn't prosper and why there's always a shortfall in the Church of Christ in general. It's wonderful, beloved, that in this church, and I make this application here, We have been really, truly blessed by giving people, giving people, giving friends, and of late, a healthy donation to the building fund. Isn't that amazing? God has truly gifted us with this. But as we were talking in the council meeting the other day, the temptation we said was for us now to rely on ourselves. There's been a mighty conquest of mortgage. That's done. That's the Jericho. And now, we don't have to give so well and so much, and we seem to be forgetting there's other cities to conquer. There's other work to do for the Lord, and it requires money, it requires involvement, all these things. And you know, beloved, Nobody's ever out for your money who's on behalf of God. But on behalf of God, we're simply out for you, the entire you, every bit of you. That's the point. Israel, you see, was not really into taking AI. Just let a couple of 2,000, 3,000 go in. Everyone doesn't have to be involved in this and so on. and so it can be in any church. Well, let's move on to the discovery of sin, the necessary discovery of sin. Israel's sin. shown to Israel graphically in God not letting Israel stand before the people of Ai. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Avin on the east side, and said, now you spy him out. And they take 2,000 or 3,000 men. In verse 4, the battle isn't even really mentioned. 3,000 go up, and then 3,000 go back. They fled from before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about 36 men, for they chased them for the gate and so on. And look at this. They struck them down on the descent. There must have been a slope leading from Ai. And therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water. What does that sound like to you? That sounds to me a lot like the fear of the Jerichoites against God. Their heart was melted before God, and now we have the Israelites turning into Canaanites. They're afraid of the Aites. They're afraid, therefore, of something with the Aites. Maybe they're gods. They got powerful swords there. Maybe the gods are fighting for them, but for all practical purposes, even though Israel might not have fallen into idolatry here, they were not trusting in God. And they couldn't. because they had not conferred with God, and they were themselves partly significantly to blame. And then God worked in the heart of the people. So God worked the knowledge of the sin and the fact that Israel couldn't stand before the enemy. Does that with us, too. Can't stand before sin. You wonder why. You wonder why you can't stand before the temptation to sin? You ever wonder why? It's not because you don't have the strength to overcome the sin, is it? Because the Bible says, through Christ, I can do all things. He strengthens me. And I can resist the temptation. The name of Jesus is greater than the name of Satan. The blessings of salvation are greater than all of the temptations and the powers that be of Satan and the abyss. But here's the reason why we fall into sin. Because we sin before we fall into sin. We're living sinfully. That's why. We're not meeting the day, we're not meeting the temptation, we're not meeting the challenge, we're not meeting the ordinary things of life with this great and glorious attitude. This is the day the Lord has made. Why will you complain tomorrow? Here's why. Because tonight you're not on your knees. praying to God to consecrate today. Why is it that your sermon seems not to rise up off the ground or into the ears of the people or to be something that's making a change? Why? Because it's not sanctified by prayer and the Holy Spirit working through it. There is not the presence of God. even in the holiest of activities that are tainted with sin and even dominated by sin. And our excuses, it's just the way we are. Just my temper. Just had a hard day. God would discover that to us, and that's what he's doing here. In fact, without the defeat of AI, Joshua would never have known what an unbeliever he was. Because Joshua, man, he was a standout. His fame. The Lord was with Joshua, and Joshua's fame and the Lord's spread throughout all the country. Now that can get to one's head. The fame. The great notoriety. of being a great this and a great that, conquering. God would bring Joshua down to his sinful knees and the elders and to godly grief by the ark, trusting in the mercy of God, seeing the need for God in everything. So, indeed, there is something in Joshua's prayer. I don't think Joshua is a reprobate. He's just a sinful child of God. And there is something so much that God hears his prayer. And God in fact tells him as he's praying and as he's pontificating really about God, this is, it sounds like a sermon that he's giving to God. You ever do that? Don't ever do that. When you're praying, maybe you're a public person, you're given to pray, don't preach to God in your prayer. Don't make a list, it sounds like a sermon. Pray your prayer. Men of God, pray. Women, pray. Children, young people, be praying. And God hears, and hears what he did. Joshua, speaking about the great name of God and the jeopardy to his name with this defeated Ai's hand and who else's hand, who knows, would mean. Joshua is told by God this, verse 10. The Lord said to Joshua, get up, will you? Don't lie thus on your face. Remember, Joshua just accused God really, I think, of changing, changing his mind, being a God who's not keeping his promises. You brought us people over the Jordan, why? just to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? That's not fair. The Lord said to Joshua, no. Get up, will you? Stop this childish and wicked sort of repentance, which is mixed with so much sin and selfishness and unbelief. I can hardly believe it. Not I have sinned, verse 11. Israel has sinned, they sinned. And they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. They have even taken some of the accursed things. And he's not just talking about Achan, because everybody's affected here. They, this whole corporation called my people is sinful now. That's what God is teaching, Joshua. and all the people. And so then he gives instructions in how to discover the sinner. Verse 13 and following. Get up. There's that get up again. Love it. You fall off the horse, beloved. That might be the mark of a weak Christian or a weak horse rider. But of a true Christian, It will be known that he gets back on the horse because God has given us the horse to ride, the race to run, the fight to fight, because he's still with us though we fall. But here it is. Get up. Get up. Sanctify the people. I'm gonna teach you here, sanctify and say to them, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. Maybe that was by ablutions and washing themselves, maybe by fasting, putting dust on their head. Children, that was a sign that they were sad. You'd be sad too if you had dust on your head. It was a sign that we're not happy because God's not happy, we've sinned. Maybe they fasted, whatever, it was a sanctification, a setting of themselves aside to God, rather than being cursed of God and devoted to destruction, they'd be devoted to salvation. They'd be devoted to God. They'd be devoted, as hardly any of us is nowadays, truly to growing and truly to say, you know what? This day is for the Lord, and not for me. That's all that sanctifying means, and then some. There's an accursed thing in your midst. This is what God says. First thing he says to us, we learned about this in evangelism, wisdom in evangelism. You must speak the bad news first. Discomfort the people to bring the comfort of the gospel to the people. There's sin in your midst. You're dead in sins, except you're alive in Christ. You're a dead man walking, if you keep on walking this way, and you're doomed to destruction. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. Now, that is good instruction. The instruction in our Bible, isn't it, in the light of the New Testament, is repent of your sins. Jesus has come. Repent of your sins. Fly to Him. And do battle for Him and in His name. So, there was this process. We don't know exactly how sin was discovered. It might have been by the Urim and Thummim of the priests. probably peculiar-looking stones. So they'd ask the question, is this of the tribe of Judah? And then one stone would be picked up by the priest, and by divine guidance, it would be said, yes, this is of the tribe of Judah. And then go down to the family so that Achan would have been picked out. Could have been by lots. The lots were used, as they were in the time of the disciples, replacing the one Judas who had died. All the lots God would use, but the whole disposing, Proverbs says, is of the Lord. It was a way of the Old Testament to reveal the will of God. This is what God did at that time. And so God was working, you see, in the heart of the people. And then there was that judgment. Then there was a terrible judgment, that decisive judgment, that quick judgment. Then there was not 23 years on death row because you murdered someone. How ridiculous. There was this instant judgment when the man was condemned of stoning, and everybody participated, and then burning. And again, I believe all his family was also stoned and burned with him. And the things that he'd taken were burned. They were all destroyed. And his bones piled up under rocks in the Valley of Acre or Trouble to remember the sin of Israel. How about us, beloved? I have to leave you shortly here. The way of discovering sin. I could go to the elders and say, you know, there's a passage in 1 Corinthians 5, the whole thing, which speaks about the trouble in Corinth. Yes. The whole passage in the Bible speaks about trouble in the church. and the way to solve the trouble. The way to solve the trouble was by acknowledging it and then repenting of it and doing that because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Having a sensitivity to the effect that sin is going to have in the congregation. The elders lead the way too. There's this analysis and this leadership by godly elders to say, this cannot be, this unconfessed sin amongst us. I could say that, I say. That's one way of discovering sin. But I want us to start in the heart. It has to do with a prayer. And this prayer, I pray that you'll make this week. Psalm 139, you can turn with me to that, or certainly turn in your minds with me to Psalm 139. As a man of God is standing for the right Do not I hate them, O Lord, who hate you, verse 21. Do not I loathe those who rise up against you. Do not I hate the Aites and the Jerichoites and so on, whom obviously, because God has said, are ripe for judgment, they are reprobate. This is how the psalmist could legitimately pray that. Do not I hate them, O Lord, who hate you. Do not I loathe those who rise up against you. I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Now there's the psalmist. and he's looking at the enemies, and they are many, and they are mighty, and he's saying, I am on your side, and I hate them. I hate what you hate, I love what you like. But now here's what he does, and this is self-examination. Search me, O God, and know my heart, verse 23, try me and know my anxieties, and see if there's any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Beloved, that's a prayer I dare you to make. You can hide one over me, or over you, or over a spouse, or over children, or over your parents. You can hide. You can run. And you can try to run, but you cannot hide from God. But now the Christian says, I don't want to hide from God, but I know my nature. It is to hide sin from myself. So you pray to God himself to discover the aching in you, the aching in you, the covetous person. The one who hides the gold under his tent was a little bit set away and a little bit of time set away for me, myself, and I. who is trying to have secrets from self and from others, but now he's come to his senses and he says, no, I just can't have that. So I'm saying to God, I'm asking God, oh, you search it out, Lord, and you Show that you know me and if there's any wicked way in me, root it out. That's what he's saying. Now that's honesty. It's called integrity. There's the prayer of a man of integrity who's from the heart inside and in the outside of his life is showing he doesn't live for himself. That he conquers every battle. in the fear of God, that he faces every AI and every other city and every other challenge in the fear and the strength of God, that he goes ahead in the week and he prepares for the supper in the fear and love of God, that he deals with his wife, he deals with her husband and children and his single life and the problems of life and the successes of life, not by self, but by faith in Jesus Christ. And that's really what he's hoping to find, that God will find. When God discovers to him wicked ways in him, he's praying, Lord, find the wicked way, but please find your son in me. Look for your son, oh God. I need Jesus. I need Jesus. Joshua was forced to be so repentant and the elders with him by the ark of the covenant to be renewed in their faith in that one to come. And we, beloved, as we hear this word of God, this sobering message of the Achans that we all are, the sinful Israelites that we all are, we must be those who fly to Jesus or we die. And AI overcomes us, and Jericho overcomes us, and the worst thing is we overcome ourselves. You're your worst enemy. That's what Israel learned here. We are our worst enemies if we not be friends of God and clinging to him. So, beloved, sin is discovered. Lessons are learned of Jesus, and that means we find peace and hope. As I said, the Valley of Achor, its whole message was changed from troubler in Israel to hope in Israel. Read Hosea chapter two, Isaiah 65. Hope of Israel is the Valley of Achor. May your troubles in life and your successes, the valleys of hope, or mountains of hope. Because God is the God of hope, and he leads you. And he's leading you right now. Do you hear him? He's saying, fear not. AI is ahead. Take it. Amen. We pray, Father, that you would bless us, and keep us, and make us to be those who triumph in Christ. We pray that you would lead us in the way everlasting. Search us out, search our sins, and help us, Lord, to repent of them and discover anew the Christ in us whom you've given to be our Savior. Hear us and dismiss us with your favor. May we have a great week thinking about the wonderful things that we've heard. Under your authority, set free to serve you, Return us once again into your house to receive the word and the sacrament with joy and together in the fellowship of the body of Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.