The Book of Joshua chapter 7. It's a rather solemn chapter. I'll read verse 25, but we're going to look at this whole chapter and its very powerful messages to us in our day. Verse 25, And Joshua said to Achan, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day.' And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. They called the name of the valley, the Valley And if you have a margin, you'll see that that means trouble. There was a great pillar raised over Akan, and it would seem that this was to be a permanent memory or memorial. as a warning to the people of God as they settled in the land of Canaan and it's certainly a memorial and a powerful warning to the Lord's people today as well. But we go back to the beginning of the chapter and I will try and work through this chapter this evening, identifying many of the key lessons for us. How often great success and prosperity are followed by trouble. That's certainly the case here. Chapter 6 had been a pivotal chapter in Israel's history. The Lord had displayed mighty power as the walls of Jericho had fallen. and that first conquest was made in the land of Canaan. Just for any who are troubled, perhaps we read this chapter of violence and we know the enemies of the Bible will pick on chapters such as these two, the conquest of Jericho and then the stoning of Achan, and they would say, what kind of God sanctions these things? And we can easily be troubled when people make these allegations. Well, God is a miserable God. He's a harsh and despotic figure and he's not worth my seeking. Well, we need to remember that the Canaanites had become gross in their depravity and immorality. You can turn to Leviticus chapter 18, Deuteronomy chapter 18. We haven't time this evening. And there the Lord points out the wickedness of the Canaanites. The Lord had spared them as a civilization for 400 years. and they had grown steadily worse. Their morals had become nonexistent. There was violence, child sacrifice, depraved sexual practices. They had reached the end of the road. And the Lord would use His people, Israel, to be the executors of His judgment. And we have to keep that perspective when we read these things. When we come to the case of Achan, as we shall see at the end of this chapter, his judgment was solemn. but he'd had opportunity to repent, and his sin was great. And the people of Israel were a theocracy. They were a kind or type of the church. And so God often dealt severely with those who sinned with a high hand, as an example to others. The parallel is not that we expect in modern Britain that we should take up stones and stone people for the least of crimes. But it is a warning that in the church of Jesus Christ, the Lord expects serious sin to be put away. It cannot be tolerated. The church is the church of the living God. But we'll come to that later. Well, there were two sources of trouble that plagued Joshua and the children of Israel in this chapter. One was a sinning member, the second was a self-confident spirit. And it may well be that the Lord permitted the second on account of the first in order to teach Israel and all that should follow on after as the people of God some very pivotal lessons. So we're going to look to begin with at this self-confident spirit that was so detrimental to the people of Israel when they approached the city of Ai. Poor Joshua, he almost wobbles himself in this chapter. A great man of God, in a sense he was a pastor and he was duped by the spies and he yielded to what was a foolish policy. What happened? Well, the spies went up to Ai, they concluded that the town was small, and they abandoned the policy which God had established. Chapter 6 had made it very clear that the way of conquest A spirit of success in the Lord's battles were by obedience to him and dependence upon his power. But here, all of a sudden, you find these reconnaissance officers coming back from the town of Ai saying, don't trouble the whole congregation. we only need take a few men, we will succeed easily. Now, just look at the beginning of chapter eight. We didn't read it, but after the trouble has been addressed and put away, the Lord said unto Joshua, fear not, neither be thou dismayed, take all the people of war with thee and arise, go up to Ai. That was God's policy. and they had departed from God's policy. Self-confidence can be a great snare to an individual believer. Remember last week I drew a parallel between spiritual conquests or the physical conquest of Canaan and the personal battles that we face as believers. The battle with sin, the battle with temptation, resisting and overcoming the spirit of the world. And maybe the Lord gives us success in some pivotal battle in our life. And we come away from some sin and we feel as if the Lord has at last given us deliverance. the love of ease, the love of money. They were things that filled our hearts, perhaps. And now the Lord has broken the snare, and we feel that we are on the path of obedience and holiness. Some sinful habit, unclean thoughts that plague our minds. We seem to be able to struggle to get rid of them, but then we succeed it, or so it would seem. a temper, a short fuse. It's perhaps given us sorrow for years. And we feel of late that the Lord has given us that deliverance and we're far more magnanimous. We don't lash out with our tongues like we used to. We feel that we've conquered. But that's when we are in great danger in our walk. when we feel that we've mastered all the old sins. Maybe a battle to resist the pull of the world. It's very strong, perhaps, when we're first converted. We've got worldly friends and acquaintances. We've got a lot of old sinful pleasures that we're used to indulging. We've been called away, but the tug is still there, and we feel like, finally, We've got the mastery of our old love of worldly things, but we must beware. The children of Israel became complacent here. The next battle, they thought, will be fine. Is that how we think? The next temptation that Satan tries, I will be all right. I will stand strong and tall. and then we become neglectful of the Lord's means. Oh, we don't need to take all the people. That was the spirit here, wasn't it? We'll be just fine. Oh, well, I'm a strong Christian now. I don't need to pray as often as I used to. I do not need to diligently read my Bible and seek the Lord's help, consciously depend upon him, I don't need to practice self-examination, reflecting upon where I'm yielding. I can be far more laid back. That's when we are likely to fall in a heap, as Israel did here. And then the same lesson can be applied to the work of the Gospel in the Church of Jesus Christ. We don't see great success today in our country like previous generations, but there may be a time when the Lord uses us as a church or as a Sunday school teacher or individuals and we're greatly encouraged and we feel that there's been some sort of gospel breakthrough, but that's when we have to be particularly alert. If the preacher suddenly says, well, I can, I've mastered this role as a pastor or as a preacher. I don't need to be as prayerful and diligent in my preparation, thinking and reflecting upon the word of God, getting a strong grip and grasp of the teaching. I can just swan through this. Well, the Lord will leave us to fall flat on our faces as he did Israel here. If there's a church, well, the prayer meeting is not that important. I don't need to attend the prayer meetings. If a few do, that will be fine. Well, that's the spirit that had affected Israel here. Just take 2,000 or 3,000. Most of the people don't need to go up to AI. Well, just have a gathering of half a dozen for prayer every week. That'll maintain the cause. The Lord delights to see all the people of God united in prayer, earnest in prayer privately, gathered with purpose publicly. Well, the second lesson, or the second trouble here, the first one was self-confidence, and really the outcome speaks for itself. But just look towards the end of verse seven. We see here, Joshua cries out to the Lord, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. The people's hearts had become as water, melted." Verse 5, and the Lord, and Joshua begins to exclaim to the Lord, the Canaanites will come and get us. In verse 9, and what will happen to your great name? What was the Lord's response? Verse 10. The Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up. Wherefore liest thou upon thy face? Joshua, why have you yielded to unbelief? Have you lost your confidence in God? If you failed in battle, is it because of God's lack of power or God's inability to protect? Of course not. The Lord had permitted their failure on account of their own sin, and immediately the Lord informs Joshua, verse 11, Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant. When there's trouble, or when we yield to sin, in our lives personally? Or when the church struggles to make any inroad or see any fruit to its labors, is it the Lord's fault? Do we have license to cry out to the Lord and say, Lord, why have you left us? Well, the answer here would seem to be we search our own hearts. We've got to examine to see where the cause his withholding hand is and that's what Israel were to do here there was serious sin in the camp verse 11 and The Lord says they have even taken of the accursed thing Why is it plural? It doesn't say here somebody has taken of the accursed thing. It says they have taken of the accursed thing. This sin was a sin which had the potential to bring everybody down and to affect all. It's called the accursed thing. If you have a modern translation it may say something like the devoted thing. But the idea here is of something which is devoted to destruction. Go back to chapter 6 and verse 17. The Lord said through Joshua, the city shall be accursed. even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. Verse 18, And ye, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed when you take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it, All the silver, the gold, the vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord. And so on. So this is where this verse is referring back to. God had said, nothing in this city is yours. The silver is devoted to God. but everything else is devoted to destruction. It's to be put away. It is to have no part, no place in your life. By taking it, you become accursed yourself. Well, what are the lessons here for us then? When we are converted, we pledge to keep ourselves pure from all that is tainted with sin. Everything that belongs to this fallen sinful world, particularly those things that are intrinsically associated with this world, they have no place in the Christian life. In a sense, we devote them to destruction. If they've been part of our life, we say, I will put them out of my life. As we go through life, we say, by the grace of God, we will keep ourselves separate from those things that are offensive to the Lord. They belong to this world. Friends, it's such a tragedy when you see those who profess faith in Christ and they seem to follow the worldly fashions. Things which flaunt sexuality or tops which have logos on that are clearly associated with the sinful culture of this world. it should have no place in a Christian life. I remember turning up to a church once and several of the young people, they were professing Christians, they turned up and they'd got the window down and they were listening to something like Radio One. This is many years ago. But we don't touch those things. They're tainted. They're associated with a lifestyle that is an abomination to God. The songs, the lyrics, the rhythms, they're all deeply associated with the rebellion of this world. They're not neutral. We may like some of the styles, but we say, for the Lord's sake, I will leave them alone. I will devote them to destruction. I will put them out of my life. The status symbol, material things. It's another thing, as Christians, in a sense, they are part of this world. Well, I must have a particular designer brand. I must have something that conveys status. Isn't that nothing better than the Babylonish garment? that Achan later confessed to have taken. He wanted it for himself with the jewelry studs. It was something unique, something that was cut above the rest. And he said, I coveted it. I wanted it for myself. Verse 11 tells us here that what Achan did was a breach of the covenant. Look at what the Lord says. They have transgressed my covenant. In a sense, what Achan had done was not simply disobey the clear prohibition of chapter six. What Achan had done is had said, I won't obey the Lord. Before we look at what happened to Achan and say, that's a bit harsh, remember the context. Achan, all the children of Israel, they've recently come over the River Jordan. They've seen the mighty miracle that the Lord had done. They must have been deeply impressed at the power of God and the presence of God with them. He had just witnessed very close to his sinful act, the collapse of the walls of Jericho, miraculously. And so his was a sin against the glory of God. It was a sin against the promise of God, who had said, I will give you the land, the land. What did he want with a Babylonish garment? He'd been promised his share of the land. The Lord's promised us heaven. We have no business with coveting the sinful things of this world. It emboldened the enemy. They saw, as a result of Achan's sin, Israel collapse in battle. and it would have strengthened their enemies to think, we can win this war yet. It led to the loss of 36 of their soldiers. It led to great distress amongst Joshua and the leaders. But above all, it was a sin against the covenant of God, who had said, I will be your God. I will fight your battles. I will provide for you and your families. And that made it such a serious sin. If only Achan had thought, if I take of this garment, I'm going against the express command of God and there may be serious consequences for me and all those that I am joined to. Do we think like that? Oh, perhaps he thought it's only a little sin. A few coins of silver, a gold nugget, a Babylonish coat. It's only a little sin. Surely, I'll get away with it. That's what Satan wants us to think as we go through the Christian life. Oh, well, there are sins that The big sins, of course, Satan will say, you avoid them. They would lead to infamy. But you can get away with those little sins. Do them secretly. Don't let anybody know. You'll be fine. Well, perhaps that's what Achan began to think. Well, our sins may have far-reaching consequences. It's not true to say when we look at this passage, well if there's one gross sinner in the membership of a local church the Lord will withhold his blessing. Clearly when you balance this scripture with the New Testament that's not the case. But what is true is if the church connives at that sin, then the Lord will deal harshly with that church. That's why at Corinth, when there was that man who had had his father's wife and the church were almost complacent, the Lord rebuked them through Paul. It was perilous for them as a whole fellowship because they hadn't put away the sinner. And Paul there applies that and says it's the same if someone is an extortioner or covetous or a reviler. They're constantly critical and backbiting. You must put them away. And in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, those churches that the Lord stood in the midst of. He said of some of them, I have somewhat against you because you have there those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Or you have there so and so, Jezebel. He didn't deal with the church, but he warned the church, if you don't deal with them, I will remove the candlestick. You'll forfeit much blessing. And so that's how we have to look at this passage. Achan had to be dealt with, or the church would have ultimately forfeited the help of the Lord in future battles, as they had learned here in their own self-confidence. So as far as Achan is concerned, this sin would prove disastrous. But what do we learn from it? Well firstly here is a warning against the specific sin of covetousness. When Achan in verse 19, verse 20, he is invited by Joshua to own up, he says in verse 21, I saw and I coveted and I took. And I hid. There was progression. He saw and he coveted. We have to be so careful with our eyes, don't we? Our eyes can incite our hearts to covetousness. We see certain things. We see what someone else has that we don't have. We see the advertising hoardings. Everything in our society is designed to fuel desire and covetousness. A love of what we have or a craving for the material that we do not have. Covetousness was the sin here that was the root of his disobedience. It wasn't all of his sin because he went against an express command of God, but it was what was at the root of it. Covetousness makes us an offense to God. Do we examine ourselves to see if this root sin is beginning to hatch or breed or take root in our hearts? We're in such a materialistic society. We're surrounded by people who say that what matters in life is your possessions and your status symbols and what you can enjoy here. So easy for us to yield to this sin. But Achan is set before us by the Lord in scripture here to say, beware of covetousness. Covetousness is linked to pride, and some say that that's why he wanted this Babylonish garment, because it was so unique and probably luxurious. He was duped and taken in by what he saw. Secondly, Achan here is a reminder that God sees our secret sins. He'd hidden it in his tent. He thought that no one had seen it. How he underestimated God. We may almost, and it would be foolish of us to do so in one sense, we may say, how staggering that he thought that God wouldn't find out. Because God sees everything. But is that how we think about ourselves? We've got many sins that nobody else sees, but are we still troubled because we know that God sees them? Are we envious? Do we bear a harbor, a grudge against another believer, another person? And it's in our heart. And when they hit trouble, we're secretly pleased. because we were jealous of the pro-prosperity they'd enjoyed. God sees that sin. Are we dishonest? We give the impression to others that we're something that we're not. We make excuses for why we've done or what we haven't done. Dishonesty is secret sin. Perhaps everybody believes what we've said. and yet we've not really been straightforward and straight with those that we've been dealing with. God sees that sin of dishonesty, a neglect of prayer. Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. He saw it as a sin. And in one sense, a neglect of prayer for the believer is a little sin, shall we say, but God sees it. Have we grown sort of cold and almost we look at the Lord's house with distaste? Well, I don't really want to go, don't want to be there, don't want to focus upon the ministry for an hour. I've got better things to do. The Lord sees, the Lord knows what goes through our hearts. That's a warning here, because Achan clearly thought no one would know, but the Lord did. Thirdly, why was Achan dealt with as he was? Well, we need to see the progression here through these verses. So first of all, imagine your A can here. And in verse 13, Joshua is told, adounce to the people, tomorrow, you've got to sanctify yourselves. You've got to be up. You're going to be set apart. And there's a sin in the ranks. There's a sinner in the ranks. And you're going to be divided family to family to family until the sinner is exposed. Achan had the opportunity at that moment to say, I know I'm going to be found out. The best thing I can do is keep a short account with Joshua and a short account with Joshua's God. I'll go and get all of that stuff. I may still be in trouble, but at the first opportunity, when there was that little jolt, he could have gotten all those things together, unearthed them from his tent, brought them to the elders, and said, I'm sorry, I'm the one. I see my sin. I confess it. Have mercy upon me. He doesn't do that. He stays away. He holds out, hoping that there will be a fresh opportunity to escape. How do we deal with that moment when conscience is first stirred? Some neglect in our Christian walk. Something that we've thought or said, we know it's wrong. And yet we sort of hold out. I'm not going to come clean with the Lord. I'm not going to confess my failures. I'm not going to acknowledge that I deserve his solemn chastisement. I'm not going to ask for his mercy and grace. Well, if you look at Achan, surely we would say, that's a foolish thing to think and say. And so we see what happened. Verse 19. He couldn't escape, and in verse 19, he's brought before Joshua, he's identified by supernatural guidance from on high, and Achan is told by Joshua, my son, give God the glory and make confession unto him. Now some say, what was the point of this? If Joshua knew that he was going to be solemnly executed, why get him to confess? And the suggestion is, it may be that Joshua knew that he couldn't escape the earthly punishment for his sin, but if he made confession here, and Joshua spoke very tenderly to him, he could obtain God's forgiveness and still inherit eternal life. That's what some suggest. He certainly gives a very clear confession of his sin. In verse 21, he told Joshua all the detail of it, and so it may be that he was forgiven. But because of the grievous nature of his sin, he had to still suffer the earthly consequences of it. Verse 22, Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent. Why did they run? Was it because they were so eager to see if it was true? Dr. Masters says of this verse, no, the reason was that They were anxious to get rid of the sin. They knew that the Lord's blessing would not return to them as the people of God until they had properly addressed the sin that had caused the displeasure of God in their midst. Well, Achan is to be put out of the camp. This is a theocracy under the direct authority of Jehovah. The people of God were called to be a holy people. And here was a covenant breaker in their midst. And he would be made an example of. Why was it necessary? Well, he was made an example of such that all future ages should understand that the people of God must be pure. Sometimes when we come to matters of church discipline, people may say, well, that seems a bit harsh. This person has fallen. They've yielded to some serious sin. Is there really no way other than to put them out of membership until their repentance has been proved and genuine? Why was it necessary here? Firstly, it preserves the honour of the Lord. God's honour had been brought into disrepute by Achan's disobedience. And when we sin grievously within the Church of Jesus Christ, His name is honoured. We wear His name. We identify with Him as His redeemed people, loved, favoured immensely, given light, understanding. If we sin habitually or grossly and notoriously, then the honour of the Lord is at stake. And when the honour of the Lord is at stake, the church has to show that she stands on the Lord's side. It protects unbelievers, sorry, vulnerable members. Secondly, young members. Imagine they come into membership of a church, and then they hear that someone of a more seasoned and mature membership, and they've fallen into some serious immorality, and the church just winks at it, hardly does anything. Young new members may begin to think, well, does it really matter? If I'm prayerfully anxious to keep myself unspotted from the world when so-and-so sinned and the elders did nothing, it's important for the protection of the whole flock that serious sins are addressed. as a warning to others, and surely that's what happened here in the case of Achan. But thirdly, it averts a stumbling block to outsiders. Sometimes the gross sins of the Lord's people, the unbeliever sees them first. They know, and they say, well, she's a member of the local Baptist church. And yet I know that outside the church, she's up to all sorts of grossly immoral things. And the church has done nothing about it. If the church does address that issue, then the unbeliever sees. that the Church is serious about the things of God, and that the Church does adhere to the standards of Jesus Christ. And so it's part of the Church's testimony, as well as for the rescuing of the offender himself. And so we see, as this chapter closes, perhaps some say, well, it seems really unfair, verse 24, that his sons and daughters were also embroiled in his punishment. The suggestion is that they knew and they protected the criminal. They perhaps weren't party to the original crime, but when dad brought home the Babylonish garment and the gold and the silver and buried it in the tent, they kept shtum. And it cost them, too, because they harbored the criminal. They didn't run to Joshua and say, I'm afraid my father's the guilty one. Blood is thicker than water, they say, and so often people stand together in crime. Probably that's what happened here. And Achan and those in his family who had protected him from the authority and the justice of God, suffered the same fate. Well, it's a solemn chapter, isn't it? A chapter that we ought to read and say, let me be humble enough to recognize that left to myself, I could also fall. I could also yield to some sin. I may forfeit the Lord's blessing. I may bring others with me into sorrow. I may hinder for a time and trouble the church to which I belong by my own neglect of self-examination. serious passage. Well may the Lord teach us from it and may we truly cry to him lest we should yield to self-confidence or some serious sin that leads to the forfeit of much blessing. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, we have read this chapter together, we see that it is a lighthouse in some ways on the end of a rocky outcrop. how many there have been that have made shipwreck of faith in self-confidence, in complacency, having yielded and lost so much blessing. We fear lest we too should fail to learn this lesson. Keep us clear from the old sins that once were part of our lives. Keep us from yielding to the little sins that we can so often underestimate. And Lord, help us that we may be truly the people of God. We ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We close our worship this evening with 518. O Lamb of God, still keep me close to Thy pierced side. 518.