We turn in the word of God through Joshua chapter 7. A way of introduction, we should say that this chapter is not about turning your back on your enemy, nor the sin of acting presumptuously, nor failure to pray, and a hundred and one other different ideas that are taken from this chapter but rather it is a lesson on God's wrath and against whom is God angry? He is angry against his people, his church too often in the haste to get to Achan who forms much of the substance of this chapter verse one actually gets ignored that's why we should train ourselves to read every verse and to read it carefully so that we don't actually miss anything you see everything that is recorded in chapter seven all this history all these things that actually happened cannot be appreciated nor fully understood without verse 1. Ignore that and you begin to moralize. That's often what happens in preaching. You get moralism because everything isn't fully appreciated. So everything that happens, everything that's going to happen relates to verse 1. So our theme this evening is an angry God An angry God. If you want a subheading, we could say anger, aching and aspiration. An angry God. First of all, we notice the existence of God's wrath. The existence of God's wrath. But the children of Israel committed a trespass in their cursed thing. for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the cursed thing, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel." Significantly, the whole chapter is bounded on either side with this point, because the very last verse ends the chapter on the anger of God. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. So the anger of God are the two sides of the chapter. And that teaches us that God's wrath is real. It is not a figment of imagination. It is precisely because of God's wrath that Israel is smitten at Ai. and I repeat that it is precisely because of God's anger that Israel is smitten at Ai Israel's failure should not be attributed to any other cause no matter how legitimate that idea may be it is the anger of God that is the it was not due to self-confidence that is often what is said in the haste to get to AI if you overlook verse 1 well there must be a reason and some say well you see if you look at verse 3 they are self-confident that's always very small and there's lots of us we'll just send a few people a couple of thousand up and we'll take it so they say it's because they are self-confident That is not the reason. Another view is, is because they didn't pray about it. They say there's no reference to prayer in verse 3 and 4. That is not the reason. It's not about prayerlessness. There's a sense in which we can say they didn't need to pray in one sense because they knew what their duty was. But that apart, It's the wrath of God that is key. So let's not diminish the wrath of God by trying to look for other causes. So God's wrath is the beginning and the conclusion of this whole history. That makes it central. The wrath of God is central. once you diminish the wrath of God strange things happen to Christian teaching and theology weird things happen so we are confronted from the outset with the existence of God's wrath it is a reality it doesn't matter whether you're in the Old Testament or the New Testament wherever you read God's wrath is a reality and remember this is history and in this history written for you The wrath of God has its central place. But then secondly, verses 2 through 5, the evidence of God's wrath, the evidence of God's wrath. We note that Ai smote the Israelites. You see, it would not have really mattered how many Israelites went up against Ai. the suggestion is, well let two or three thousand, in the end they opt for three thousand it wouldn't matter if they sent ten thousand or fifteen thousand or even a hundred thousand, it wouldn't matter they would still have been defeated as it was, we note, they fled, verse 5 or verse 4, and they fled before the men of Ai They died, in verse 5, the men of Ai smote of them, about thirty and six men, and chased them from the gate even on to Sheburin, and smote them in the going down. And they melted, the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. There's the consequence of all of this. You see, what the writer wants you to grasp is just how devastating this was for Israel. The hearts of the people melted and became as water. In other words, they became paralyzed with fear. Courage is gone. Their hearts sank. Their spirits were depressed. Enthusiasm had ceased. It was devastating for them. Devastating. And let us not forget, it was all wholly unexpected. They didn't expect this. Let not all the people go up, verse 3, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai and so on, for they are but few. It's unexpected. But let's not also forget that they're acting on the promise. They're acting on the promise. If you go back to chapter 3 verse 10, And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you. and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites. So when they come against Ai they are acting on the promise. They are going by faith against Ai. The Lord has promised AI is the next stage Jericho has fallen let's go and take AI they're acting on the promise and yet all has gone wrong they're defeated consider all that they had been told and consider all that they had seen they had witnessed marvelous things God was present amongst them so according to the promise they go out against AI and yet neither is defeat that defeat is evidence of God's wrath not that the whole course was wrong it's not that they shouldn't have gone against AI there's something else wrong their defeat is evidence of God's wrath and then thirdly in verses six through nine the enigma of God's wrath Joshua Rentis closed fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the even time. He and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, 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? Would to God we'd been content and dwelt in the other side, Jordan. Well, if they had been content to dwell in the other side, Jordan, that would have been disobedience. They were told a crossover. But it's all so puzzling. It's all so perplexing. Why has this happened? And he said, a loss for words in verse 8. Oh, Lord, what shall I say? I am so baffled by it all I'm at a loss for words it's all so strange it's all so odd remember however you know what Joshua doesn't yet know the writer has already told you the reason but remember Joshua doesn't know here you see the skill of the writer as if he is bringing you right into the midst of the whole scene. You've got a piece of background information. Joshua doesn't. And so you're looking at Joshua. You're listening to Joshua. And you are enabled in light of verse 1 just to see how perplexing it all is for Joshua. His sorrow in verse 6. His prayer in verses 7 to 9. But let's remember It's a prayer of despair, not unbelief. Not unbelief. It's a prayer of despair. It's a prayer that expresses his perplexity. He's bamboozled, we might say, by all that is happening. And his reasoning is so interesting. Isn't this fascinating how even in the midst of turmoil he retains his logic and his reasoning and his senses. Sometimes when we are in the midst of turmoil we start to become irrational. We just swing from one idea to another. But he retains some sense. And he speaks in verse 9 of the Canaanites. and of Israel and of God and he says the Canaanites will cut off our name and thy name it is not that Israel's name is great or something wonderful but it's because Israel's name is directly connected to God's name that's the key here To destroy Israel is to undermine the very name of God and the glory of God and the reputation of God. To destroy the church is to rob God of His glory. That's what his argument is. So Joshua, as I said, is perplexed. Verse 7, wherefore? Why is this? And often we have the same argument, don't we? Why? Lord, I have obeyed, I have acted upon your promise, your providence has led me. Why then is all this happening? How often we can identify with that matter of perplexity. In verse 8, what shall I say? It's all so puzzling. Things were going so well. From chapter 1 things had been going so well. You had the promise of God in chapter 1. You had the witness of Rahab in chapter 2. The crossing of Jordan in chapter 3 and 4. Could it get any better than that? Things just seemed to be going so well. And then you had the circumcision of Israel in chapter 5. And then you had the victory of Christ in chapter 5 and through chapter 6 over Jericho. It can't get any better than that. And yet here we are. Defeat. Despair. Discouragement. Everything just seems to be reversed in an instant. What is happening? Why this? Why not? Why here? Why at this point in time? You see, God's ways are often difficult. Difficult to follow and to understand. They can be puzzling. We just are at a loss. The enigma of God's wrath And then from verses 10 through 15, the explanation of God's wrath. The Lord said unto Joshua, Now Joshua learns the reason. He learns now what we already know. And the dreadful thing is that Achan's sin is attributed to the whole of Israel. Israel have sinned, verse 11, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, for they have taken of the accursed thing, and so on. In verse 1, we are told the children of Israel committed a trespass. It is reinforced here in verse 11, Israel, they, in verse 12, therefore the children of Israel could not stand. But we note in verse 15, it becomes personal and singular. He that is taken shall be burnt, because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he hath wrought folly into Israel. Such is the cult of individualism in our age. The idea of any form of collective guilt and collective consequences is usually anathema. But this is to overlook a biblical principle of the nature of obedience to God and the implications of the covenant. If we turn for a moment to Deuteronomy 21 and we'll read verses 1-9 which I trust is a good illustration for the younger ones to understand this point. If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him, then the elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain, and it shall be that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city, shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke, and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley. And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for then the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be triumph. And all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley, and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, And lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge, and the blood shall be forgiven them. So that thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, and thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. The point is, if no one owns up, everyone is deemed guilty. So whoever is guilty must be pointed out, and they must stand forward and say it was I. I suppose if I were to make a contemporary point it would be this. Being a toit is neither sinful nor criminal. In our age people hate what they call toits, telltales. Let me make it absolutely clear. If you are a witness to it you stand up and say it was so and so even if afterwards they want to beat you up for saying so. The point is justice must be done the guilty must be found out and punished and so when in chapter 7 all Israel is defeated until Achan is discovered they are all deemed to be guilty I know that is abhorrent to our culture Well, we just say tough, we must stand by the teaching of the Word of God on this. The point is, criminality cannot be tolerated. So that means everyone has a vested interest in the rule of law. If anyone should have an interest in the rule of law, it should surely be Christians first and foremost. And if anyone has an interest in justice and wanting to see the guilty punished and not the innocent punished, it better be Christians. That is why we are appalled at some of the decisions that are made in the courts of our land. So the explanation of God's wrath. And then fifthly, from verses 16 to 26, the extremity of God's wrath. The extremity of God's wrath. The history tells us Achan, his family, his livestock, His possessions, they were all destroyed. Verses 14 through 25. But especially verses 24 and 25. All Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the weights of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and so on and all that he had. How many will cry out against the sentence the punishment they would say oh it's dreadful the punishment is too severe imagine his sons and his daughters were all put to death but they overlook two things they overlook first of all the warning that was given In chapter 6 verses 18 and 19, And ye, in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. Now do your attention to the repetition of the word curse in this verse. verse 19 all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord they shall come into the treasury of the Lord so what Achan did was not just a violation of the law of God he actually robbed God himself the second thing that is overlooked is the explanation in chapter 7 verse 15 it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire he and all that he hath because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he hath wrought folly in Israel so there is a two fold explanation first it was an offence against God and second it was an offence against the people of God And all that tells us that when people object to the sentence, it's because they don't take sin seriously. And you know, sometimes as Christians, we don't even take sin seriously. And we need chapter 7 to remind us how seriously God takes sin. And don't forget all the consequences of this sin, the consequences of this sin for Israel. Look at verse 5 again. You have defeat and death and discouragement. Remember 36 people lost their life because of Achan. So there's 36 homes without somebody. All because of Achan. but Achan's sin brought defeat for Israel and then it discouraged the entire host of Israel they were all discouraged because of what had happened and of course the consequences for Achan was death in verse 25 and for his family death in verse 24 the extremity of God's wrath. Let's come to a number of points of application. First of all, the danger of success. We can draw that point from verse 3 lawfully. You see success can make us self-confident and overconfident. Failure is not always defeat. Because failures keep us humble and dependent and thankful and thoughtful. So let's not always treat failure as failure. Failure can't be successful. I know there's a book written about the world's most successful failures. How some who were a failure turned a failure into success. But failure for us does have its positives. Like someone who, I suppose, fails an exam because they were overconfident. And they said, oh, this is easy. And they went in to discover that they revised all the wrong thing. And they're devastated. And they have to go and relearn everything over again. So the next time they go in, they go in with much more care and much more attention. so it is a danger of success but then secondly from verse 8 the scandal of defeat Israel turned their backs before their enemies when the church flees in the hour of battle that is a crisis that is a crisis to be persecuted is not defeat but to flee In the face of the enemy is defeat. What is promised to the church is victory. And the symbol is putting the foot on the neck of the enemy. And of course you think of the ultimate victory being given to Christ is to make his enemies his footstool. In other words he will stand as it were on their necks. it's a wonderful metaphor and you get it used for other people in the Old Testament and of course in the New Testament believers are told be patient your time will come when you will put your feet upon their necks that's what is promised to the church but often the church is weak and often the church compromises and caves in before the pressure of the world vested interests and culture you take some of the moral issues of our day of how particular individuals who hold prominent positions as Christians and they're all over the place And the most common thing you hear is, oh well I'm presently looking at it, I'm working out a position. You say you're working out a position? The church has had a position and you're working out a position? What are they doing? They're preparing the way for caving in. And the church has faced seizures. We all know about Christians being thrown into the lions. Well the churches had to battle with all kinds of enemies. Think of pure old Ambrose. Look at how many times he had to flee. All because he kept saying no to the Emperor. The Emperor wanted his building. It's not yours to give. And so he sent soldiers to go and arrest him. They jumped out the window and he ran off to escape them. Over and over he had to run. Think of Athanasius. Against the world. What a champion. Think of Luther. taking on all those cardinals. How often the church has had that battle. But supposing Whistler said, oh well I'm going to work out a position here so that when I get to meet the cardinals we'll have a form of words that we can agree on, a formula that we can all accept. There would have been no reformation, nothing. Think of Edward saying, oh well, never mind Armenianism, we can get a form of words and we'll sort of be compatible with their minutes. No, he wrote the freedom of their will and crushed them for a hundred years. Scandal of defeat. And the church turns its back before their enemies. So the church needs to pray. The church needs to be faithful. And it needs to submit wholly to Christ. but thirdly from verse 21 the progress of sin look at the terminology of verse 21 I saw I coveted and took then of course he says he hid the New Testament parallel to that is that wonderful section In James chapter 1 verses 14 and 15, every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, so he is distracted and enticed, he is therefore drawn in. Then when lust hath conceded, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. This covetousness, that is this negative covetousness, is a perennial problem for believers. That's why James writes as he does. He says, I want you to see the very steps by which sin makes progress. Here you have it illustrated in the life of Achan. I saw, I coveted, I took. Three simple steps. It's the same with James they say, I saw he is distracted, I coveted, enticed. So you see each of our faculties, the mind, the affections and the will are all engaged ultimately in sin. And it doesn't help if you look at what Aitken is saying a Babylonian garment 200 shekels of silver, weights of gold and so on. It doesn't help when the very things that we need are often in the hands of the ungodly. The garment, the silver and the gold. The garment manufactured in Babylon. Oh, I suppose they made a living too in weaving and what not. But so much of what we need is in the hands of others and so here is Aitken whether he needed it or not I don't know but I'm sure he would have made use of the silver and the gold no doubt but it's how he went about it and how it happened I saw I coveted and took and here's a lesson for younger ones and middle aged ones and older ones to see how sin makes progress to see, and then covet, and then take. So verse 21 is very instructive and illustrated of the progress of sin. But then fourthly, prophetic are days of blessing. verse 26 says wherefore the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor on to this day there's a fascinating verse in Hosea 2 and verse 15 and I will give her vineyards from thence and the Valley of Achor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt Jonathan Edwards makes this comment. What the people of God should be brought to in the days of the Messiah is spoken of as represented by the children of Israel slaying Achan. That's exactly what Hosea 2.15 is telling us. So here is this dreadful event. the slaying of Achan, a day of sorrow and of tears and yet God says that actually even that whole event shall be transformed in the words of Edwards in the days of Messiah when instead of weeping she shall sing as in the days of Augustus I will give her vineyards and a valley of Acre for a door of hope. in other words it's exactly what verse 26 tells us the Lord no longer angry but blessing his people and then fifthly and finally the methods and ways of providence are often enigmatic they are certainly instructive but often perplexing. And though we act according to the Word of God, we accept His promises, we obey His commands, and do all that is required of us, there are times it seems it all comes to nothing. That of course drives us to God, and like Joshua, we're often at a loss to explain it. Why? Why has this happened? Have not I obeyed thee? Have not I followed thee? Has not your providence opened the way for me and showed me what to do? It is at this point that we make use of Christ's own words on another perplexing providence. John 13 verse 7. What I do thou knowest not, none, but thou shalt know hereafter. That's the answer to these perplexing providences. What I do, you don't know. But you will know in due course hereafter. So you see there's a delightful prospect ahead for all of God's people. There's so many things we're going to learn. Things that were a puzzle to us in life. But the Saviour shall teach us and He will explain it all to us. What a lesson we're going to learn on providence. So when things are perplexing and puzzling, and we say, wherefore, why, what shall I say? And I say, friends, make use of the Saviour's words in John 13, verse 7.