Joshua 7 "The sin of Achan"

Joshua 7

Achan

You may remember from last week, from Joshua chapter 6, that Joshua and the Israelites had just won a huge victory over the city of Jericho.

Well, actually, it was God who had just won a huge victory for Joshua and the Israelites.

The walls of Jericho crumbled, and the city was destroyed and the fame of Joshua was spreading across the land.

Just look at the end of chapter 6 with me: verse 27, it says this:

“So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land”

Joshua and the Israelites were in a sweet place,

They had finally entered the promised land

They had finally left the dry and barren desert

They had crossed over the Jordan River,

They had crushed the city of Jericho

and Joshua’s name and reputation was spreading across the land.

Joshua and the Israelites were on a roll, they were riding the wave of momentum, surely it was just a matter of conquering the rest of the cities now, surely the dominoes would continue to fall one after the other- God was with them,

what could possibly stop their momentum now?

Well, look at chapter 7, verse 1 with me:

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

The Israelites had just literally witnessed God knock down the impenetrable walls of Jericho, but now, immediately after that great victory, God’s anger burned against his people, and why?

Because of one man- one man, from the one tribe of Judah- the man: Achan.

If you remember from the battle of Jericho: God had commanded Joshua, to devote everything from Jericho to destruction, everything, apart from the silver, gold, bronze, and iron which were to be put in the treasury of the Lord. These valuables were to be devoted to God.

However, as Achan looked at those items that were to be put in the treasurer to be devoted to the Lord…..he saw…….he coveted…….. and he took.

Achan saw a beautiful cloak from Shinar, he saw 200 shekels of silver, he saw 50 shekels of gold, there were shiny, they looked good, they looked expensive………and he wanted them…….and so he took them…………and buried them in his tent.

Those things which were to be devoted to the Lord, Achan took for himself.

Achan had disobeyed God.

It was the Garden of Eden all over again.

God told Adam and Eve that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was off limits for them. The tree of knowledge of good and evil was devoted to God, just for Him.

But Eve saw the fruit……she coveted the fruit…….and she took the fruit……..all under the failed leadership of her husband.

And because Achan had disobeyed God, and had broken faith with God as regards to not taking the things that were devoted to him……there were deadly consequences, not only for him, but for others.

Because of Achan’s sin- 36 people died.

You see after the victory of Jericho, Joshua went on to attack the city of Ai.

Now, by all accounts, Ai, shouldn’t have been as big as a battle as Jericho.

The Israelites should have easily conquered the city of Ai.

The Israelites had the numbers, the momentum, the reputation…….it should have been an easy victory.

And so Joshua carried out his usual spy operation beforehand and the spies reported that Ai was a small army and not everyone from Isreal would need to fight and so they only sent between 2,000 and 3,000 men.

And so Joshua sent his 2,000 to 3,000 men to Ai, expecting a swift victory…….but instead the army of Ai over powered them, the Israelites fled, 36 people were killed and the hearts of the Israelites melted with fear.

Now, perhaps Joshua was a little over-confident, perhaps.

Perhaps, he didn’t spend enough time seeking the Lord before going into battle with Ai, and there are certainly warnings we can heed, but clearly in this case, the reason why the Israelites lost the battle of Ai, was because the Lord’s anger burned against them.

They lost because Achan had broken faith with God.

Now, Joshua, after this defeat, didn’t know that Achan had broken the faith, he didn’t know that he had stolen some things devoted to the treasury and hid them in his tent, and so Joshua tore his clothes in lament and sought the Lord for answers………and the Lord gave him the answer for their defeat.

Look at verse 10 and 11 with me:

The Lord said to Joshua, get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Isreal has sinned, they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them, they have taken some of the devoted things: they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.

And as we read in the rest of the chapter, Achan’s sin is weeded out and brought before the whole Israelite community.

And as punishment for his sin, the Israelites, took Achan, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkey, his sheep, his tent, the cloak that he stole, the silver that he stole, the gold that he stole and they burned them all to destruction.

Because of Achan’s sin, 36 men, died, his sons and daughters died, and his animals also died.

Just look at verses 22-26 with me:

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. ²³ And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. ²⁴ And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. ²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. ²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor

What a sad and terrible story.

What are the lessons that we can learn from this story?

Probably many, but I am going to mention four.

1.        Individual sin has communal consequences

Throughout this story of the sin of Achan (the one man), there is interplay between the sin of Israel and the sin of Achan. In verse 1 God says that the people of Isreal have broken faith, and yet we know that it was Achan the one man who had sinned.

The sin of Achan effected the whole Israelite community.

The sin of one man caused defeat for the Israelite army.

The sin of one man had drastic consequences for his whole family.

We live in such an individualistic society that we have fallen for the lie, that your own individual sins only effect you………that is simply not true.

Your sins, effect, not only you but those around you.

One of the great lies about this oxymoron we call “same sex marriage” and relationships, is that people should be free to do whatever they want, “Love is love” and if two men or two women decide to have a sinful relationship, then that effects no-one but themselves.

Their sin/ or love as some would label it, only effects those people.

What complete none-sense.

First and foremost, when a same sex couple decide to have a relationship, it effects God…..it angers God. God devoted marriage for a man and woman, and when what has been devoted to God, is devoted to something else, it effects everyone.

It effects children, as they no longer have the God given gift of father and mother.

It effects society in general, as more children grow up without knowing their biological mother or father.

We know for the church, that is God’s people today: individual sin which is not repented of, has a devasting effect on the whole church.

We read in 1 Corinthians 6 that there was a man in the church at Corinth, who was having a sinful incestuous relationship, and instead of the church brining that man to repentance and restoration, they were tolerating his sin in the name of “Love”.

The apostle Paul didn’t demand for that person to be stoned to death, as was the case with Achan, but Paul commanded that man to be thrown out of the church, treated as a non-believer, in the hope that he would repent and be restored to fellowship with God and with God’s people.

You see friends,

sins which are tolerated,

are sins which are given permission,

and sins which we permit, eventually are sins which we celebrated.

Friends, I know this is a heavy one today, but this is just what the text is saying before us.

Perhaps there are sins in your life, that you need to repent of.

Sins, which you try and sweep under the carpet, sins that you have tolerated for far too long, sins that you have become comfortable with,

and yet these are sins that you need to bring to the cross and ask God to help you turn from.

You see the whole purpose of God’s judgement of our sins, is to bring us back to a right relationship with him.

Just look at what God told Joshua in Joshua 7, verse 12b

I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things among you

Israel needed to deal with the sin of Achan if they wanted to keep in relationship with God. If they wanted God to be in their midst, they needed to deal with their sin.

The church in Corinth needed to deal with the sin of the incestuous relationship if they wanted to keep in relationship with God.

We need to deal with sin in our life, if we want to keep our relationship with God.

And just like Joshua, and the Israelites did that day, they had to take action.

The heart of repentance is truly shown by our actions.

And so when we repent of our sin, let us also take action to show that we are dealing with our sinful habits.

If we have stolen something, let us give it back, or do what the tax collector Zacchaeus did and give back four times more.

If we have lied to someone let us confess our lies to them and make it right

If we tempted to sin in certain places or amongst a certain group of people, let us deliberately not go to those places or deliberately not meet with those people.

The seriousness of sin and the devasting effects were also emphasised by Jesus himself.

Jesus using hyperbole language said, “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off, if your right eye causes you to sin, cut it out”.

If you find your eye wandering, don’t let is linger, because just like Achan, a look can lead to a linger, a linger can lead to coveting, coveting can lead to stealing.

So there is lesson one: Individual sin has communal effects.

Lesson 2 is this:

God wants your holiness not your success

God wants your holiness not your success

Joshau had just won a mighty battle in Jericho, his fame was spreading throughout the land, and yet God was more concerned with hidden sin in the camp. God was more concerned with Isreal’s holiness more than there success.

Now I am not a business man.

Church is not a business.

But from what I know about business, it all comes down to the bottom line: Money

Success is measured by how much of a profit a business is making.

Sadly, many churches also measure success that way.

Is the church making a profit?

Some churches measure success by numbers, how many people attend weekly, how many attend monthly, how many attend yearly, what do we define as regular and non-regular, how many are on the roll, how many are on the roll that shouldn’t be on the roll?

Friends, those things are not God’s main concerns?

God’s main concern is whether we as a church and we as individuals are walking blameless before him.

Are we obeying his word?

Are we turning from sin?

Are we repenting of our sin?

Are living according to his word?

Are we desiring to walk with him daily?

God is more concerned with my holiness, more than whether I have preached a good sermon

God is more concerned with our holiness, more than whether we played the music well

God is more concerned with our holiness more than whether we have our name ticked off the attendance list.

The third lesson is this:

Hope comes through God’s judgement

That day when God brought Judgement upon Achan and his family, it was a terrible day, it was a day that was marked by calling that place where Achan and his family were stoned, the valley of Achor, which in Hebrew means the valley of trouble.

And yet just listen to what the prophet Hosea said about the valley of Achor, years later.

Listen to this from Hosea 2:15

There, I will give her vineyards back to her and make the valley of Achor into a valley of hope

Friends, God promised that he would take that valley of Achor and turn it into a gateway of hope.

Friends, God’s judgement upon us, as painful as it may be, is actually his grace and mercy to us. His judgement upon us, gives us hope.

When God brings judgement upon us now, his goal is always to lead us to repentance and restoration.

God in his mercy clears out that junk in our lives, so that we can enjoy that fellowship with him again.

And this brings me to my fourth and final lesson we can learn from the story of Achan.

Just as the sin of one man effected many, the righteousness of one man can save many

Romans 5:17 makes this very clear.

For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Just as sin entered the world through one man- Adam and death is the consequence for all people: Grace and righteousness – that is a right relationship with God also comes through the one man- the second Adam- Jesus Christ.

Friends, it is only through that one man- Jesus, not just a man, but God also, that we are made right with God.

It was through that one man- Jesus, not just a man, but God also, that he took all of my sins, all of your sins and nailed them to the cross.

It was through the one man- Jesus, not just a man, but God also, that all of my sins, all of your sins were paid for.

At the cross, Jesus, that one man, not just a man, but God also, took on God’s wrath, punishment and judgement for us all.

It was at the cross that Jesus, that one man, that sinless, perfect man, experienced hell for us, so that we don’t have to.

It is through that one man- Jesus, not just a man, but God also, that we sinful people receive life instead of death. What a wonderful saviour.

Let us pray,.