Joshua 7 (Bible Study) - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

meet me in Joshua chapter seven and as you're turning there we're gonna pray and ask the Lord to help us tonight Joshua chapter seven lowly thank you for the wonderful news that Sunday morning we're here together again and Lord we ask that between now and then we would be prepared to celebrate your grace throughout these past three months and to also ask you what you want of us as we hopefully are coming back to what we knew before this whole lockdown Lord in this moment we asked for your presence and your power to fill every room through every stream Lord and that people would be changed we would be changed as a result of this study and although it's a teaching Lord we pray that it wouldn't be information only let it change us let it convicted it comfort us give us the ability to receive everything and say yes and amen to that we asked these things in Jesus name Amen and amen Joshua chapter 6 is where we were last week and it was an exciting chapter it was a glorious chapter it was filled with faith and testimony of the goodness of God and now we come to Joshua chapter 7 and unfortunately sometimes the chapter breaks do us a disservice they help for memorization but when we look at the first verse we're gonna see something that continues from the last verse and it demands us to look through the big number seven there and to see it as a continuous thought now what we're about to experience here with the Israelites is a heavy truth this chapter is very much in contrast to chapter six again chapter six was filled with light and hope and faith and miracles and the glory of God and now we're gonna see that the private II of man rebellion covenant breaking grief because of sin and it's it's a really heavy chapter and in fact there's nothing light about it from beginning to end Israel up to this point has looked nothing like their parents whatever God commanded them they obeyed whatever was dished out to them they said in there we are not going to be like our parents and they walked out in faithful obedience and they made it to the promised land and as they came in they saw victory they saw what faithfulness to Jesus can do but what we're going to learn in Chapter seven is that even when you're in the promise on even if you're in the center of God's will listen carefully sin is still possible brokenness is still possible things can change drastically even when you are where God wants you to be and it's not because God changes it's because we change and so as we read this we're about to see something that happened you can say for the first time in a serious wave with the second generation and it's something that we've seen continually throughout the Exodus and the Book of Numbers and it is pure rebellion pure rebellion from this people and it goes to show that it doesn't matter what generation you're from this is a sickness that every generation deals with humanity has not gotten better throughout time in fact jesus promised is only gonna get worse and so let's read from verse one in Joshua chapter 7 here's what the Holy Spirit says to us but the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things for akin the son of Carmen son of zebedee son of Zera of the tribe of Judah took some of the devoted things and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel now the word there is but the first word so it connects us to the last verse at least in chapter 6 so go to chapter 6 and let's see the last verse what was the last thing that we were left with in our Bible study verse 27 of chapter 6 so the Lord was with Joshua and his fame was in all the land but chapter 7 verse 1 what does that tell us well at least tells us this one thing that things can happen even at the height of spiritual success great crashes turning points for the worst often happen in fact at the height of great advancement and blessing from God and through us for God's glory it's not that Joshua himself sinned it wasn't just that Joshua was lifted up the whole nation was they had seen an amazing thing but not just an Israel case in many cases for individuals and corporate churches and ministries there is a lot of butts so to speak in the narrative of their walk with the Lord and in their ministry for the Lord what that tells us is that even though we are seeing blessing from God even though we are being used to be blessings to others even though we are seeing great advancement in our knowledge of the word and our ministries and in our prayer lives and our personal holiness we are still if not we are more open to receiving a mindset that makes us almost thinking we are invincible to sin and to failure when in fact we are greater targets for it and so this is just a nudge that even when things go well especially when things go well for your life for the church's life we must be extra vigilant for things that can come in because the attack that's about to come upon Israel was not from the outside it was from the inside this is not the enemy coming into the camp this is something within the camp that is coming out and the same thing with Israel is true with us we have enemies outside of us but our greatest enemy is us and they fail to see that so what happens is we are told in verse 1 not only that Israel sin but that akin is a culprit who has been caught by the Lord for taking the devoted things from Jericho why is that important well we learned in chapter 6 that when when they were about to enter into Jericho God spoke to Joshua to speak to the people listen here's one of my instructions you're gonna get victory you're gonna take over but you cannot take one thing that is devoted to destruction you cannot take one thing that belongs to me you do what you need to do and you honor this commandment now you know who was there when Joshua said that loud and clear Achan and what we learned from this I mean this is this is right after that happened Achan heard what Joshua had to say it went in one year and it went out the other he had no regard for it he did not feel the weightiness of the implications and maybe he did in the moment but it did not carry through when it really needed to carry through Aiken was the person that was found guilty but notice that even though it was an individual sin we are told what Israel broke faith in regard to devoted things well hold on akin broke the law why is Israel being condemned with him his god unfair has got unjust I think there's a very simple answer to this and a simple answer is when God laid out the command he also laid out the consequences he's not doing something here that he did not warn them off before and so this was what he said in paraphrase even if one of you take this the whole camp is going to pay for it now why would God do that again we might think that well that's unfair well God in His wisdom wanting to promote the fear of the Lord wanting to grant a sense of greater deterrent toward sin lays out a more severe consequence that goes beyond the individual it's as though to say this is greater than you even if you are tempted to think this is my sin it's staying with me God blows that out of the water and he says even if one of you it's going to count for the whole camp and so as they understood that they would face these temptations and they would they would filter it through that consequence this is not just gonna affect me even if I'm willing to do this if it just affects me this is gonna affect my brothers my sisters my neighbors and so God is not being unfair here when he laid out the terms beforehand it was so that he could provide a greater weightiness to the implications of this sin being committed with the hopes that it would shield their hearts from even entertaining the possibility of breaking this command and it goes oh that even with something so serious and so profound a man didn't care he did not take God's words seriously he continued in his own way and we're gonna see how he's gonna pay for that and how the nation's gonna pay for that you know what else we take from verse one we read verse one as readers and we go we know what this is all going to be about we're gonna see that akin clearly broke God's law and we're gonna see the consequences of that sin but in verse two down we're gonna realize that we are aware but Josh was not aware the the elders are not aware the the other soldiers are oblivious but you know what verse one tells us God knows you know what that tells you and me that even though your leaders don't know even though your fellow brothers and sisters in your local church don't know God knows your address God knows what you do and what I do in our own tents and not only does God know what we've done where we did it when we did it you know what's amazing just so the Lord can show the depth of his knowledge he knows your ancestry line akin the son of Carmy son of Zebedee son of Zera of the tribe of judah not only does he know what you do in the moment he knows where you came from he knows who your grandpa your great-grandfather your great-grandmother is there's nothing that you can hide from God you can hide it from your pastor your pastors not God he doesn't have all knowledge he has limited understanding but you know what there is somebody who always sees and is always recording who has a book of remembrance and it's God Almighty if akin would have known that I really believe that he would haven't played the fool and thinking that he can bury his sin which he literally does as we're about to find out again brace yourselves this is a heavy chapter so what happens in verse two we are told Joshua sent men from Jericho to a I which is near Beth Aven East the Bethel and said to them go up and spy out the land and the men went up and spied out AI and they returned to Josh once said to him do not have all the people go up but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack AI do not make the whole people toil up there for they are a few so about three thousand men went up there from the people and they fled before the men of AI and the men of AI killed about thirty six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as cherubim and struck them at the descent and the hearts of the people melted and became as water what's going on here Joshua realizes that although there was a successful first mission with Jericho there is much more to be done and so he wastes no time he does what he did with Jericho he gets spies he says go and spy out the land come back with a report so that we can know how to strategize and do this the best way possible the men come back and they say listen Josh but this is no big deal ai is a small town nothing in comparison to Jericho we don't even need to send out all the troops just send out two or three thousand let them take care of it and let's move on now when you and I read that we're almost a little challenged with the attitude of this people because you read it and you're almost debating is this a matter of self-confidence or is this a display of bold faith is this them just thinking yet you know we got this we can handle this or is this them coming with the knowledge that they are being used by God and God is going to move on their behalf but they're there acting in faith you can debate it you can debate it we can debate it but I don't think that's the main focus here because as we're going to discover the consequence is not based on their strategy towards AI is what we learned in verse one and so this is what they're going to discover and the feeling that they get when these 36 men are killed is exactly what their enemies felt when they heard that Israel was coming their way what was it their hearts melted and they became like water there was no stability there's no concrete it was loose it was fluid it was terrifying and it would be terrifying put yourself in their shoes God has promised you over and over again not one of you is gonna be destroyed if you just obey me everything's gonna go well you're gonna have every inch of the Promised Land everything is in your hand if you just walk in my ways and here you are on your second mission the second day on the job so to speak and you have a much smaller town chasing your people to the gate and killing 36 of your men talk about confusion talk about frustration talk about being terrified talk about trying to make sense of this we took care of Jericho and now we come to this small little town and we're being chased like animals how does this work and here's the thing you and I know why this is happening Joshua and the elders do not know why but what Joshua is about to do is worthy of our study because there are things that he's about to do that we should take from and learn from and I think it's a wonderful wonderful example for us to consider for our own lives what is this man about to do he hears this clearly and then we come to verse 6 then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the Ark of the Lord until the evening he and the elders of Israel and they put dust on their heads this was a tragedy this was almost chaotic this was a invasion of confusion for Joshua as a leader of this people and you know what his reflex is to get on his face before God now I want you to think about this because if we're honest with ourselves perhaps this would not be our reflex in face of a dilemma like this if we're really honest with ourselves we know what we are potentially we have the potential to do and it can look ugly it's amazing what disappointment pressure and traumatic experiences can reveal about ourselves even to the point of that when things are exposed in those we ourselves are even embarrassed of our own attitudes you know it's possible for people who have served God to at one moment glory and worship God because of his faithfulness and because something goes wrong they raise their fist towards heaven and on the border of cursing God there are others who also that because they see the apparent lack of God's intervention what do they do they they are willing to walk out on God completely it's sad to hear stories of people who have once walk with the Lord and say you know I used to be like that or I used to walk with the Lord but then this and this happen and I just don't understand how God can be God if this happened but that's not what Josh with us his reflex is I don't understand what's happening I can't make sense of it and so instead of raising my fist to heaven I'm gonna put my face in the dust imagine that imagine coming through such a point in your walk with the Lord that your reflex and not knowing something is to actually seek God instead of questioning him now he's gonna question him but in in the place of humility and brokenness not in the place of pride and rebellion and so this is an example for us to consider that when we face things that are perhaps we can say failures unknown to us why did this happen or even tragedies that we are unaware of God is worthy of such a response like this do you think Joshua was the only man of God that did something like this no think of job where everything was stripped from everything was stripped from I mean down to his bones and before his body was afflicted when he received the news of one servant coming after the other he did very much what Joshua did to a certain extent instead he worshiped on top of it he tore his clothes he put himself in the dust and it says he worshiped he worshiped now I don't know about you I read something I guess I read something like job and I think to myself Lord I want to come to the place where that's what I'm able to do as I face failure or tragedy or trauma I want that to be what I do when I don't understand to come to the one who understands all things I want to be able to run to you I know I can run to a million other people I can run to I can run to so many other solutions but Lord may I be the one who first is able to come to you that is a deep work of the Holy Spirit but it's possible it is a possibility if we believe it and as he humbles himself that's the first thing he does now we see what he's going to do on top of that it says here in verse seven and Joshua said alas o Lord God why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to give us into the hands of the EM rights to destroy us would that we have been content to dwell beyond the Jordan Oh Lord what can I say when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies now let's just stop there what was Joshua doing Joshua is honestly but reverentially seeking God and so he puts the dust on his head he tears his clothes and it wasn't a momentary thing it says that he was there until the evening with the elders this was something that deeply deeply broke them and as they're there there before the Ark of the Covenant symbolizing the presence of God they are in his presence they're not running to any other place to calculate how this happened they're not looking to their strategist they're not looking to anything they are coming before God and as he does he opens his mouth and he's about to pour out what is in there and there's reverence mingled with honesty where's the reverence alas o Lord God he's addressing God and recognizing for who he is where's the honesty the questioning the raw questioning to the point of you can say accusation which is where we got to be careful but as he comes I would argue that it is better to come to God with our honest emotions and questions than not to come to God at all we might be quick to condemn Joshua for his attitude here and we would be right to say though we can come to God honestly we should not think that we have the right to shoot off words to this holy king but we have to understand that it is much better to come before the Lord the way we are than to run away from him and harbor things in our own hearts and allow other voices to influence us instead of the voice of God because as you and I come into the presence of God the way we are as we are exposed to something that jars us listen in due time God is merciful enough to give us answers God is still gracious enough to see us in that kind of a state and he's not waiting for the right recipe of words so to speak but that act of faith of coming broken before God shattered before him is enough forgot to consider and to mercifully move upon us to give us what we need to move forward and faithfulness that is how wonderful the Lord is he's a father he's a father that yes demands reverence but also accepts our honesty listen I think it's possible that what Joshua is doing here is admirable but to learn from in this sense that he realized up to this point all he's doing is accusing God and I think we can fall into that same trap and we have to be careful that whenever we look at things that don't make sense that as much as it should be our reflex to come before God we should be careful to blaming him for everything you know what's sad about Joshua's whole wording here he doesn't consider him or Israel as a possible suspect to why this is happening it's all about God right and we can fall into that same trap where we look at events in life and because we can't make sense of it we realize God knows all things so we put all the blame on him no we can't do that we come before him we can ask him we can wonder we can we can be honest but we have to be careful saying this is your fault you let this happen honesty is important in prayer God honors that but reverence needs to be mingled with that and what's beautiful is as though Joshua in the state of prayer as he's exercising this faith his mind begins to a little bit because you see that he's questioning and accusing but then look at verse nine this is for the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth it's all about me me and then he says this at the end and what will you do for your great name whether what a breath of fresh air in the middle of this you can't help but think that Joshua in this moment is wrestling with thoughts within with emotions within he understands that God is faithful he understands that he just did a miracle with a fortress called Jericho and now he's coming through this and he doesn't it doesn't make sense as he's trying to equate it and he's wrestling within and after this point he's considered of he's concerned about what his well-being and the reputation of his people and how the news is going to spread and now greater threats are gonna come on the horizon because of this failure and then he talks about me and he looks to God and he's blaming and then all for a sudden things clear up and he goes in your name your name Lord in the end this is all about you and your glory and that's where Joshua ends that's what he comes to the concern at the punctuation is the glory of God we represent you Lord I represent you I'm a Christian I follow Jesus and Lord this looks really bad and Lord I don't want to I don't want to endure this in the wrong way I don't want to handle this in the wrong way because in the end my name is attached to your name and so Lord what about you and I love this you know why because Joshua was a good student Joshua did not allow his time as an assistant of his late leader Moses go in vain because you and I remember in Exodus 32 right Moses was in the presence of God and he gets news from God himself look at this rebellious people here you are receiving what I'm going to give to them as their next step and they make a golden calf and then God is telling Moses that he's gonna destroy this people now listen to this proposal and through Moses he's gonna birth a new nation that sounds really good you sing I'm gonna be the father of a whole people group and God was willing to do it you think God was lying and what is Moses do he says in Exodus 32 12 why should the Egyptians say with evil intent that he bring them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth as much as that proposal might have been tempting to even us there's something else that was consuming Moses and it was the glory of God or what about your reputation and remind my reputation what are people gonna say about you and here's what you and I can take from this Joshua's life and Moses life you have two men here though they were flesh and blood just like us who were so convinced that their lives were gonna be for the glory of God that their ministries that their reputation that their whatever was all set apart for the name of the Lord to be exalted and here's that wonderful thing if you are a person that internally knows my life is for God to be pleased and to be blessed and to be praised this is your inheritance God will delight to provide to assist to guide to lead to protect and to give you answers as he did for Moses and as he's about to do for Joshua when your life is set apart for these things God will do what he needs to do in your life to make sure that you are in the center of his will and that you avoid the things that other people are being victim to but only for a man only for a woman who in their hearts throb for God's reputation they have holy jealousy for God's name you can get there Paul was there these men were there surely some of that you I can receive now what happens well God answers he gives clarity and before he explains though he gives two strong words that seem kind of strange in light of this man who is broken before him first 10 the Lord said to Joshua get up get up get up and then you go to verse 13 he says it again get up I think Lord what are you trying to say here here's this man who's confused was broken and he's trying to find answers he doesn't know why and we can say well maybe he's giving this strong rebuke because of the accusations that are being said and we can argue for that but look what he says get up why have you fallen on your face and I think there's a principle here and here's the prints of at least one that as faithful followers of the Lord there are times when we need to pray and there are other times when we need to act and we can't mix those two actions we need to be able to discern when it is time to seek God and when it is time to actually move practically in life and do things see there are people who pray and pray and pray but never want to act but prayer is not something you do with the hopes that God will do everything for you oftentimes what prayer is is you seeking the Lord for the strength and the wisdom and the grace to tackle issues in life with his enablement and there are some people who pray and pray and pray for things and matters that the scripture already gives us clear answers for and requires no prayer for let me give you an example here's a person that's perhaps dating a non-believer it has no interest in the gospel for them to come up to anybody spiritual leaders or friends say can you pray if this is God's will I don't need to pray for if it's for it to be God's well you don't need to pray if it's God's will look scripture says do not be unequally yoked with a non-believer and so there are people who just pray pray pray pray they want to pray and they don't want to do anything else and they're there they're hoping that by praying God will do everything and God can do miracles and there are some circumstances where he must intervene and it's beyond us but there are things that we need to do and require our participation and this is where we need to find balance and our service to the Lord now let's flip it there are some people who know how to act and love to act but they don't pray they think that they figured it all out they think that the answers are always there they think that they can just conjure it up and they can think and meditate long enough for somebody to come about and they seek no assistance from God they don't think that God can perhaps highlight something that they don't know and so they just act they act they get up and go and move and here's the thing both are dangerous and not just having both but knowing what to do when and so I think when God is saying get up what he's really saying is this is not the time to stay in this posture of prayer and brokenness it's time to move and make some moves get up there's some things that need to be dealt with and this is just a simple nudge for you tonight to consider as we walk with the Lord as well to know when it is time to act and when it is time to seek God so what does God do he tells now why this is happening in verse 11 he says here rather in verse 10 why have you fallen on your face Israel has sinned they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them they have taken some other devoted things they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings now God gives answers to why this is happening but listen this is how rich the scripture is God in his answer gives us insights about what sin does and what sin is capable of doing when it is tolerated in our lives and so I would say in the next few verses there are at least three things we can pull regarding sin and it's nature and it's dangerous potential if we let it stay in our own tents and own lives first thing is this sin though it is in your own tent is able to affect the whole camp we already heard why Israel as a whole was being indicted but God is rehearsing it and he is he is now explaining that it is in fact a corporate problem and we've dealt with why it was already in the contract this is something that they already realized but again the practicality of this is very simple you and I know it very well that what we do in private doesn't stay private it's gonna affect somebody else always will and we can't manage who it affects it can spread as much as it wants in fact it always has the potential to touch every person that we know in life always consider that never think that is limited to just oil just touch this know it has the ability to touch every person that you know just like it affected the entire camp of Israel and there are different ways that it can affect the camp and this is a porn as a local church to understand because we see it in the New Testament right there was a different camp it was in the camp of Israel as the camp so to speak of the Corinthian church and what happened well let me just read in first Corinthians 5 what do we read in verse 1 Paul heard Paul got some news Paul got a letter of some sort and this is what he heard it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans saying the world doesn't even do what I'm hearing so what Paul is saying and what was it for a man has his father's wife you have a man who has sexual relations with his father's wife and Paul's like the world doesn't even entertain such things now this is one man's sin right this is an individual sin and we know later on where he says a little leaven affects a whole lump but that's not what he says right away consider what he says next and verse 2 and you he's talking to the church now and you you are arrogant well done Paul you're dealing with one man's sin here yeah but there's a connection the man committed the sin but the people's response to that sin was sin in itself and you are arrogant are you not rather to mourn so apparently not only did he hear that this man committed this sin he also heard that the people responded in the wrong way there is no sense of grief there is no sense of sorrow there was no sense of holy disruption the people heard about this in the congregation and they moved on as a church as though it was nothing see the man's sin revealed a lot about the man but the church's response to that sin revealed a lot about the church there is no sense of corporate grief to say somebody in our congregation has come to this point and they are unrepentant they don't care they're indulging in this sin there is no sense of being stricken and this was a concern to Paul this is how corporately they were being affected that now nobody in the congregation thought to themselves maybe we should maybe we should desire to restore or maybe we should desire to remove and this was a concern to Paul just as much as the brother himself who had committed the sin and so you and I can see how an individual's own problems is not just left to the individuals there is a responsibility amongst a local assembly and this was certainly true about Israel to a certain extent because they're going to be tested to know what with what they're gonna do with this man's sin but before we get there we learn something else about sin number two sin forfeits God's favor and we see that what in verse 12 in the second part he says I will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you this is the ultimate consequence of unrepentant sinn then when we choose to hold on to things that God says should be destroyed we destroy our relationship with God not that we sever it completely but the fellowship the favor the blessing is removed as God's Way of saying you can't hold on to things that I don't want and have me at the same time now what happens when God says I will I will not be with you anymore well we just read what happened chaos failure confusion frustration now when that might happen as blatantly as it did with them with 36 men dying but it always begins internal there's a sense of of not knowing there's a sense of hollowness and a wondering and a and a darkness that creeps in and people who know this as Christians can testify to what I'm saying you know what it's like when you're in a season of sin what it does to the soul it shrivels up there is no sense of peace there is no sense of warmth there is no sense of fellowship with God or even God's people and what happens internally begins to manifest outwardly things begin to go out of divine order and this is God's consequence to sin that is being held on to he goes you can't have me and your sin so I'm gonna remove myself and let's see how long you can last in the state before you give it up so that you can have me again that should be again you've heard it a thousand times from this pulpit that should be the greatest motivation for holiness and if you don't have a sincere relationship with God you have lost one of the greatest motivations to remain pure and holy because you have nothing to fight for but it's not just that number three so now only forfeits God's favor sin also weakens our ability to fight look at verse 13 get up consecrate the people and say consecrate yourselves for tomorrow for thus says the Lord God of Israel there are devoted things in your myths o Israel you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you so not only are you gonna forfeit my favor my fellowship you can't even stand before your enemies there is a weakening now you can almost translate to say this be this is the implications you will not get another inch of the promised land because you harboring your sin you're not going to move forward in fact not only you're not going to advance you're gonna be destroyed in that kind of a state if you stay there long enough see the only reason these 36 men died was because sin was in the camp it was God's will then not one of them should die throughout the whole campaign and what God is saying is this because you are holding on to this and the longer you hold on to this the more the enemy is going to take over your life what is serious warning and what sin does listen for anybody nobody is outside of this rule it drains you of power it drains you of influence it drains you of being effective in your ministry in your witness how because you grieve the Holy Spirit and he can no longer bless something that is grieving him I remember hearing a story of a pastor's wife who knew even as a wife that her husband was a man of God that he was a soldier that every time he came up on the pulpit there was power there was conviction there was a word from the Lord it was something that was blessed of the Holy Spirit but as the closest person to him she would begin to hear his messages and they were changing there was a differentiation between what she knew when she married him and where he's at now and and not just from the pulpit but the way he handled ministry and his attitude and even who he was at home something was different there wasn't a God factor to it anymore she didn't know what it was just like achan's sin it was hidden until one day in his office the door was closed but she she opens it because it wasn't locked this time and he and he was found watching pornography and he admitted that he'd been watching and been bound to it for so long and it robbed him it robbed him of his influence it robbed him of the blessing of God because he held on to his sin and this story is so sad he ended up telling her if you don't watch it with me then we're gonna get a divorce it's so warped his mind it's so deformed him that he ultimately destroyed his life in his ministry stand before the task that God has for you if you and I choose to hold on to our sin it can't happen we always forfeit something when we choose to receive and accept and hold on to things that are devoted to destruction now what's wonderful is that God gave a warning the same way that he might be giving you a warning that things can change now it didn't have to stay like this they didn't have to be more casualties see Joshua did right by seeking God and God gave the answer now it's up to Joshua to respond so that they would no longer remain in that state and sodas with anybody else no matter how far you are in it no matter how much death is in the camp things can change and that's what revival is all about to hear God's work to hear a strong message like this and listen it's strong messages like this that are not afraid to say it as it is that brings back life and hope again so what happens God gives instructions and unfortunately an Akins case there was going to be punishment and judgment upon him God tells this leader line up the tribes narrow it down from tribe bound the clan from clan down to family and I will show you who is the culprit and whoever that culprit is you have to burn them so what's Josh we're gonna do he does just that calls a meeting calls an assembly to come and he lays out the charges by identifying this man God highlights the man and akin with the spotlight on him and from this entire nation confesses and we see down here in verse 20 and a can answer Joshua truly I've sinned against the Lord God of Israel and this is what I did now look at this now before you move on to verse 21 we just learned at least three things from God's mouth about what sin can do now what you and I are going to learn from akin is how you and I can be brought into sin what does he say when saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shannara and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels then I coveted them and took them and see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath the man literally took this stuff and buried it underground nobody else saw nobody else knew even Joshua but God saw it God has x-ray vision but notice we learned from God what sin can bring you to and the consequences of it when it is not dealt with but now we're gonna see what brings a person into sin and notice a very important word out of Aegon's own mouth in verse 21 and I saw I saw it all began with a look this is a very important point in this Bible study it all came down from where his eyes were wandering towards and you think really is it that serious I want you to think and if we were all here together I would ask think about how many grave sins with catastrophic consequences all came down from a look in fact the original sin what happened in the garden the very thing that infected the whole human race what was a big part in that happening well listen to this in Genesis 3:6 so when the woman saw so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food she looked at it she analyzed it and she says this is good and it's able to make me wise her eyes and what happened from a look you and I are paying for it here and we will until Jesus Christ comes back and redeems us totally from a look think about King David what happened to King David we know that sin that he had committed with bash Reba and how did it all start let me just read it for us to remember the second samuel 11 - it happened late one afternoon when david arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house that he saw that he saw from the roof a woman bathing and from one look a long look see if her to put it this way it's not about the first look it's about what you do with the first look with that look his family would never be the same the rest of his reign would never be the same just from a look Eve she saw David he saw akin he saw what does that mean it means that we we better deal with these very carefully whether its fruit a woman or possessions the look is the hook so to speak look long enough and you are hooking yourself to being reeled into sin so so what do we learn well here's the thing that we have to we have to discipline ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit to not linger our eyes on things that are forbidden because if you linger long enough you arouse the flesh and when you arouse the flesh you make that look become a hook and then you allow yourself to be reeled into something that you never plan on being reeled into what we get from this is that these these windows to the soul have to know how to bounce and have to know how to keep it and truth less we find ourselves looking until it becomes a desire and desire becoming action this is the root cause if you can deal with this on an initial level if you can deal with this then you will know victory brother and sister you will know victory if you're undisciplined here and it's not easy because you got to coach yourself and you got to get truth in you to be able to motivate you to bounce and to not read long enough and to not check out long enough and to not analyze long enough who knows what akin thought that cloak will look really good on me I'll wear to this I'll wear it today I'm people I asked her not to tell where I I'll just say that my mother inherited I don't know who knows what that look was we're talking about a cloak and he coveted it instead of looking at those things and being like no this is against God's will I'm keeping my eyes on his glory and his pleasure more than anything I saw what a simple of a profound truth I saw believers need to know that the best thing that you can do to not receive sin in your life is to not put forbidden things before you in the first place and to think it's harmless just because I'm looking at it keep that forbidden thing before you long enough and you'll know yourself biting into that fruit bearing things in your house taking somebody else's wife or husband that doesn't belong to you just because you allow your eyes to stay glued on it when it shouldn't have had now what happens we're coming to a close here akin confesses and as he confesses his fate is already sealed in verse 25 it says and Joshua said why did you bring trouble on us the Lord brings trouble on you today I think this is this is severe this is so heavy well God had already brought the warning he says if you sin you're gonna bring trouble to the camp and if you bring devoted things into your house you are going to be the voter for destruction I mean it's so plain and clear this is not a shock there's no way to point the finger I gotta say you're unjust God rules his universe God rules his people God makes the rules and so when God says this is what happens if you do it and then we do it and it happens we should not point the finger say oh I wouldn't do that if I was God when you have your own universe you can make your own rules what happens and all Israel stoned him with stones now we have to understand that it wasn't just akin what happens look at verse 24 it says with him took akin the son of Zira 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 this is where people have much trouble with the story of Aitkin because we see that his sons and his daughters and his own wife are held accountable with him there's much debate to why that is but it's not really a debate why because we learned something in verse 21 akin says I coveted them and took them and see they're hidden in the earth we're not at his personal storage in his house in his tent who else is in that tent his family meaning what the only logical conclusion is that they were in compliance with it they were with him on it they knew very well what their father was doing what her husband was doing and they went along with it and so there is a participation with the immediate family on this whether they knew it immediately whether it was a pre-planned thing or whether it was something that the father came in after Jericho says look what I have look nothing's gonna happen we're just gonna bury this and nobody's gonna know about it and here his wife and he was true in saying okay we'll join you in on it and so they'd bury it and God knows very well that they were in on it and because of it they all paid the price for it but isn't it sad to see what a father did there his own household instead of being an example instead of being a model see this is the influence of a father and a family he leads them all astray and I could tell you that much of the chaos that we're seeing today much of the chaos you're saying how and I'm not going to give a psychological an allow analysis of it his fatherlessness could tell you that a lot of the trouble in young people's lives is fatherlessness or the lack of a model of a father and akin is an example of that in a negative sense but it doesn't end there they're stoned then they're burned it's ugly severe and then what happens is they take stones and they create what what do we see here in verse 26 and they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day so the author highlights something that there is this pile almost a hill of stones that have buried this family under it and this should catch our attention remember we have to think as we read our Bibles we always have to have rearview mirrors I've seen this somewhere before not this exact same incident but I see a repetition of a certain theme were you with us in Joshua chapter 5 what was the instruction there this is was the instruction that as they cross the Jordan River the 12 tribes of Israel at least the leaders of those tribes were supposed to come and grab 12 stones and bring them across the promised and why so that they would plant them as memorials so that for the rest of their days the generations that would follow would always have a reminder that God is faithful God is good God can do miracles that even when the Jordan is over flooding he can make away he is able to do it and they would always have that before them statutes of His goodness and now there's something else added to their museum so to speak and it's a pile of rocks pile of stones that would give him another reminder there's consequence to sin so think of remember it's there to this day the author wrote that it that's there there was a permanence about it so we talked about how a father might take his children down to see these twelve stones but you know what else you might have taken them to down the road he might have taken them and there is this pile of stones and he would have told his children if he feared God there's a family underneath that pile of stones kids and God is serious about sin and yes look look at those stones you see those stones God is faithful God is good he's merciful he will lead you he is steadfast in his faithfulness but I want you to look over there God is serious about sin don't play the fool with God don't think that you can bury things and hide them from God God will find out train your eyes to never linger upon things that are forbidden you will convince yourself eventually keep your eyes on him walk in the presence of God set the Lord always before you it's up to this point you and I have a wonderful thing to adopt in our own lives our own mental memorial so to speak that yes we should have stones in our own hearts to say God can bring me through anything and God allows things to happen so that when I go through them I have something to look back to say he will pull me through but we can't neglect this pile of stones we must have both in view and as we look at this what's real holy and even though he is one who is able to leave me for the rest of my life he can cut off my life if he so chooses and you don't have to sin in order to have those pile of stones in your own life you can learn like Israel would learn from the sin of another person and see as a case study you can't hide anything from God sin does lead to consequences you can't hold on to your pride you can't hold on to jealousy you can't love money and ministry and God not do something about it I could tell you person that there are a bunch of pile of stones in my mind knowing what God is able to do because he's alive and well and he can see things what man does not see and man he is creative and finding ways to pull it out you're saying you're scaring me yes in a holy way yes because the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life many people think that if you just erect these stones that it's enough wrong you need this one equally and many people want these stones and think that they can control the people and keep them holy and righteous and pure well yeah it's not gonna last very long because you need to understand how God is love and he wants a relationship and he wants to work in your life and do things in your life brothers and sisters we need down we need balance the same way this book joshua is showing us balance and when we do we will stay on that path and we will know maximum pleasure for the glory of God and that's where we're at today let's pray and seek the Lord together Lois thank you that even though this is such a strong contrast to Joshua chapter 6 then in Joshua 6 we might have felt our spirits lifted up and were we might have looked at our own circumstances Oh God is able to do wonderful things and then we come to this chapter and we feel the weightiness of and we almost sense the darkness all over it Lord you have placed it for our good and we receive it even though it might be hard to swallow and we asked that Lord and our own hearts and our minds we can see these things Lord and set them before us as you did for the nation of Israel and that we may walk with these things in mind so that we would not fail to experience your perfect well Lord as we prepared to meet this Sunday let it be nothing short of a celebration praying between now and then that from this moment on we would never take your church for granted we would never take meeting together for granted and lord help us realize that the same way in Israel we were they were all connected to one another help us feel that for one another as the New Covenant Church though we love you and we worship you and we bask in your revelation of truth and we say apply it to my heart Lord in Jesus name we pray amen in Jesus name we hope to see you this Sunday morning until then be safe and be blessed amen you

Channel: UE Church - Chicago

Views: 1,479

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: daniel batarseh, uec, ue church, united evangelical church, chicago, des plaines, illinois, bible study, sermon, Joshua 7, old testament, joshua, Sin of Achan, Ai, Jericho

Id: t4njg6I2ESc

Length: 57min 31sec (3451 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 23 2020