Revering the Word
Joshua 7 Taking sin seriously.
Good morning everyone. This morning we're in Joshua chapter 7 and here we're going to see God's desire for the holiness of God's people. I want to take us back for a moment just to Review a little bit of Joshua here You know God parted the river and they went through on dry ground the ark of the covenant was right there in the river and It the water ceased to flow until they all crossed and then soon as everyone crossed the priests came out of the The river and the water went back. I mean they saw that God's hand was upon them and Before they even went to war God wanted to make sure they were circumcised That their their flesh was circumcised but their hearts were circumcised that they saw him as God and that they honored The covenant that God made with them. So before they moved forward Israel who didn't follow all the circumcision requirements in the desert of this next generation They went ahead and and circumcised them. This was a This was going to be a holy effort in a holy war God was desiring for people to reflect his image and likeness to be his holy people and to not Be infiltrated by the pagan gods of the lands around them then they marched around Jericho and they saw God's hand move and literally just through marching and shouting the walls of the city fall down. So they've seen God with them and for them and When they went into Just devote everything to destruction God instructed them through Joshua, but as for you only keep yourselves from the things under the band. This is Joshua 618 And takes takes let me start again But I ask for you only keep for yourselves from the things under the band so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the band and Make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and irons are holy to the Lord and they shall go into the treasury of the Lord so they were not to take anything of their own they were not supposed to take the People's things of Jericho and begin to stash them in their own pockets and hide them away They were supposed to devote everything to destruction But the silver and gold they were to take to put into the sanctuary of God not for themselves He did not want them to take things of Jericho. I think partly because it doesn't say this specifically But he didn't want them to also worship their false gods and you know think of plundering, you know our city I mean you could have everyone just trying to grab whatever they had whatever they wanted and stashed away I think of how much stuff they could have dragged away from the people of Jericho and there could have even been Division amongst the people of Israel as far as who's going to take what? So this is what God clearly instructed them now God has done so much to show them his power and who he is You know, they just crossed the river. They just saw the walls of Jericho fall down and they were told not to take anything So that is the backdrop of Joshua chapter 7 And it says this verse 1 but the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban for Aiken the son of Karmi the son of Zadby the son of Zara took From the tribe of Judah took some of the things under the ban Therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. So God is upset because this person from the tribe of Judah hid some things and took things that he wasn't supposed to take now Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI It's kind of interesting, you know, we have you know, obviously it's nothing Nothing really connected, but you know, we have this whole thing with AI right now, you know, and here you're The city called AI which is near Bethhaven east of Bethel and said to them go up and spy out the land So the men went up and spied out AI They returned to Joshua and said to him do not let all the people go up only about two or three thousand men need To go up to AI do not make all the people toil up there for their are for they are few So about three thousand men from the people went up there But they fled from the men of AI the men of AI struck them down about 36 of their men and Pursued them from the gate as far as shabaram and struck them down on the descent So the hearts of the people melted and became his water now They have just seen god miraculously Help them take a city of Jericho and god has been with them and now Right away the second city that they go to They're defeated and this is like they were riding high after Jericho and now Now what you know now maybe everyone's going to defeat us. I mean they're just This is this really shook Israel to the core Listen to what happens to joshua Then joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the lord until the evening Both he and the elders of israel and they put dust on their heads now joshua doesn't know what happened yet as far as Why they're not Why they got defeated here why they're under really the punishment of god for Some people taking things under the ban So joshua said alas oh lord god Why did you ever bring this people over the jordan only to deliver us into the hands of the amorites to destroy us If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the jordan. I mean he's like We shouldn't even came over here. Oh lord. What can I say since israel has turned their back before their enemies For the canonites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and they will surround us and cut off your name from the earth And what will you do? For your great name he's like this is the beginning of the end I mean everyone's going to see that we're not as strong as we were and people are going to be Um in bold and to attack us. So this is what he's saying to god So the lord said to joshua rise up. Why is it that you're you have fallen on your face israel has sinned and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them And they have taken some of the things under the ban and have stolen and deceived more over They have also put them under their own things Therefore the sons of israel cannot stand before their enemies They turn their backs before their enemies for they have become accursed I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst Rise up remember. I said this is a holy war and god's wanting them to be a holy people rise up consecrate the people and say consecrate yourself for tomorrow For thus the lord the god of israel has said there are things under the ban in your midst oh israel You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban From your midst in the morning then you shall come near by your tribes and it shall be that the tribe which the lord takes by lot Shall come near by families Excuse me All right, let's begin in the morning then you shall come near by your tribes and it shall Be that the tribe which the lord takes by lot Shall come nearby families and the family which the lord takes shall come nearby households And the household which the lord takes shall come near man by man And it shall be that the one who has taken With the things under the ban shall be burned with fire And he and all that belongs to him because he has transgressed the covenant of the lord And because he has committed a disgraceful thing in israel And this is uh, this is interesting, you know, you hear about someone's going to be made an example and apparently god You know goes by that kind of logic wisdom where he says, you know what i'm going to make an example of whoever has done this because Whoever has done this is his accursed israel And I want to make sure that people obey me follow me honor me um, this is a holy war and they cannot Be taking things that they shouldn't take and hiding them when I specifically told them not to And by making this person and family an example Israel is going to know to honor me and this is how i'm going to bless them In their future battles because i'm going to know that they're honoring me. So this This family is going to be made an example and you know the 10 commandments I shall not covet. I shall not steal and this guy did both so Joshua rose early in the morning and brought israel near by tribes and the tribe of judo was taken He brought the family of judo near and he took the family of the zero heights and he brought the family of the zero heights near Man by man and zabdi was taken He brought his household near mind by man and aiken the son of camry the son of zabdi the son of zera from the tribe of judo was taken and it almost seems like there's some kind of like joshua is Perhaps doing this by lot like joshua doesn't know who it is but god Somehow is illustrating to joshua Who it is that did this so somehow they're they're choosing maybe ry random but it's not because god is God is making it happen that the right family who did this is the one who's going to be illustrative to have done this and So then joshua said to aiken My son I implore you give glory to the lord the god of israel and give praise to him And tell me now what you have done do not hide it from me So aiken answer joshua and said truly I have sinned against the lord the god of israel and this is what I did When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from shinar And 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold and 50 shekels in weight And then I coveted them and took them and behold they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with silver underneath it and You know he confessed it but Unfortunately in this case for him god is choosing to make him an example So that people see the severity of stealing and lying and concealing And dishonoring him so that they won't do it more and so that he will be with israel in their future battles So he's going to be made an example so joshua sent messengers And they ran to the tent and behold it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it Then they took from Inside the tent and brought them to joshua and to the sons of israel and they poured them out before the lord Then joshua and all of israel with him took aiken the son of zero the silver The mantle the bar of gold his sons his daughters his oxen his donkeys his sheep his tent and all that belong to him And they brought them up to the valley of acor joshua said why have you troubled us the lord will trouble you this day And all israel stoned them with stones and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day And the lord turned from his the fierceness of his anger Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of acor to this day So this man pays of the penalty of it all because he disobeyed god and You know gosh what an amazing season of history that we live in today that Although we Have sin that god has sent jesus to be the lamb of god To take away the sins of the world and through jesus there is grace and forgiveness hallelujah And boy do we need that don't we so praise god that we do have the grace of god and the forgiveness of god But i'll tell you what god does not want us to take that wonderful grace that we've been given through jesus and then just willy nilly Accept it as though god is not holy or that god is not care and And dear body of christ dear church dear anyone's listening don't mess with sin Don't mess with stealing don't mess with line honor the lord He desires you to honor him and when you sin praise god for forgiveness and You know confess your sin before the lord, but do not take sin lightly god deals with sin harshly He deals with it so harshly That in order to deal with our sin he took his one and only son and devoted him to destruction Although praise god he rose him from the dead, but do you see god? Takes sin very seriously so seriously that someone had to die to forgive us But then we need to honor god in the fact that he paid such a great price to free us from the consequences of our sin And he does want us now to be holy as he is holy and to honor him So we may we take righteous living seriously May we seek to honor god in the way we live and and and don't don't dishonor him Let's honor him with the way that we live our lives hallelujah Let's give glory to god. Let's seek to be holy as he is holy And when we have sinned Make sure we honor the one who died for us. Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. What a great sacrifice Well today we see the holiness of god and we see the seriousness of sin and May this serve as an example to us Because you know what sin leads to destruction There's consequences when we do sin and live apart from god's desire And may we learn from those consequences even if they're not ours. May we learn from this man here May we live to honor our lord. God bless you all