 Amen. Joshua chapter 7. So here we are, we're after the great battle of Jericho, the victory of Jericho is over and now the Israelites are continuing to press forward into the Promised Land. They've come across the Jordan River in Joshua chapter 5 and Joshua stood before the Lord and the Lord basically said, you know, I am the captain of the Lord's host and I am not. He didn't answer and say I'm with you or for you. It depended on what they did and we talked about that last week and of course they did what the Lord told them to do and they won the battle of Jericho. However, at the end of that situation something went wrong and we see that situation play out in Joshua chapter 7. Now there's so many lessons in Joshua chapter 7. It could probably be a sermon series in itself but what I'll try to do is I'll just explain through the chapter real quickly and then we'll go and we'll apply and look at all the, I'm going to kind of shotgun a bunch of lessons at you from Joshua chapter 7 this evening. Let's go ahead and just make sure we understand exactly the mechanics of what's happening in the chapter. Look at Joshua chapter 7 verse 1. It says, but the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. For Achan, the son of Carmel, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zarah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. So first of all we start to see a philosophy here and some one person messed up and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the whole nation for it. So that's an interesting thing that we'll talk about in detail this evening but basically someone took of the accursed thing. We're going to talk about in detail what the accursed thing is in a few minutes. Let's go through, somebody didn't listen to what God said that they were supposed to do in the exact way that God said they were supposed to do it. Joshua not knowing this continues into battle in AI and Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI which is beside Bethhaven on the east side of Bethel and spake unto them saying go up and view the country and the men went up and viewed AI and they returned to Joshua and said unto him let all the people go up, let about two or three thousand men go up and smite AI. He basically said send three thousand men, there's not that many people there, this is going to be easy. They're on a bit of a high, they just took a whole city by yelling at the wall and the wall fell down and then they basically destroyed the whole city and they're just saying just send a couple thousand people, we've got this. Look at verse five. And the men of AI smote of them about thirty and six men for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shabarim and smote them in the going down where for the hearts of the people melted and became his water so they went in and they lost the battle. And Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide. He and the elders of Israel put dust upon their heads and Joshua said alas oh Lord God wherefore hest thou at all brought us to the people over brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us with the God that we've been content and just dwelt on the other side of Jordan. So first of all they lose this battle and they're all very surprised and you can about imagine. I mean they're all very surprised the Lord's been telling them I will fight for you and I'm going to you know drive these people from out before you and all this. But it's interesting that Joshua, Joshua I mean is Joshua unspiritual? Is Joshua an ungodly person? I mean Joshua is a godly man in the Bible and he's godly and he's a good leader. I mean he is a very spiritual person but it's interesting that when things go wrong and we'll talk about this in a little bit more detail but I want to point it out in this verse right here. When things go wrong and we're the same way. Okay you're not more spiritual than Joshua and neither am I. When things go wrong people rarely self-reflect. That's one interesting thing. You see it Joshua right away is like why did you bring us here God? You know when things go wrong in our life that's what we tend to see. God why are you doing this to me? People rarely look first at themselves. That's the first thing. Okay things in your family are falling apart. Things in your marriage are falling apart. Things in your life in general are falling apart and the first thing that we tend to go to is God why are you doing this to me? Instead of looking you know hey do I have something to do with what's happening here? You know is something in this house wrong? Is something in this group of people wrong? So that's just an interesting point that even Joshua failed to self-reflect right away. Look at verse number eight. Oh Lord what shall I say? When Israel turned their backs before their enemies he says we're running away from them. We're turning our backs to our enemies for the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it. He's saying everyone's going to hear what happened here and they're all going to come after us. Imagine they are in the midst of this country and they're surrounded by their enemies and now they're on the run and Joshua being a man of war knows what that's going to you know it's like when you retreat from a country you've been occupying or something you know it's the enemy rushes in and they know that they have the advantage. Look at verse number ten. And the Lord said unto Joshua get thee up wherefore byest thou thus upon thy face. Israel has sinned. God tells them what happened here. They have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them for they have taken of the accursed things. So there's two things they did wrong here first of all. We talk about the accursed thing and we're going to talk about the accursed thing but there's two things listed here. So they took of the accursed thing and have also stolen. So they took of the accursed thing and we'll talk about what that is but then they stole from the Lord is what the Bible says and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuff. Look back at Joshua chapter six and verse number seventeen. The accursed thing. So the city the reason that it's an accursed thing it's even called that in the first place is because of Joshua six and verse number seventeen. The Bible says and the city shall be accursed. Even it and all that are there in to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that are within her house because she hid the messengers that we sent. So the thing the people and the things other than a few things are all accursed in the city. So if anybody took any of that that's the accursed thing. Okay look back at Joshua chapter seven and verse number twelve. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies but turn their backs before their enemies because they were accursed. So they took of the accursed thing and they themselves became accursed. Interesting to note there too. Neither will I be with you anymore except you destroy the accursed from among you. Up sanctify the people and say sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. So I'm not going to read through all these other verses but basically he tells them go find out who did it go find out who took the accursed thing who broke the rules and down in verse number eighteen. So Joshua basically in the next few verses he starts going through the families and saying did you do it what did you do what did you take and when he gets to Akin this man Akin he confesses in verse eighteen and he brought out his household man by man and Akin the son of Carmai the son of Zabbi the son of Zara of the tribe of Judah was taken and Joshua said to Akin my son give I pray the glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now what thou has done hide it not from me. An interesting point there in verse number nineteen is that did you know that confessing your sins to God glorifies God. That's an interesting point that Joshua just made right there. He's like he doesn't know he's saying this to everybody he doesn't know who did it. He's just saying hey look you know confess what you've done confess your sins and give glory to God because when you cover your sins you're trying to glorify yourself but confessing your sins to God is glorifying to God. It's a humbling thing. Look at verse twenty. An Akin answered Joshua and said indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done. When I saw the spoils a goodly Babylon Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight then I coveted them and I took them and I behold they are hidden the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it. He said I wanted coveted them. He's he's like I wanted them and I took them. So Joshua sent messengers they ran unto the tent behold it was hidden his tent and the silver under it. So he tells you in verse twenty one what the actual items that he took were verse twenty four and Joshua and all Israel took Akin the son of Zarah and silver and the garment and the wedge of gold and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and sheep and his tent and all that he had and they brought them unto the valley of Acor and Joshua said why hest thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day and Israel stoned him with stones and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones and they raised over him a great heap of stones under this day so the Lord turned the turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name that the place was called the valley of Acor unto this day. So another interesting point is that when you know wrongdoing is punished and justice is carried out you know the Lord's anger is taken away. But look this is a pretty serious consequence this guy went through with his entire family here so let's look at what the accursed thing is. There's basically two categories of things that Akin took if you look back at verse twenty one it says I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and two hundred shekels of silver a wedge of gold fifty shekels weight then I coveted them and took them so first of all he took some clothing he took some clothing but the clothing was amongst the things that should have been destroyed God says so it was accursed it was one of the things that was accursed he didn't listen he just kept it for himself so these are you know these are things that you know he should have left those things behind but he thought you know what I'll just take some of these nice things with me and I'll just hang on to these things you know you ever felt like that in your life that maybe there's some things that you should leave behind but you're like you know what I'll just hang on to these things even though I know I'm not supposed to have them I'll just hang on to these things and but look here's the thing Akin paid for it Akin paid for what he did here the second thing he took what's the second thing look back at verse number eleven look back at verse number eleven look at what God says here says Israel has sinned they transgress my covenant they have taken of the accursed thing and also stolen look back at Joshua chapter six and verse number 19 not everything in Jericho was accursed not everything was to be just destroyed so yes he took some things that were supposed to be destroyed and he kept them for himself okay but not everything was to be destroyed look at Joshua 6 19 Joshua 6 19 look what the Bible says but all the silver and gold and vessels of brass and iron are concentrated onto the Lord they shall come into the treasury of the Lord so look it says that not everything was accursed some of it literally belonged to God some of it literally belonged to God so Akin stole from the Lord he stole from God I mean this is a big no no turn to Malachi chapter three turn to Malachi chapter three look you don't want to be stealing from the Lord and that's exactly what Akin did because God claimed these things in Jericho as his own and Akin took them for himself he stole from God look at Malachi chapter three look at verse number go back to verse number eight this is a common verse you know we don't talk a lot about you know money and giving here this is a common verse used to prove that the Bible teaches that you should tide you should give a 10% of you know your wages to the Lord says but wherein have you robbed me in ties and offerings and you know typically if people you hear a sermon on giving at church you know giving 10% of your income to the church they'll read that verse but it's really interesting when you read the verses right after this as compared to the story of Akin look what the Bible says in verse nine so what happened to Akin he took of the accursed thing he robbed God and he himself became accursed he and his family became accursed and look at nine verse number nine it says ye are cursed with a curse it says poor ye have robbed me even this whole nation then look at verse number 10 so we see here we're going to see a a dichotomy we're going to see two sides of this coin here you're cursed with a curse in verse number nine or verse number 10 bringing all the ties into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now here with say at the Lord of hosts if I will not open your windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it so here God is saying you know what why don't you just not steal from me why don't you just bring your ties in and why don't you just see if I will not bless you for that instead of you know verse number nine look tithing is an act of faith I would be like it would be like from a personal perspective from a personal perspective it would be really easy for me like from a personal perspective to look at the tithe that I give to this ministry every single month and look at that and just be like oh man I could buy some stuff with that you know I mean because look I mean 10 percent of your income if you're working hard I mean that may seem like a few bucks and it may be but look what in the world would you be thinking if you did that I mean you're robbing God God says he's like why don't you just have a little bit of faith why don't you do what you're supposed to do look here's the thing that 10 percent of your income it's not yours it's God's whether whatever you do with it is up to you but it's God's and look at what happened to achin look at what malachi chapter three says here look I'm just giving you a personal testimony you know I tithe because I don't want you know that cursed 10 percent sitting in my treasury that's why you know that's why you're like like I've said before I round up I don't want to miss anything you know so look not doing so is robbing God and it will be you you know it will become a cursed thing when you rob God's very serious okay so that's you know kind of what the accursed thing is why achin was in so much trouble why it was you know taken so seriously but there's a lot of lessons here folks there's a lot of lessons that we can learn from what achin did here's some additional lessons for you I'm just gonna shotgun about four or five lessons for you this evening from this story first of all go back you know actually turn to psalm chapter 119 psalm chapter 119 and I'm going to read for you lamentations 340 where the Bible says let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord people rarely rarely really self reflect as much as they should people should self reflect more look at Psalm 119 verse 59 the Bible says I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies because here's the thing in lamentations 340 it says something very similar it says let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord self reflecting is going to cause you to turn again to the Lord that's what it's going to cause you to do so instead of just sitting there in your life and saying you know what look it will alleviate a lot of confusion for you too because look if next time you think God why is this happening to me why are you doing this to me just why are you allowing this to happen God just check your own house self reflect maybe there is a reason for it now I'm saying self reflect don't be Job's friends we're not to go and like see somebody like a brother who's just going through a really hard time and be Job's friends and be like brother you know are you a mess of sin you know maybe you're you must be sinning against the Lord I mean don't be Job's friends this is something we're to do ourselves to self reflect and then look you will you if you'll find stuff is what will happen and then you will take care of those things and you will turn again to the Lord that's what the Bible is telling us in Psalm 119 and Lamentations 3 it says self reflect and you will turn to the Lord so I mean when Joshua finally figured out God gave him the answer here you know Joshua had the advantage of God just verbally talking to him we have Psalm 119 and Lamentations 3 self reflect find it turn to the Lord that's what we're supposed to do okay so look just consider this a possibility when things are going south in your life okay that's lesson number one self reflect more lesson number two is this sin sin many times most of the time I hate to say all the time but a lot of the time sin leads to bigger sin you say you say what in the world you know this seems very harsh this seems very harsh that Achan he took some silver and he took some gold and you know but look back at verse um look back at verse number five it's actually a little bit more serious than you probably realize because he actually murdered 36 people is what Achan did you know here he went and he did what he wanted to do just so he could have some stuff and he could steal from the Lord and he got 36 men killed in verse number five it says that 36 men were killed in that first battle where the Lord had left them those men didn't know those men didn't know they were walking into a battle and the Lord wasn't with them it was a big secret so look sin will always lead to bigger sin you think you know what I'm just going to do this one thing in my life I'm just going to hang on to this one thing and I'm just going to it's no big deal it's not hurting anybody look it's going to it's going to lead to bigger things it's going to lead to bigger things all these people living under bridges don't tell me they didn't start you know drinking and having fun at a party in high school you know they're living under a bridge they're literally digging in trash cans and eating out of garbage I mean it started somewhere you know it wasn't some teenager that's like you know what I want to be a loser it just started eating out of a trash can that's not how it happened it started with something small maybe it seemed like something fun this is sin it gets its hooks in you and and some people just can't get some people will just never get out of it but sin will always lead to bigger sin turn to Luke chapter 8 verse number 17 what's the next lesson what's the next lesson like I said sermon series for five weeks we can have here but what's the next lesson I'm just going to shotgun a bunch of stuff out at you write it down write it down if you want to remember it look at Luke chapter 8 and verse number 17 here's the next here's the next lesson from Joshua chapter 7 look at verse 17 from the words of Jesus you have a red letter bible these words are read for nothing is secret that should be made manifest neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad here's another thing about sin sin in your life especially saved person sin in your life will be found out so when you get into sin even if it's the smallest thing just imagine people finding out about it because that's what the bible says is going to happen it's going to be found out sin will not remain secret that should deter you because a lot of people think you know no one will ever know about this but that's not the rules that you're operating under folks it will be found out big sins little sins and you know everyone's going to see it third lesson and this is a really big one this is a really big one sin will not just affect you this is why this is why this is why people they think that they can hang on to something or maybe not separate from something or maybe like they know what's right and they know what's wrong that's the disadvantage that you have coming here is you know what's right and you know what's wrong and if you just do it anyway you do it anyway the price is always going to be higher than what you think you're willing to pay and please do not misunderstand what i'm saying here you can think and you can think in your head what's the worst thing that could happen you have no idea the price will always be higher first of all you're going to drag others in just as akon did and down with you look at verse number five again look at joshua seven verse five and the men of a i smote about 30 30 and six men he drugged these men in and got them killed akon and his sin and look it wasn't just akon's family that suffered so you know a lot of people think well what about akon's family you know you shouldn't be punished for the sins of the father well here's the thing either they the children of israel went overboard and maybe shouldn't have executed them or they were in on it one of those two things i bet that they were probably all partaking in that sin they were probably all helping cover up that sin that's my opinion the bible doesn't tell us but i mean he dragged them in too and he got all of them killed look it was it was i mean 36 families without a father now is what akon sin did the sad thing about people raising their kids wrong you think well they can just raise their kids wrong and there's no problem i'll just raise my kids right but these kids end up ruining other people's lives too that's the problem you think of the you know i always think of the the the school shooter you know the the the crazy kid that went and shot up a school whether it be combine or whatever you know school shooting or whatever you know these crazy you know parents that had no business even having children in the first place that messed up their kids their kids turned into a bunch of devil worshiping whatever and they went and murdered other children look their sins affected others they turn their children they turn the lives of their family into a train of destruction that drove through other people's lives that's what akon did here it seems with i mean you know akon i mean here they are they're just having this big successful campaign and they could have just went along but look it just seems like with every group of people it seems like just in my experience of my short life it seems like with every group of people you're always going to have at least one person that just is just going the wrong way i don't know why that is but it would be nice in those cases if that person just paid the price but it never works that way they drag in others and everyone pays i mean i don't know akon akon knew god laid down these rules just one chapter ago and he delivered the victory that he said that he would victory but yet get people people will find out people know that too and they do it anyway they think they can get away with it or the price that they have to pay will be worth it i think is what people think this is why it's so important to separate as we constantly talk about in this church you know you talk about we talk about separating from family that's trying to derail you in your christian life we talk about you know how about this old friends how about old worldly friends how about this old ways that you used to do things i mean i can tell you i mean just god god told him one chapter ago i can sit up here and i can tell you again and again and again but look if you don't listen you and those around you will pay but people still think i can hang on to this one thing i'll just tuck this one thing away i'll just tuck this one thing away or this person i shouldn't be around or this lifestyle or this piece of my culture that i grew up with i'll just hide it in the earth and no one will ever know look it doesn't work that way for you some of you need to realize that if every single sermon that is preached up here is different than the way that you are used to doing things maybe you just need to realize that everything that you've been brought up to believe is wrong maybe you just need to peel that bandaid off just throw it all off it's why it's why you know i didn't have this in my notes but i was talking to brother matt and i'm sorry i didn't ask him if i could say this but i'm gonna say it anyway this is why we're typically we're typically churches like this are going to tend to not have like a lot of 70 plus year old people in it and thank god we do have some of those people i'm thankful for that i mean i love you know our older church members here don't get me wrong but typically a church that just preaches hard against sin is going to be difficult it's going to be a typically a younger church because and look i try to soften the blow when it comes to preaching against things that i know people have messed up on in their lives because that's not really the point sins that they you know committed in their past because look it's all under the blood it's all under the blood but i'm not going to soften the message on things because it's it's literally not about you looking back it's about the people you know it's about the next generation looking forward i mean in just just in general if you think you know in general if you if you come to church and you think man every sermon's about me look there's no pastor that is sitting there writing a sermon every single week about you it's it's not happening okay it's not happening no pastor does that first of all you know you just the you know that's why we're just going to be younger brother matt said that he went he visited a church it was more of a uh you know he said like everybody was over 70 and sure enough it was just a super light message just this super you know easy to take message no mention of of sin or hard preaching from the bible of course because you can't get up and preach on fornication and divorce and all these things that people have actually you know they've made these mistakes in their lives and they sit there like oh every sermon's about me you know no it's about the next gen can hey can we can the next generation do it different please that's what it's about look and and or you have a guilty conscience and that's a good thing that's a good thing if you hear preaching you have a guilty conscience look get it right fix it that's what the preaching is for people all the time come up to me and pastor used to say this and i never really understood it but people cut all the time come up to me and they're like man i was really convicted from that sermon and i'm just like i had no idea you were that that person was struggling with that i had no idea but back to the sermon maybe you're just this unique person who can just who can just listen to preaching about sin that you're in maybe you can just listen to preaching about sin that you're in sin that you're just going to commit anyway i mean that's maddening first of all personally that's maddening i'm gonna sit up here and i preach out of the bible and i see just like just do the do just commit the sin anyway just ignore everything do it the world way worldly way just keep coming to church that preaches against this stuff but here's the thing here's the thing you can do that if you're this if you're this strange person that can sit there and have just take preaching in the face and be like yeah yeah and then just go do it tomorrow you're still going to pay you're still going to pay the consequences that's not me i'm just trying to help you i'm just trying to look achin confessed achin's like i did it he confessed he got right he's still paid and the price will be more than you're willing to pay it's like going to buy refrigerator on craigslist and you and you see it and it's two hundred dollars and you're like two hundred bucks that's a good deal and you show up with two hundred dollars in your pocket and the guy says no it's five thousand dollars and you have to pay that's what it is that's the analogy and you have to pay it you can't walk away and say no no no deal no you're paying the five thousand you have to buy it that's what sin's going to get you into and you know what reputations are they're hard to build and they're easy to destroy that's another thing when these things are found out and then you do the damage to the other people like achin did and and you're just like you know i i didn't mean for that to happen like i didn't mean for that to happen i bet achin thought that same thing as this whole family was being executed so look i mean it it really takes a humble person that's why that's why we're a younger church we're always going to be a younger church probably that's why churches that preach hard on sin tend to be younger churches because really to be somebody who's made a lot of mistakes in your life to listen to that preaching and to just be like you know what yeah i did do that wrong i did do that wrong and this is right these kids need to hear this we have some of those people and thank god for those people but you know what that takes a that takes a tremendous amount of humility to be that type of person you know to just be able to just take that preaching and just say you know what i've made mistakes but it's about looking forward now so look what have we learned from from achin here we learned that look you can't you can't hide things folks it's not going to work that way for you sin is going to come out he he he couldn't hide this what was he going to do just keep sitting on the stuff in his tent and just watch hundreds and hundreds and maybe even thousands of people of his nation just get slaughtered because the lord had left them so he confessed it so you can't hide things we know that it's going to cost you more than you think it's going to cost you can go ahead and you can rationalize we're rationalizing creatures we try to rationalize everything in our lives like i'll just do it this way this way in this way and then it'll be okay and you can even rationalize to the point where if you think it's not even sin anymore but you you know you have a conscience that's telling you you know what sin is but these people you know listening to the preaching of the bible achin knew what sin was he knew he had done wrong it's going to cost you more than you want to pay and the biggest thing is you're going to hurt the people around you you're going to and that's that's the price that nobody would want to pay i think i think when you think of sin when you think you know what i'm just gonna i'm just going to continue to you know be in this sin and i know that it's wrong and i've heard preaching on it but when you think about the fact that you could literally be destroying your children what will be wrecking your children and and their ability to you know maybe even get saved or maybe even raise up and marry and have a good marriage and and move forward and raise their children i guarantee this is why i think by the way this is why that i think in my life that i look at people that have been divorced maybe 30 years and i bet you if you go up and you would ask those people that got divorced i bet you the vast majority of those people if you say you know what knowing what you know now knowing what you know now that you went through over the last 30 years seeing how your kids are now seeing how your kids are you know maybe they're drunks or whatever i mean these are all things i've seen divorce kids with divorce kids and i'm not saying that divorce kids can't you know turn out and and you know things can't be with the grace of god everything's possible but when they look at you know a broken family and the consequences of their sin then they look back at the price that they actually paid i bet you i bet you 99% of them would say you know what i should have tried harder to make that work i should have tried harder because when i got divorced i was thinking about the consequences i would have to pay and i know people that have said this i was thinking you know what it's going to cost me some money but you know what i'm going to be able to have a nice life i'm going to be able to you know i'll maybe find somebody else to get married which is against what the bible says i'll be able to find somebody else and maybe i'll have a happy marriage but they turn out and they 30 years later when they look at the train of destruction that has run through their lives the vast majority of people i know i guarantee you would say you know what we should have worked harder we should have worked harder look marriage is forever god meant marriage to be forever and when you break that god hates that god hates that and the consequences are just i mean they're unbearable for people they're unbearable for the children first of all you know the children don't want that they didn't sign up for that so what people need to and the last thing is people just need to self reflect more you need to look at yourself more do you know men go through your house what are you letting into your house what are you what are you letting inside the walls of your house because if something is inside if there's an accursed thing inside the walls of your house it's your fault it's not your wife's fault because you're in charge you're the guardian you're the guard dog of that house self reflect and say you know what it is maybe your family's perfect your marriage is perfect and your children are perfect but i bet they're not so just take some time you know every week to self reflect to see what is the state of my home what is the state of my leadership here what's the state of this ship that i'm driving and you know what go around and find those accursed things and get them out get them out of your house go and look you know at that computer in your house go and look at that cell phone that everybody in your house is walking around with make sure that you get these accursed things out of your house self reflect and then you know what maybe some curses of god will be removed maybe some curses of god will be removed we all need to self reflect more look aiken committed a serious sin here and his whole family and people in the nation paid for it i mean the bottom line is i said this to the guys earlier play stupid games win stupid prizes let's bow our heads and have a word