The Road of Sin

"The Road of Sin”

Joshua 7:21

“When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent.” (Joshua 7:21).

When Israel warred against Jericho, Achan, one of the Israelite soldiers, made himself quite notorious, by disobeying the orders given by God through Joshua and stole some things in battle. This caused great problems for Israel’s army in their next battle, for they suffered a very humiliating defeat. Joshua was told by God that he should find the culprit and have him confess his evil deed and then punish him. Joshua was successful in ferreting out Achan from among the Israelites and in our text is Achan’s confession, a confession which shows the steps, the way and path of sin. There are four definite steps in this sin of Achan which are duplicated time and time again in every age.

FIRST—THE SEEING

“I saw.” Achan’s sin began with seeing.

That’s why the Hollywood movie is condemned and that’s why TV needs to be condemned, too.

Experts tell us that 85% of our learning comes through the eyes.

The eye gate has been used by Satan to cause the down fall of many a soul.

The vile effects of movies, TV, and the internet have been the curse on many.

If you do not protect your eye gate, you will defile your life.

There are things you shouldn't allow your eyes to see!

"Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city."

- Lamentations 3:51

"Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee." - Proverbs 4:25

What Jesus said about your eyes:

Matthew 6:22-23 (KJV) 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great [is] that darkness!

Many young men and women have destroyed their lives because they have not protected their eyes... And many parents have facilitated that destruction by giving their children unchecked access to the internet.

ILL: Would you allow you 12 year old son to drive your car? Why not?

What about 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Because he is going to wreck the car!

The 12 year old can't be trusted with a car.

So what does the 12 year old do? He rides in the car! The adult decides where you are going.

Then why in the world would you give your 12 year old unlimited access to the internet?

I've heard parents say...well I trust my boy.

They cannot be trusted!

ILL: Trusting your 12 year old son your teenager with the internet is like giving a 12 year old boy a box of fireworks and a lighter and saying you can have this as long as you don’t light these fireworks.

And then you leave for a few hours. What do you think the boy is going to to? He’s going to light the fireworks.

ILL: Teens do stupid things.

I could tell you 25 stories about some dumb things I did as a teen.

One of the better ideas me and my friend had was spraying our bodies with axe body spray and then lighting it on fire.

We thought we were so cool.

Satan has been doing this a long time…

Turn to Genesis 3

vs 1-6

Eve..looked upon the fruit…and saw

Satan’s first goal in your downfall is to just get you to look....

The U-Turn

What can we do?

If you have gone this far down the road of sin then God has posted a U-turn sign for you!

How can we get off this road of sin and get back on the path of rightesousness?

Application:

Make a covenant with your eyes.

"I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" - Job 31:1

1. “I will not purposely place sin in front of my eyes.”

2. “I will look away when I am exposed to something sinful”

SECOND—THE COVETING

“I coveted them.”

From seeing, Achan went to coveting.

His affections for the forbidden were allowed to overcome him.

We must guard our affections and not allow them to be set on the things of this world, or we will corrupt out lives.

The Apostle Paul said, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).

ILL:

The U-Turn

The Solution:

Hebrews 13:5 “5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

The solution:

Contentment

THIRD—THE TAKING

“Took them.”

The next step in the path of sin is the taking.

“Your thoughts will eventually lead to actions”

Proverbs 23:7 “7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.”

If we let the eyes dwell on the forbidden and then allow our affections to do the same, the next step will be to take, to embrace.

Many folk think that when someone falls into great sin it is a spur-of-the-moment thing.

But unfortunately, it is not.

The eyes and affections have long betrayed virtue before the outward act of “took them” occurred.

There is no unpremeditated crime, for crime is simply the result of the corruption that has been going on in the heart for some time.

Matt 15:19 “19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:”

The U-Turn

The Solution:

FOURTH—THE HIDING

“They are hid in the earth.”

It is the habit of sin to try to hide it from others.

Achan tried to hide his sin, Adam and Eve “hid’ after they had sinned (Genesis 3:8).

But sin is very hard to hide, in fact it cannot be hid well.

“Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23) tells us the impossibility of hiding one’s sin for long.

God sees all and if He sees our sin, He can reveal it to the world and often does.

The U-Turn

The Solution:

Confess your sin to God

Prov 28:13 “13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

FIFTH - THE DESTRUCTION

“The Road of Sin Leads to a Dead End”

Dead as in you die.

Dead as in if you continue down this road you fall off a cliff.

James 1:15 “15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

The U-Turn