The Accursed Thing
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
You’ve probably heard it said that failure is not final.
But I want to submit to you that Victory is not final either
Now, the victory Christ has won for us on the cross and by rising from the dead, that victory is final and nothing can keep us from heaven once we are saved.
But the living a victorious Christian walk doesn’t happen by accident
Just because we do good for a day, a week, or a month doesn’t mean we will always continue living that way.
Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
The Israelites just experienced a massive victory
Yet we will see that victory didn’t last long
The Prohibition
The Prohibition
Joshua 6:16–19 (KJV 1900)
And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city. And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
We are not good.
We are not special
God does not owe us anything
The victory at Jericho did not happen because Israel was some amazing military world power that could decimate any country or kingdom with its might.
The victory at Jericho came for one reason only. God
God fought for Israel.
It was Him who brought those walls down
It was Him who protected every soldier who went and fought
It was Him who gave Israel the strength to win
Israel should not have won that battle in any sense from our perspective.
They were a weak nation.
They had been traveling in the wilderness for 40 years
They weren’t anybody
But God was with them
Victories that come our way will not happen because we are great
or because we are special
or because we are strong
or because we are smart
They will come because God is our God and He is our strength
The moment we believe we are the source of victory is the moment we will be abased
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
God Gave a Clear Prohibition
He prohibited (Did not allow) anyone from taking anything from the city
All the gold, silver, and vessels or iron and brass was for God and everything else was to be burned with the city.
God said everything must be destroyed and if everything is not destroyed Israel would be subject to the same fate.
The Sin of Commission
The Sin of Commission
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Beth-el, 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 not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
Everything was looking good
Israel had won its first battle in the Promised Land and they quickly set their sights on their next target: Ai
They scouted the land and surmised they didn’t need a whole lot of men to secure a victory
they went to fight but were chased back into retreat and 36 men lost their lives.
How could God do this to them?
He gave them a massive victory of Jericho and then deserts them with the very next battle.
Meanwhile there was a gentleman who knew exactly why they had just suffered defeat
No one else knew (except for God)
Everyone else was blaming God for the defeat and deaths of 36 men.
I thought you promised us this land
And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
Why did you bring us all through the desert across the Jordan only to let us get wiped out by the inhabitants of this land?
Application: When it seems God is not keeping a promise that is clear in Scripture just know it can be for several reasons:
It may be that God is testing you
Abraham sacrificing Isaac
It may be that you have sin in your life
It may be that someone else’s sin is affecting you
We live in sin filled world
Little did Joshua know what had happened
You see, even though God was perfectly clear on what He prohibited, there was a man who couldn’t help himself
As he entered Jericho and fought against the enemy, when the battle was over he may have been simply walking back to camp through the city.
He may have been looking for the gold, silver, and silver and brass vessels for God
Regardless we see this man come across a beautiful piece of clothing, some silver and some gold and instead of obeying God, he decides to take these things for himself
I can only imagine how he was able to pick these things up and get them back to his tent without anybody seeing.
He may have been pacing back and forth having the internal battle of whether he should commit this sin
He probably kept looking around to see whether any body was watching him
His heart rate was probably increasing as he began to convince himself that it was no big deal if he stole these things
No body will ever find out
So after sinning the sin of covetousness, Achan sins the sin of disobedience and theft
His one decision affected the whole nation
Never fall into the deception that sin will only affect you
Many times we don’t even believe it will affect us at all let alone anyone else...
Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
The Submission
The Submission
Joshua 7:10–13 (KJV 1900)
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
The people (who in general were following the Lord obeyed God’s commandment in order to get things right
They understood that victory cannot occur until sin is dealt with
Young person, you may be faking it but you cannot have true victory until the sin in your life is dealt with.
Maybe you have not sensed God’s nearness in quite some time
Maybe you’ve wondered where He’s been
Maybe you’ve been blaming Him for the storms you have been going through
Take a moment and take away the accursed thing before God has to take measures into his own hands
Trust me you do not want that to happen
The Repercussion
The Repercussion
In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
Put yourself in Achan’s shoes
You know you’ve done wrong
You feel sick to your stomach for the sin you committed
People have died because of what you have done
You are scared if any one will find out and you regret ever doing it
Now Joshua is conducting an investigation to find who has taken the accursed thing
To make matters worse, not only will they find out who did it but the the consequences have been announced
The person who took the accursed thing will be burnt along with everything he has. everything!
He is terrified and mortified of his decision
Was it worth it?
The Confession
The Confession
And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 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, and the silver under it.
When he stood before Joshua, he couldn’t hide it any more
Achan toldJoshua what he had done and where the stuff was
But it was too late
His disobedience, his cover up, all of his actions caught up with him and now there were consequences
Young person don’t wait till it is too late
Confess Tonight
Get things right tonight
Get with God
If you need to, call your parents tonight
Don’t let sin destroy you
You don’t know when your actions will catch up with you
Let me tell you, you will despise the day when they do catch up with you and you did not get things right when you could have.
The consequences will be staggering
Your sin will destroy you if left unchecked
Sin will take you farther than you will ever want to go, Keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay
Don’t lie to yourself and convince yourself that your situation is different
That is exactly what Satan wants you to think
The Restoration
The Restoration
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land:
Once the sin was dealt with, Israel’s relationship was restored with God and God gave them victory of Ai.
Once you get your Achan out of your life, God can continue do what he intended all along.
He can help you live a victorious Christian life but when you are purposefully hiding your and not dealing with Achan and the accursed things