The Sin of Achan - Joshua 7

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Psalm 105:1–4

“1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!

2 Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! 3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

4 Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!”

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Again welcome my friends...

I am blessed today, so thankful to see your faces today. It is a joy to have you here with us.

This morning we are heading to the Old Testament and I want us to visit the days of Joshua has he is leading the children of Israel.

Remember, God appointed him as the national leader after the days of Moses had ended.

And Joshua takes the children of Israel into a new land, they cross over the Jordan and enter into the land of Cannan. This is a new day for the people.

Remember, God had them at the river crossing 40 years before, but doubt and sin crept in and the people sinned against the Lord, only Caleb and Joshua stood with the Lord and his plans. So for 40 years they wandered in the wilderness until a generation had passed away.

Now after those 40 years, they entered the land, and they listened and followed the Lord and they just experienced a huge victory seeing the walls of Jericho fall…

And on the heels of that victory they have come to their next battle… the city of Ai. But their will be no victory because of sin.

And this is where our story is today. And through these passages I want to have you keep this question in front of yourself..… Do I give to God what is His?

So lets begin today...

Here is the first thought I want you to consider today, there is a command from God...

1 A Command from God...

If you go back and read Judges chapter 6, the children of Israel have come up into the land of Canaan and more specifically to the city of Jericho. And it is there they are preparing for the defeat of the city.

Now the city wouldn’t be taken in the traditional way, not by advancing upon the walls and trying to break down the gates to the city.

Instead God gave them essentially 3 major commands in reference to the defeat of the city of Jericho.

The first thing God told them was to march around the city in a certain order, one time for 6 days. And on the 7th day, they were to march around the city 7 times. And upon the end of the 7th time around the priests were to blow the trumpets and the people were to give a shout.

And the city would come down…

But there were two other commands given that day.

Secondly, In reference to the city everything was devoted to destruction, which meant every living thing, man or beast would be killed except for Rahab and her family for the protection she had given to come of the spies.

Thirdly, Every piece of gold, silver, bronze and iron was holy to the Lord. And as such they were to collect all those items and they were to go into the treasury of the Lord.

This is what God required of His people as they came to defeat the city of Jericho.

And truthfully, these commands were not difficult. And as they acted in obedience to God’s commands, they would do well. God would go before them and He would win the battle for them.

And this is what happened, as the people went around the city on that 7th day, making the final steps of the 7th time around the city, the priests blew their trumpets and all the people shouted. The Scriptures tell us the wall fell down flat, in chapter 6, verse 20.

And as they walls fell, the people went into the city and they captured it. Everything that God told them to destroy, they did, men and women, young and old, oxen sheep, and donkeys perished by the edge of the sword.

The only survivors of the city was Rahab and her house were saved because she hid the men Joshua sent to spy out the city and kept them from perishing.

And once the city was completely defeated, the Israelites burned the city and all that was in it and Joshua cursed the city that day. Cursed would be the one who tried to rebuild this city.

When you look at the command, it was simple. Destroy everything and every piece of gold, silver, bronze and iron is to brought into the treasury of the Lord.

And God expects His children to heed his voice and follow His commands, not just then, but friends, even now.

So pause for a moment, ask your self, what has God commanded you to do, What is He leading you to do?

it is important that we follow my friends...

Now on a side note, some people ask about the city of Jericho. We know that during the days of Jesus we find them passing through the city of Jericho… what happened since it was supposed to be cursed.

Well, the curse was that on one would rebuild this city on the place where it stood. So to try and rebuild on those foundations would be a mistake.

Later on, people would establish a city a few miles down the road and they would call it Jericho. That city survived cause it was not rebuilt on that particular place. Just thought I would share that explanation with you.

Secondly this morning is a willful act of disobedience...

2 The Failure of Disobedience…

As the children of Israel celebrate the victory over the city of Jericho, all is not as it seems.

God gave some simple commands for His people to follow as they overtook the city, but not everyone followed God’s words.

And friends, here in this the truth of the matter, one person can derail life, one person can derail God’s plans and certainly one person can cause the ship to go off course.

Lets look at chapter 7 verse 1 Joshua 7:1

Joshua 7:1 ESV

1 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

There it is...one man sinned against the Lord. This man, whose name is Achan, he took something that was devoted to the Lord.

What does that mean, It belonged to God, it was to be collected and brought into the treasury of the Lord and he kept something he found for himself..

His mindset might have been, this one little thing will not matter, no one will miss it. Well my friends the Lord did, and he took notice of it.

Disobedience is always sin, and sin, remember it has consequences my friends.

Let’s go back to our text my friends.. Joshua 7, verse 2-5

Joshua 7:2–5 ESV

2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua and 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 few.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, 5 and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

Wow, they had just seen a great victory and as they go up to take the very next city, a city they should have been to overcome very easily with the Lord’s help, but yet they are defeated...

And as you walk through the text, upon their defeat Joshua is upset, verse 6 says he tore his clothes, and fell down before the Ark of the Lord, they placed dust on their head as a sign of sorrow and mourning, Joshua and the elders did this till evening.

And Joshua called out to the Lord.… and the Lord answered. Look at the text with me, verses 10-11 Joshua 7:10-11

Joshua 7:10–11 ESV

10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.

So we see God’s response to the prayers of Joshua, telling him what has happened and why they were defeated..

There was sin in the camp, someone did something wrong and God says that sin, that transgression was the direct link to their defeat.

Now lets deviate for a moment.… Now I want you to see that connection, sin leads to defeat, to failure, to separation from God.

So sin in our lives, sin in our homes, in our marriages will lead to failures… don’t doubt that. If you go and live how ever you feel and do what pleases you alone, well you will see, discover how that leads to failure.

Listen it’s important that we live each day at the foot of the cross, confessing any sin, whether it is a sin of omission or a sin of commission to the Lord, seeking forgiveness and grace each day.

Now, back to the text…

For the children of Israel, they have sinned, one man’s sin effected all of them. Now they needed restoration, they needed to make things right… and most certainly they needed God’s forgiveness to move on...

So look at what God tells Joshua in verses 13-15 Josh 7:13-15

Joshua 7:13–15 ESV

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 midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man. 15 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’ ”

So God sends then on a journey to discover who it is that is guilty of violating the Lord’s command.

God knew, but without just spelling it all out, just saying it. God is calling all of the camp to be involved in understanding the nature of sin and the penalty it brings upon the guilty.

Sin always has a penalty, it always leaves people helpless and hopeless. And sin will affect a person, a family and even here a nation.

So consider, how does our sin, our failures, our mistakes affect us?

And this takes us to the last point.…

3. Do Not Take What Belongs to God...

As we finish looking at this chapter, we find that Joshua begins doing exactly what the Lord commanded of him and the people.

It starts with verse 16, as each tribe is brought before the Lord and Joshua...

One by one they come and finally we see that Judah was selected by the Lord… and so every clan of the tribe of Judah is brought before the Lord and Joshua.

Understand, God knows who is guilty, but he is using this plan to allow the people to identify the guilty, the one who has brought trouble upon the nation.

Now verse 17 says the clan of Judah known as the Zerahites was chosen, and finally the household of Zabdi was chosen by the Lord.

And from that family, we are told that each man of that family was brought near until we come to a man named Achan. And look at verse 19 Josh 7:19

Joshua 7:19 ESV

19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

So Achan is revealed, remember I said God knows, He knows the heart of each of us, our thoughts and the deeds of our hands.

Now as Achan is encouraged to come clean, we find his testimony how truly his own greed over came his moral compass and he did not do as the Lord had commanded them. Look with me at verses 20-21

Joshua 7:20–21 ESV

20 And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, 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.”

Achan says, I saw.… it always comes about as we see, but my friends, understand it was truly what was in the heart of Achan already.

So look at this, Achan said he came across a beautiful robe from Shinar which was a robe from middle eastern traders. What we would know as Babylon today.

But not only that, it says that he took some 200 shekels of silver, which is about 6 pounds of silver. He found some 50 shekels of gold, which was about a pound and a quarter of gold.

Essentially, Achan saw and took what would have been a lifetime of wealth. It was something he should have resisted but he thought perhaps no one would ever know or care...

But he was wrong… God cares about our choices, He cares about our inner desires, and He cares about our obedience…

God cares when we take what belongs to Him...

Now as you finish out the chapter, the story doesn’t end well for Achan...

Joshua sends messengers to go and find the items which Achan took. And those men found the items just as it was described by them.

Then they brought Achan, his family, including his sons and daughters, his livestock, and they even brought the tent all those items were hid in… to the valley of Achor.

And it is there we find what they do…

Verse 25 tells us that Joshua asked the question, “Why did you bring this trouble on us...” The Lord will bring trouble on you today.

And they put Achan and his family to death. They stoned them and burned with fire and buried them under the stones.

And it was all because he took what didn’t belong to him.

God has commanded his people to do certain things as they fought the battle of Jericho, and it took a loss to a much smaller community to teach a lesson that God requires not only obedience, but to respect what is His...

Now think about this for a minute my dear friends, that is really at the heart of the matter. Obedience and giving to God what is His all along...

So let me ask you… Have you ever taken what belongs to God?

Oh, you might stop and say.. Preacher your kidding right?

No… ask yourself that question....

You see for the child of God, we belong to the Lord. I Cor 6:19-20

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

So how do we take what belongs to God? We do so by telling and demonstrating to God what we want more than anything else...

Think of it my friends…

We belong to God.. but yet we tell God, I am not doing that, I cannot do that..

God calls us to serve, He calls us to not only come to him, but to lay down our life and our will to serve him full time…

It seems like I hear fewer and fewer people following the Lord in vocational ministries…

We belong to God and he has given us all that we have, yet we withhold our gift, we do not always tithe as we should.

We belong to God, and yet we are to busy to serve, we withhold our physical talents, our skills, the ability God has blessed us with in life.

We belong to God but some will not even say a word for God or about God to those around them. Oh, people will stand with the World. We will cuddle and support those engaged in sin, but we will not speak truth with love and tell people right from wrong for the fear of offending them.

The call is for us to examine our heart as we hope to walk before the Lord.

So this morning, as we prepare for the invitation, I am asking you to pray, and ask God… God have I taken anything that is yours...

And if He speaks to you, will you confess that, repent of that and ask the Lord to help you to do better?

The Lord always wants you to do better my friends,

Lets pray together...