Sin of Achan (2)

How much is your soul worth?

Introduction: What is your Spiritual life worth? Have you ever coveted someone or something to the point you would give your life for it?

Maybe it was that nice truck you saw your neighbor driving, or maybe it was the most beautiful person you had ever saw in your life.

We see Jesus tells us in Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Thing’s people see with their eyes has gotten a lot of people in trouble since the beginning of mankind with Adam and Eve when they ate of the tree in the garden of Eden.

Sin is works of the devil and it has divided many congregations, marriages, families, people from their jobs, and worst of all is people from God.

God paid the ultimate price for our souls by giving His only begotten Son so we may have eternal life (John 3:16), if we are willing to be obedient and do His will.

Sin is no laughing matter as we see in Proverbs 14:9, “Fools make a mock of sin;” but it needs to be dealt with so we do not face the consequences.

We see a great example of the price of sin in Joshua chapter 7 talking about the sin of Achan. In Joshua chapter 6, the children of Israel destroyed one of the largest cities in the Promise land being Jericho. The Lord instructed them to walk around the city a total of 13 times and the great city walls collapsed and everyone in the city was killed except Rahab and her family, and not one of the children of Israel died. The Lord told them they were to burn all the city except the gold, silver, and precious metals found shall be put into treasury of the Lord; or they would be accursed (Joshua 6:18,19).

Something interesting is accursed is found 13 times in the book of Joshua which is how many times they walked around the wall.

Then we come to Joshua chapter 7, and we see the children of Israel are defeated by a small little city of Ai and 36 of them get killed. We then see Joshua rents his cloths and falls on his face in front of the Ark of the Lord, and cries unto God.

1st, Sin hurts more people than yourself.

2nd, Sin separates us from God.

3rd, Sin will keep you longer than you intended to stay.

4th, Sin will take you further than you ever intended to go.

5th, Sin will find you out.

6th, Sin will cost you more than you ever intended to pay.

7th, Sin will cost you your soul!

Thesis: We see many of the children of Israel were affected by sin physically that had them removed from the promised land; as Christians sin can keep us from our promise land being heaven.

I. Achan Sin hurt the whole nation (Joshua 7:10-11).

a. Joshua was on his face crying to God, he was scared that all the nations would hear of this defeat and come attack them. The other nations were all much greater in people.

b. The Lord said get up off his face (Joshua 7:10).

i. Notice God talked directly to Joshua instead of going through the high priest, Joshua was a mediator between God and the people just like Moses.

c. One man’s sin (Achan) caused God to be angry at the whole nation (Joshua 7:1,11).

d. Achan had broken God’s law that Moses warned them about. Deuteronomy 7:25 “thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.”

e. Achan had stolen precious metals from Jericho, and the whole nation is suffering because of it.

f. Think about the church, when we have sin in the camp:

g. When we have people like Achan’s among us it brings discouragement and slowing down the work of the Kingdom?

II. Achan’s Sin separated them from God (Joshua 7:12).

a. They could not stand before their enemies.

b. Even worse: God said He would not be with them anymore unless they destroy the accursed thing.

c. He would no longer help them with their enemies until the accursed thing was removed.

d. If we do not remove sin from our lives, God will not be with us!

i. Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, And your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

ii. We want to make sure we get sin out of our lives so that our prayers are not hindered.

III. Sin kept Achan longer than he intended to stay (Joshua 7:13-14).

a. The children of Israel were to sanctify themselves for tomorrow (Joshua 7:13).

i. Sanctify means to clean, purify, to prepare.

ii. We are sanctified being baptized into Christ where all spiritual blessing are. Baptism washes away our sins and we are to walk in newness of life.

b. In the morning they were to line up according to tribe, families, household, and individually (Joshua 7:14).

i. Prince of each tribe, then father of each family, then each one man by man.

ii. Achan had plenty of chances to come forward and confess his sin but he would not.

iii. Tomorrow is a bad word; how many have said I’ll do it tomorrow and then do not do it. We see Achans sin lingers on the morrow.

IV. Sin took Achan further than he ever intended to go (Joshua 7:15-18).

a. Again Achan is still lingering.

b. The Lord said: the accursed one and all he has shall be burned with fire (Joshua 7:15). Now not only was the treasure to be burned up, but the one that took it and all he hath: home, possesions, livestock etc.

c. Joshua rose early and started with tribe of Judah and brought head of each family one by one till Zabdi was taken, then they were brought man by man till Achan was taken (Joshua 7:16-18).

d. How Achan must of felt as each family member was approaching before the Ark of the Lord, it would be like you being guilty of something and having to all go take a lie detector test. His heart was probably melted in fear.

e. Think how the whole family felt, especially the parents when their family was called out.

f. Like one of us when we hear that our kids got in trouble at school, but this is more serious being against God Almighty.

V. Sin found Achan out (Joshua 7:19-21).

a. Joshua tells him to fess up what he had done and give glory to the Lord (Joshua 7:19)!

b. Joshua knows he has done it, God has singled him out!

c. Parents: you know when your child does something they were not supposed to do, and you trying to get them to confess, and they lie to you and it makes you madder because you know they did it. Joshua is at this point!

i. He says I Pray: meaning I beg you, I becheech you to tell the Lord what you have done.

d. Achan confessed what he had done: (Joshua 7:20-21)

i. He saw. Like Adam & Eve saw the fruit was good to the eyes.

ii. He Coveted.

iii. He took.

iv. Coveted means to lust, desire- Jas 1:14-15 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

v. We all have different temptations, make sure whatever temps you that you try your hardest to keep your eyes away from it so you don’t fall for the snare of the devil!

VI. Sin cost Achan more than he ever intended to pay (Joshua 7:22-26).

a. Joshua sent messengers that rushed to get rid of the accursed thing, we see the urgency to remove sin from the camp (Joshua 7:22). We should act in the same way to hurry to remove sin from our lives, remember 36 innocent men died from this sin.

b. They still had many more battles to conquer the promise land, they wanted the sin gone so God would be with them again.

c. Joshua’s messengers took Achan, his daughter, his sons, his livestock, his tent, and all his possessions to the valley of Achor Joshua (7:23-24).

d. Joshua said The Lord shall trouble you this day, and they stoned Achan, his, family, and all his livestock, and then burned them all (Joshua 7:25).

e. They piled a large heap of stones over them as a memorial and The Lord turned from His fierceness and the place is known as Valley of Achor: valley of trouble (Joshua 7:26).

f. This memorial was to be a reminder for them, and to teach their children about the consequences of sin.

g. What was his sin worth? They had been killed with fire and stone from the promise land! If we have sin unrepented in our lives, then we to will face condemnation which leads to fire and brimstone!

h. Revelation 21:7-8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Conclusion: We see Achan’s sin cost him not only his life but also his family's life, and not only that but the life of 36 innocent men in battle at Ai. Think about all the families that daddy was not able to come home to. Sin is a dangerous thing and an abomination to the Lord.

Achan had many chances he could have run and confessed his sins. But even after the 36 men were killed, and after the Lord warned them to sanctify themselves, and the next day, when all the tribes and families were walking before the Lord, it wasn't till he was taken and singled out and told to confess that he confessed.

How many people today say they will wait till tomorrow? That is a dangerous word. But he didn't even confess first thing on the morrow. In fact most people who say they will wait to get their life right tomorrow never do it.

We see sin in the camp is a dangerous thing, and as the messengers ran in urgency to remove the sin from the camp, we need to remove it out of our lives with the same urgency. No one is promised tomorrow, but one thing is promised if we die in a state of sin, then we will face judgment and consequences for those sins.

So do not be an Achan, do not wait, do not try to hide it, because your sin will find you out just like his sin found him out! Once the children of Israel got the sin out of the camp they went and destroyed the city of Ai and conquered the rest of the promise land.

They could do anything with God on their sides, and so can we. We have a promise land waiting on us: Heaven let us make sure we do not have any sin holding us from going there.

Sin hurts more people than yourself.

Sin separates us from God.

Sin will keep you longer than you intended to stay.

Sin will take you further than you ever intended to go.

Sin will find you out.

Sin will cost you more than you ever intended to pay.

Sin will cost you your soul!

What is your Spiritual soul worth to you; if you have sin in your life, please don't linger like Achan!