THE DANGER OF SIN

Does sin bother you?

Some sin doesn’t bother me. For example, when we are full yet we still want to eat because it’s
our favorite food that we come to a point of stomach hurting. Some sin is mildly distasteful.
Example, envy or jealousy, when I see it in my heart I think oh wow God I don't want that and
please do something with it but it's not important to me it's mildly distasteful. Some sin is
abhorrent. Examples, when children are abused or neglected or tortured that's abhorrent to
me, when women are raped or brutalized that is abhorrent when you see on the news or read
something on the Internet about a serial killer who murders many people and exhibits no
remorse that sin is abhorrent to me.

The closer you and I come to Jesus the more abhorrent sin becomes to us.
“God is light and in Him is no Darkness at all.” --- 1 John 1:5

That means there's not a little piece of darkness or five percent or ten percent creeping over
from the darkness I know in him is no Darkness at all.

“This you know He Jesus was manifested to take away our sins and in Him there is no sin.”--- 1
John 3:5 not a little bit no darkness there is no sin

habakkuk 1:13--- “you are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.”
What does that mean? That means that sin, it is abhorrent to God. All sin not just the sins we
think are kind of pleasant or a mildly distasteful, but all sin is abhorrent to God.

The focus of our topic is found in Joshua chapter 7.

We're looking at the attack of the children of Israel on the city of AI and specifically Achan's sin
and I'm going to give you 10 takeaways that we find from Achan's sin. There are 10 areas that
we need to be aware of.

Prayer:
Holy Father we come before you now in the name of Jesus you are pure, You Are Holy, you are
love and thank you that you want to work in our hearts and lives. Right now as we open up your
word and we open up these passages of scripture, would you speak to our hearts, would you
reveal to us the areas in our lives that we might be walking dangerously close to the edge of
some area of sin and would you cleanse us, in Jesus name. Amen.

Back story of the Children of Israel after they have wondered for 40 years in the wilderness:
When the 40 Years of wandering is over, we see they have crossed the Jordan River on dry
ground. God performed a miracle and we see that Joshua 5:1. We see this so it was when all the
kings of the Amorites were on the west side of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites
who were with them by the Sea heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan from
before the children of Israel until we had crossed over that what's that word there their hearts
melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel so what
what's the word of God saying that the Canaanites and all the other people they were afraid
their hearts melted there was no strength left in them there was no spirit in them anymore
their hearts melted like water was it because of the children of Israel no it was because of the
God of the children of Israel this God had delivered them from Egypt and brought them
through the wilderness wanderings and this God had brought them across the Jordan River at
flood stage no less on dry ground.

In Joshua 5 we see that the children of Israel had a covenant renewal with God. We see that the
Passover was celebrated that they had after that 40 Years of wandering that they had this
reconnection. You could say with the god of their fathers, Joshua has this visible encounter with
none other than the pre-incarnate Son of God.

We get to Joshua chapter 6 and we see that the children of Israel follow God in obedience and
what did he say go to Jericho March around the city and what happened God performed a
miracle and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. That amazing Victory only happened
because of God. So when you think about the contrast between Joshua chapter 6 which is the
tumbling down of the walls of Jericho and Joshua chapter 7 which are defeat destruction it's a
complete contrast. Here the children of Israel are victorious and hear God performs Miracles
and here it looks like God doesn't even show up and it seems like it's an easy victory and what
happens there's defeat now I told you we have 10 takeaways and we're getting ready to jump
into takeaway number one I kind of divided the message up into
 the command
 the sin
 the battle
 The Cry
 The Consequence
 the Lots
 the confession
 the Judgment

let's look at the command

The command
Point Joshua six this is what happened with The Taking of Jericho and we want to take a look at
this Joshua 6 17-19 this will give us the command and this sets us up for what happens in AI
Joshua 6 17. now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction it and all who are in it so
let's hold a minute who was supposed to be destroyed when the city of Jericho was taken some
Spoils of War were to be taken no everything was doomed to destruction it and everything in it
only Rahab the Harlot shall live and all who are in the house because she hid The Messengers
that we sent Verse 18 and You by all means abstain from the accursed things now keep track of
that word a cursed we're going to hear it again and again in this message abstain from the
accursed things lets you become accursed we hear it again when you take of the accursed
things that's the third time and make the camp of Israel a curse and trouble it but all the silver
and gold and vessels of bronze and iron are consecrated to the Lord they shall come into the
treasury of the Lord so what is the Lord saying here to Joshua and then to the people he's
saying first of all that the city's doomed to destruction everything in the city is to be destroyed
the only thing saved are Rahab and her house because they had helped the spies and the silver
and gold is to come into the treasury into the Temple of the Lord everything else is this word
accursed now that word in Hebrew is used several different times and it's used sometimes in a
positive sense and sometimes in a negative sense and in this case it's clearly used in a negative
sense it means to be totally given over to devoted to dedicated to in this case the negative
sense it means utter destruction total extermination completely annihilated or wiped out they
weren't supposed to pick up little things for themselves they weren't supposed to save anything
everything destroyed except for Rahab in her house and then of course the silver and gold that
were to go into the temple treasury of the Lord so this command clearly delineates what's to
happen

1. Beware lest you ignore God's instructions

We're talking today about the danger of sin and the first take away from the
story of Achan is that you and I need to beware lest we ignore God's instructions.
God gives us clear instructions:
 what's right
 what's wrong
He never leaves us wondering. Now, what are we supposed to do here in this
situation? What has God told you to do? What's right in front of you? What are the
instructions you find in his word that applies specifically to your situation?
Here are a couple examples:
If you're a man and a husband, what does God say? You are to be the
head of the house you are to love your wife and children
If you are a woman, what does the word of God say? You are to respect
your husband and submit to his leadership in the Lord
If you're a child, what does the word of God say? Honor your parents
If you're citizen of any country, what does Romans tell us? Submit to
those in authority and pray for our leaders and;
If we're a leader, the word of God says: to lead with Integrity, lead with
honesty, lead with faithfulness, and
All of us, there's many commands in the word of God, but all of us are
commanded to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind and
strength. That means, we love God emotionally, we love God
intellectually, we love God with everything. But it doesn't stop there It
also says;
We're to love our neighbor as ourselves
We're also told Jesus told us in Matthew we are to deny ourselves take
up our cross and follow Him
I don't know what God's command is for you today but takeaway number one is to
beware lest you ignore God's instructions.
Now, all the children of Israel had the same instruction “Beware of the accursed thing” that
things to be as exterminated that thing is to be completely annihilated that thing is not to
be kept. In Joshua 6:26 it says, “The Lord was with Joshua and his Fame spread throughout
all the countries.”

So they just come off of this that the walls of Jericho the seemingly impregnable City those
walls come tumbling down the Lord is with Joshua his Fame spread throughout all the
country. Now, we come to the sin:

Joshua 7:1 it says, “But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed
thing”

The word trespass in Hebrew means to act Undercover. The children of Israel committed
something undercover, to act underhandedly or treacherously or unfaithfully.

Now you notice it's interesting, it doesn't say one person committed the trespass, it says
the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things now remember
the curse of things were those that were to be exterminated and completely destroyed. For
Achan the son of karmi, the son of zabdi, the son of Zara, of the tribe of Judah took of the
accursed things, so the anger of the Lord burned against Achan. Is that what it says? No, the
anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Achan blatantly disobeyed God. God
had made it very clear, the instruction is very clear. “Don't touch those accursive things;
everything in Jericho is to be destroyed.” God had made his plan very clear but Achan
purposely blatantly behaved under cover and took something that he was not supposed to
do, his sin was very costly.

2. Beware lest your sin affect other people

You notice it didn't say Achan committed the trespass the children of
Israel committed the trespass and the anger of the Lord didn't just burn
against Achan but against the children of Israel. This tells us that the sin
of one can affect many.
Men are responsible not only for the sins they themselves commit but
also for sheltering an evildoer or withholding information that might
assist those responsible for administering justice.
Has your sin affected or infected someone else?
We tend to say that it’s okay, it doesn't hurt anybody else. We say that
“it’s just a matter between me and God, between me and my friend,
between me and my spouse. What I am doing is private and it’s personal
that it doesn’t affect anyone.”
Let me ask you this. Was the sin of Adam and Eve private? Was it
personal?
Romans 5:12 “Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the
world.”
 Just through one man, sin entered the world. Does that sound
private to you? Does that sound like a personal sin? Adam's sin impacted
their son Cain and Abel, and their kids and grandkids, and you and I today
just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin
and thus death spread to all men because all sinned.
Romans 5:19 it says, “For as by one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made
righteous.”
We all inherited the sinful nature but God is so good that He
never shows us our sin without showing us our savior. Sin impacts and
infects others but yet Jesus blood was shed for the entire world.
Proverbs 14:34 “righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any
people.” Beware, lest your sin affects others.

Let's go to the battle

We're in Joshua 7:2-3.
“Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to A.I and spoke to them saying go up spy out the
country. So the men went up and spied out Ai and they returned to Joshua and said to him,
do not let all the people go up, let about two or three thousand men go up and attack AI. Do
not weary all the people there for the people of AI are few.”
Now it's interesting the word AI actually means the ruin which is kind of an interesting the
town the name means the ruin but it's interesting because Joshua said first of all go up and spy
out the land and they said oh it's a piece of cake we got this Joshua because look at what
happened to Jericho look at how the walls tumbled down look at how we were so Victorious we
got this two or three thousand people will take AI in an inch.

3. Beware when you fail to consult God

The scripture nowhere says that Joshua went before the Lord on his face. It
doesn't say that he agonized in prayer about the Battle plan for Ai. It doesn't say like it
tells us back in Joshua 5 before the battle with Jericho, remember they are the
commander of the Lord's armies this is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ
appeared to Joshua spoke to him we see that the Lord commanded Joshua this is how
you're to overthrow the city of Jericho. We don't see any of that with the city of AI all
we see is Joshua saying you go spy and the people who return say we got this this is a
cinch it's not going to be a big deal. Always consult God before you stepped into battle.

Joshua 7:4-5 “Joshua sent 3000 men to attack Ai. But the men fought back and chased the
Israelites army away from the town gate and down the hill to the stone quarries. Thirty-six men
were killed, and the Israelites armies were discouraged.” In this case now, it's the children of
Israel whose hearts are melting like water, why? Because they're afraid of a heathen-
somebody who doesn't even know their God, WHY? Because, there is sin in the camp.

4. Beware of self-confidence
 In the battle you see they only send a few men because they really thought they
got it, they thought they were more than capable of winning.
There are some dangers of self-confidence. Self-confidence, in the very least, is
self-reliance. It’s saying “I got it! I'm capable myself; I can stand in my own two
feet.”
Another thing that is connected with self-confidence is self-exaltation. Like “I'm
better than the others” Joshua 7:3 “they went back to Joshua and reported, you
don’t need to send the whole army to attack Ai-2000-3000 troops will be
enough. WHY BOTHER THE WHOLE ARMY FOR A TOWN THAT SMALL?” After
everything that God has done, after all the victories, it’s so easy to defeat Ai. We
are better than them, we are better than the people around us. Self-exaltation
begins to rise.
Self-confidence comes after a great victory that you and I have had with God.
Many times we have a great victory with God and we walk with him and
experience that in a powerful way and then it can become easy to become self-
confident after that victory and to forget that God's the one who brought the
victory and then we walk into the next battle in our own strength and think I got
this God In My Own Strength. Beware of self-confidence.

Now we go to the cry

Joshua 7:6
“Joshua and the leaders of Israel tore their clothes and put dust on their heads to show their
sorrow. They fell on the earth on their face before the Ark of the Lord until evening.”
Take note of this I think it's very vitally important Joshua did not consult God before going into
AI but he surely consults God now. He's repenting this is a sign outward visible signs of
repentance you see that in biblical times the tearing of clothes the pudding of dust on the head
the falling to the Earth this is not just Joshua as the leader of God's people this is the elders as
well. The important point to notice is that Joshua and the Elders of Israel they repented and
they sought the Lord and listened to Joshua's prayer.
Joshua 7:7-9
“Then Joshua said:
Our Lord, did you bring us across the Jordan River just so the Amorites could destroy
us? This wouldn’t have happened if we agreed to stay on the other side of the Jordan. I
don’t know what to say to you, since Israel’s army has turned and ran from the enemy.
Everyone will think you weren’t strong enough to protect your people. Now the Canaanites
and everyone else who lives in the land will surround us and wipe us out. What will you do
for your great name?”
Have you ever asked why? Why God? Why this difficulty in my life? Why the
challenge? Why am I going through this right now?
I love how Joshua said that what will you do for your great name? Because
you see Joshua's heart is for the honor of God. He is saying like “God your
name can be defiled, the Canaanites are going to hear about it and they're
going to say Oh I thought that God was powerful Oh I thought that God was
mighty I guess that God isn't such a great God after all.
What did God said? In verse 10 it says;
“The Lord said to Joshua, get up! Why do you lie on your face? Israel has sinned. They have
transgressed my Covenant which I commanded them. They have taken some of the accursed
things they have stolen and deceived and they put it among their own stuff.” Has God ever told
you “Get up!” when you’re agonizing in prayer, in so much distress and struggles and then God
said “Get up?”
5. Beware of blaming God for your own sin
Joshua didn’t know about the sin in the camp, but what that’s what he did. He
questioned God! God it’s your fault. Nothing like this would have happened if we
both agreed that we’ll stay on the other side of the Jordan!
God said, get up! Why are you lying on your face? You're the one who has
sinned!
We whine, we complain and yet sometimes it's our own fault.
We blame God when it's us who caused the issue.
There’s always a consequence to the decisions that we make in life. Some people
say “I don't understand why did my spouse leave?” and yet maybe we're the one
who did the adultery or were the one who was always criticizing the spouse or
were the one who failed to love them were the one who failed to respect
them.

Galatians 6:7-8 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever we sow
that we will also reap if we sow to the flesh we will have the flesh reap corruption
but if we sow to the spirit we will of the spirit reap life everlasting.”

Let's look at the consequence of the sin.

Joshua 7:12
“What they stole was supposed to be destroyed, and now Israel itself must be destroyed. I
cannot help you anymore until you do exactly what I have said…”

6. Beware lest sin separate you from God

God is saying like “You're not going to be my people anymore. I'm not going to
walk with you unless you put away that sin.”
Psalm 66:8 says “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” so
you say wait a minute I thought the word of God said in 1 John 1:9 “if we confess
our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness”
Yes God will forgive, yes God will take you back, yes God will cleanse you
absolutely.
Isaiah 59:1-2” behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save”
What does that mean? God wants to save. His hand is reaching out to
you and to me. He wants to save us; His ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. He
wants to hear our prayers; He wants to listen to us. Verse two but your
 iniquities your sins have separated you from your God and your sin have
hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.
This talks about our cherished sin. God speaks to us. He speaks to our
hearts. He is speaking “My son, that movie is pulling you from me, that habit is
pulling you from me, that book it’s pulling you from me, that association, that
person, that’s pulling you from me. That pride, it’s pulling you from me. My
child, will you let it go?”
But then we tend to respond like “God, just let me hold a little longer, I
kind of like how it makes me feel I see a little pleasure in it I want it just a little
longer and so God says I give you freedom of choice because he loves us so much
he lets us choose. But the next day and the next moment God calls to my heart
again and he says Joanna would you give me that and I said God give me another
day and the next day he says Joanna would you give me that and I'll say just
another day and the next day he says would you give me that and I'll say this
time I need a week God give me a week and the next day he says please Joanna
and I'll say give me a month and so the months pass sometimes the years pass
and what happens our heart becomes harder we hear less and less of the spirit
of God that's what this verse is talking about not saying that at any moment you
can’t come back to God yes you can at any moment he can forgive and cleanse
yes he will but the danger is with when you and I hold on to sin When God says
give it up and then we hold again the next day and the next day and the next
week and the next month what happens the voice of God becomes quieter and
quieter and quieter in the soul because my sin is a barrier between me and
Jesus.

Now we're going on to verse 13. We're in Joshua 7:13

“Tell the people of Israel, “Tomorrow you will meet with the Lord your God, so make yourselves
acceptable to worship. The Lord says, you have taken things that should have been destroyed.
You won’t be able to stand up to your enemies until you get rid of those things.

7. Beware lest sin keep you from Victory

Did you notice that God's saying you can't stand before your enemies unless the
accursed thing is gone in other words if I'm holding on to Cherished sin in my heart like
in Idol I'm not going to have victory it's as simple as that we wonder why we don't have
Victory and it could be that we're hanging on to that cherished sin you know
Adam and Eve they ate of the forbidden fruit and what happened it cost them
Paradise
the Israelites their lack of faith kept them wandering 40 years in the wilderness
Pharaoh's refusal to acknowledge and surrender to the supremacy of God cost
him his life and the lives of many of his subjects
Samson's dallians with Delilah cost him his eyesight and eventually his life
David's debacle with Bathsheba cost him the lives of not one but four of his sons
you can read that story Not only was the baby born to them he died but Absalom
 died Ammon died adenaija died and even his daughter Tamar was raped by her
half-brother you can trace that back to the consequences of David's sin
Judas's greed cost him his salvation
Do not let your sin cost you your salvation. Heaven is worth everything. If we
lose heaven, we lose everything.

Let's go back to verse 15 “Then it should be that he who has taken with the accursed thing were
still on the consequence shall be burned with fire he and all that he has because he's
transgressed the Covenant of the Lord because he's done a disgraceful thing in Israel.”

8. Beware of the consequences of sin

It's a pretty heavy consequence. Is it not what did the word of God say there that
they would be taken and burned with fire?
Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ Our Lord.”
You see we're all under the condemnation of sin
We're all under the bondage of sin and yet Jesus came because He
wanted to set us free.
So many times in our lives we ask for God to bring Justice. Have you ever
done that? “God, I want you to bring Justice in this situation.” “God why
are children abused? Why don't you hurt the offender?” “God I don't
understand why you allow this sin to go unpunished or unchecked?”
“God why don't you step up and do something?”
and I don't know about you but we often almost criticize God and say
“you should exact Justice in this situation”
We want God to vindicate the righteous
we want God to relieve the oppressed
we want God to let the captives Go free
we want God to break every yoke
and yet when God does arise as he did in this case with Achan and what
was the consequence or the punishment burned with fire they were
stoned with stones and then burned with fire what do we say? “oh God's
a harsh God wow that's a lot of judgment!”
but yet what do we do all the other time? oh God Arise oh God bring
justice but when he does arise we start to question his judgment and we
start to question his wisdom and we say is that a little harsh
consequence. I'm so glad that our God is the judge and that none of that
belongs to us.

We're going to the Lots. We’re in verse 16.

“Joshua Rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes and the tribe of Judah was
taken” so in other words they don't know where the sin is God has revealed to Joshua and the
elders there is sin in the camp someone has taken of the accursed thing but they don't know
where it is so it's interesting God could have just said it was Achan but I think this gives
everyone a Time to search their own hearts and see if there's any wickedness “there so the
tribe of Judah is taking…” can you imagine if you're in the tribe of Judah oh please is it me God
is it me wow it's in my tribe and then what happens next.
Verse 17 he brought the clan of Judah and he took the family of the Zerah and zabdi was taken.
Verse 18 then he brought his household man by man, Achan, the son of Canon, the son of zabdi
was taken. Now, Joshua said to Achan “my son, I beg you give glory to the god of Israel and
make confession to him. Tell me now what you've done do not hide it from me.”

Psalm 139:23-24
“Search me o God…” that word search me means in Hebrew intimately examine. You and I
should pray this prayer every day. God examine my heart search me intimately examine me
know my heart. God revealed to me the state of my heart.

So now we see the confession in verse 20.

Joshua 7:20
“Achan answered Joshua and said, I've sinned against the Lord God of Israel. This is what I did
when I saw the spoils, among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment 200 shekels of silver
and a wedge of gold weighing 50 shekels I coveted them and took them and there they are
hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent with the silver under it.”
So what's he saying he took some spoils from the city of Jericho God had said don't touch
anything in the city don't take it they cursed thing and he said he took a Babylonian garment he
took 200 shekels of silver which is literally five pounds and he took a wedge of gold which is
about one and a quarter pounds and he hit it in his tent what does it say he coveted it
covetousness was at the root of Lucifer's sin in heaven there was Pride there was selfishness
there was covetousness remember he wanted to be like God covetousness was at the root of
Ananias and sapphirocin they're one of the first recorded sins in the New Testament Church
covetousness was at the root.

9. Beware of hidden sin

Covetousness is so insidious because it's just in the heart.
It is hidden from other people and we think nobody else knows about this
because it's just in the heart
but it's just as dangerous as Adam and Eve hid from God because sin brings fear
and guilt
Numbers 32:23 “be sure your sin will find you out”
Matthew 15:18-20. “Those things which proceed out of the mouth where do
they come from, they come from the heart.”
Jesus talked about that in The Sermon on the Mount how we think okay if we
go out and actually stab someone or kill them that’s sin and Jesus said if you
hate someone that’s sin so this is enlarging on that principle that sin is not
external and yes it is external but it originates in the heart
verse 19 Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false Witnesses, blasphemies, these are the
things which defile a man.”
 sin begins in the heart because that's the origin of any sin it begins in the heart
take away nine beware of hidden sin.

Let's go to our last takeaway. This is the judgment.

We're in Joshua 7:24-25

10. Beware lest your sin infect and Destroy others

You see Not only was Achan stoned and burned not only were the things he had
coveted you know the Babylonian garment and the gold and silver but it's kids
his son sons and daughters
Deuteronomy 24 says “children should not be put to death for their father's sins
every man is accountable for their own sins.”
So the word of God is very clear on that so from that we can only surmise that
Achan's sons and daughters knew something about their dad's sin and maybe
they helped him in the cover-up of that sin.
They were somehow complicit in that action but the point is that achan sin
spread and infected his children.

CONCLUSION
So what I want to appeal to you in our closing moments your life doesn't have to end
like Achan’s. My life doesn't have to end like Achan’s. We can go before God and ask Him to
reveal the hidden sin that we have, ask Him to reveal the areas in our lives that are not pleasing
to Him, to repent, confess and what does the word of God say He will cleanse He will forgive
and He will restore.