JOSHUA 7
THE ENEMY WITHIN,
OR ACHAN WAS A PAIN J
J.
"There are two factors that make dealing with this
emery doubly difficult. In the first place, we are reluctant to recognize and
identify him. We are loath to label him
as an enemy. The fact of the matter is most of us rather like him. The second
problem is that he is on the inside of us. If he would only come out and fight
like a man, it would be different, but he will not.,
It is not because he is a coward, but because he can fight better from his
position within...."
"The only battle that the children of Israel lost in
taking the Promised Land was a battle in
which the defeat came, not from without, but within." J.
Tonight we look at the failed battle at Ai, where
We are reminded that problems from within often cause
defeat, and we will be forced to look within, and realize that the things which
others might not see, are things with which we must deal.
JOSHUA' COMPLAINT Vss. 6-9
GOD'S COMMAND Vss. 10-15
JUDGMENT'S COMPLETION Vss. 16-26
Instead of a conventional siege of a city, there were
instructions from God to walk around the city seven days. For six days the
march was silent, and once around the city.
On the seventh day the city was circled 7 times, and on
the last time around Joshua told
6:17-19 -
Vs. 1 - What strikes me here is that
Why, wasn't this just one man and his family?
Why
does God say
Because
What
one person did is credited to the whole unit.
A few years ago the Boston Red Sox lost a World Series
because of the error of one man. Only
one man made the error, but it was credited to the whole team.
We can carry this reasoning to the church today.
When one person blows it, in a sense the whole church
blows it.
The whole body suffers. The sin in
1 It is reported commonly [that there is] fornication
among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles,
that one should have his father's wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned,
that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in
body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present,
[concerning] him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are
gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto
Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day
of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven,
that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened
[bread] of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with
fornicators:
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this
world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with
idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company,
if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an
idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are
without? do not ye judge them that are within?
13 But them that are without God judgeth.
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Also there is the warning of Deuteronomy 5:6-8:
I [am] the LORD thy God, which
brought thee out of the
Donald Madvig – “God's people will not
succeed if they are disobedient.”
We must realize that sin angers God! It must also break His heart when His
children persist in sin!
Theodore Epp, a great man of God said this:
“I often pray to the Lord to give me a vision of what
would happen if I failed Him. Such a failure would not only hurt me but many
others also. Even secret sins will affect others. If a drop of poison is taken,
it does not remain at the point where it has been injected into the body but
affects the whole body. The venom from a snake's bite enters the body at one
point but gradually spreads throughout the body.” Theodore
H. Epp, Joshua - Victorious By Faith, (Lincoln,
Nebraska, Back to the Bible Broadcast, 1968), pp. 201-202
Beloved, let us learn this, if we learn nothing else
from the sin of Achan - SIN AFFECTS MORE THAN JUST
US!
Vs. 2 - We are not sure exactly where Ai was located, but it
was
not far from
out spies.
Vs. 3 - Here is where
Perhaps
victory. Perhaps she was self confident, over confident.
Perhaps
There is no mention of seeking God's counsel.
If they had sought God, He would have told them of sin
in the camp!
Not even Joshua went to the Lord to seek direction.
This should remind us to nothing apart from God.
We need to be a dependent people.
John 15:4-5 - Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can
ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that
abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me
ye can do nothing.
Sign seen in a textile mill, "When your thread
becomes tangled, call the foreman."
A young woman was new on the job. Her thread became tangled and she thought,
"I'll just straighten this out
myself." She tried, but the situation only worsened.
Finally she called the foreman. "I did the best I could," she said. "No you didn't. To do the best, you should have called me." Source Unknown
We too need to remember that the best we can do is to
depend on God.
Vs. 5 -
Loss of
36 lives seems so small to us, but remember that
they just took a bigger city with no loss of life.
And there is an even bigger problem.
In describing
Joshua 5:1 - And it came to pass, when all the kings of
the Amorites, which [were] on the side of Jordan westward, and all the kings of
the Canaanites, which [were] by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the
waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over,
that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more,
because of the children of Israel.
Now in this verse 5 notice that it is now said of
When we fail to totally rely on God, it will be
relatively easy for our enemies to scare us.
How could Joshua now expect to conquer the Promised Land with a bunch of
"wimps"!?
Because of
JOSHUA'S COMPLAINT Vss. 6-9
Vs. 6 - Joshua and the leaders of
Vs. 7 - Joshua was right to come before God.
I
believe that he was right to mourn.
But
Joshua is blaming God.
It sounds like Joshua is saying the defeat is God's
fault.
Instead of Joshua asking "What did we do wrong?", he seems to be asking "Why did you do us
wrong."
He says it would have been better to stay on the other
side of
Numbers 14:1-4 - Joshua sounds too much like the children of
And all the congregation lifted
up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children
of
Joshua was forgetting for a moment that God had called
him to go into the promised land not too long ago.
At this moment Joshua was totally forgetting God's
faithfulness.
Vss. 8-9 - Joshua mentions two great concerns here.
1. He realized that the news of their running would give
the enemy renewed courage.
2. He was concerned about the great name of His God.
This was
something God would care for.
What is the first thing we should do, when God fails to
keep His promises? We should go to Him not to complain, but to inquire as to
what is wrong. There is always an
explanation for failure that should be success.
The one who can reveal the answer is God. When we suffer setbacks, God
has a reason for them.
JOSHUA'S COMPLAINT
GOD'S COMMAND
Vss. 10-15
Vs. 10 - There are times when it is appropriate to fall before
God. There are also times when God wants us to stand to listen.
When you stand, you are implying your readiness to go
and to do whatever it is that God wants you to go and do!
Joshua was to be on His feet, because God had work for
Joshua to do.
Vs. 11 - Joshua is told that
He is
told what the sin is.
But
it is Joshua's job to hunt out, and destroy sin!
God
will empower Joshua, but Joshua was going to
have to work.
This reminds us that we are called upon to judge sin.
This is what the Corinthians
were told to do in 1 Corinthians 5.
The Galatians were told to help those who have Spiritual
problems in Galatians 6:1 - Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one
in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
In Matthew 18 the Lord gives a procedure for dealing
with sin.
And before we come to the communion table we are to
examine our lives for sin.
Wesley G. Hunt - "Sin causes the loss of God's presence and
power. Sin shuts off the showers of God's blessing. Sin stifles and strangles
the abundant life promised in Jesus Christ, Sin
paralyzes and immobilizes the life of the individual believer and of the local
body. God's message to Joshua applies also to God's people today in times of obvious
Spiritual defeat and decline; namely, deal with sin!"
Vs. 12 - How much power is lost when we allow sin in our
lives.
And
although God doesn't leave us today, He leaves in
the sense of our prayers not being answered, and He n
not giving us help.
Vs. 13 - The people were to be called together.
They
were to sanctify themselves, set themselves apart
for God.
God says to Joshua, "you can not stand against your
enemies until you deal with your sin!"
God says to us, "You can't stand before your
enemies until you deal with your sin!
It's no wonder that the church is powerless.
Vss. 14-15 - God tells Joshua exactly what he has to do!
The offender was to be found and judged.
He was to die because of the fact that he wrought
folly in
It was his fault that lives had been lost and that
JOSHUA'S COMPLAINT
GOD'S COMMAND
JUDGMENT'S COMPLETION Vss. 16-26
Vs. 16 - Joshua is up early again. Last time it was to do
God's
will concerning
This
time it was up early to do God's will concerning
judgment.
he still got early,
no matter how unpleasant the task.
May we, if early, rise early with a view to do the will
of God.
No matter if our day has a pleasant or an unpleasant
task.
Vss. 16-18 - The casting of lots was probably used, until the
right
person was selected.
We wouldn't use such a method today, but this
was God's method.
Proverbs 16:33 - The lot is cast into the lap; but
the whole disposing thereof [is] of the LORD.
The last record of casting lots is found in the Book of
Acts, BEFORE THE DAY OF PENTECOST. Today we have the working of the Holy Spirit
from within.
Why didn't God just tell Joshua who the guilty party
was?
I don't think that we can say for sure. Here are some
ideas.
Donald Campbell helped with my ideas on this.
1. This would impress on
2. It would discourage anyone else who had the same
idea.
2. It gave the Achan an
opportunity to confess and repent.
Proverbs 28:13 - He that covert his sins shall not
prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
[them] shall have mercy.
The process was completed, and Achan
was identified as the culprit.
Vs. 19 - I have to give Joshua credit here.
I
would have been ready to kill the guy.
And
although Joshua was probably pretty angry, he
managed to keep himself in check.
Joshua calls Achan, "My
Son".
He is told to give glory to God by confessing his sin.
God would be glorified because Achan's
confession showed that God had been right to allow defeat in Ai.
God would be glorified because
God would be glorified because confession shows that God
is right and we are wrong.
When we deal with our sins and become Christians, we
bring glory to God.
When you and I confess our sins as Christians, we bring
glory to God.
1 John 1:9
Vss. 20-21 - Achan does make a complete
confession of sin.
He doesn't make excuses nor does he express any
sorrow.
He does show a pattern that was true earlier of Eve, and
later of David.
HE SAW
HE COVETED
HE TOOK
Let us be careful of these three steps and strive to
avoid them.
Vss. 22-24 - Joshua did check out the story, and found the
materials in question.
Then
Achan's sin was severe, his punishment
was severe.
Why his children too?
They were probably aware of what was going on, and said nothing.
Nothing was held back everything was taken.
Vss. 25-26 - Joshua and
How does this relate to us?
Better that we should judge
ourselves than God would have to judge us.
Better that we confess and have God's forgiveness, than
to hide our sin.
Psalm 32:3-5 - When
I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day
and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of
summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not
hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
The enemy within is self.
The best thing we can do is judge ourselves, so that God
can fully work in our lives and in our church.
JOSHUA'S COMPLAINT
GOD'S COMMAND
JUDGMENT'S COMPLETION