Well, I invite you to turn this morning to Joshua chapter 7, Joshua chapter 7, and we'll read the entirety of the chapter as after a few weeks we pick up again our study in the book of Joshua. It's found on page 215 in the Bibles that are in front of you. Last time was the fall of Jericho, and now we come to this great section in Joshua chapter 7 at Ai, and Israel defeated at Ai. Beginning at verse 1, But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, 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 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is near Beth Avon east of Bethel and said to them go up and spy out the land and the men went up and spied out Ai and they returned to Joshua and said to him do not have do not have all the people go up but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack i do not make the whole people toil up there for their few so about three thousand men went up from there from the people and they fled before the men of i and the men of i killed about 36 of their men and chased them before the gate as far as shabarim and struck them at the descent and the hearts of the people melted and became as water then joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the lord until the evening he and the elders of israel and they put dust on their heads and Joshua said alas oh Lord God why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan oh Lord what can I say when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies for the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name? The Lord said to Joshua, get up. Why have you fallen on your face? Israel sinned. They transgressed my covenant that I commanded them. They've taken some of the devoted things they've stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore, the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they become devoted for destruction i will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you get up consecrate the people and say consecrate yourselves for tomorrow for tomorrow for thus says the lord god of israel there are devoted things in your midst oh israel you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you in the morning therefore you shall be brought up 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 and he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire he and all that he has because he's transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel. So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe and the tribe of Judah was taken and he brought near the clans of judah and the clan of the zarahites was taken and he brought near the clan of the zarahites man by man and zabdi was taken and he brought near his household by man and aiken the son of carmi the son of zabdi son of zara of the tribe of judah was taken then joshua said to aiken my son give glory to the lord god of israel and give praise to him tell me now what you've done do not hide it from me and Achan answered Joshua truly I've sinned against the Lord God of Israel and this is what I did when I saw among the soil 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're hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath so Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent and behold it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath and they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel and they laid them down before the Lord and Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had and they brought them up to the valley of Achor and Joshua said why did you bring trouble on us the Lord brings trouble on you today and all Israel stoned him with stones they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones and they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day then the Lord turned from his burning anger therefore to this day the name of that place is called the valley of Achor and we'll end the reading of God's word well we come to a very challenging passage today in our study of joshua unlike anything that we've seen so far in the study in fact it really wasn't one that i was looking forward to preach because everything about it's troubling everything about that passage is troubling and it's meant to be i wrestled with it deeply this week uh in my study because as you work through this you really do get a sense of the despair that is accompanied with this passage this is a despairing passage absolutely despairing and i plan to walk you through that with the goal that you would feel that that's the goal of this and the importance of what this passage is accomplishing it makes you feel how awful the problem of secret sin is. And how impossible it is to overcome. It's a passage that makes us see that how our own secret sin in our lives, what we do with no one else seeing how that affects the whole congregation and what it does before the face of the holy god of israel but i realized that this chapter is is immensely important for us and that what i feel about the horrors of this particular scene and the terrible nature of what happened in it has a healthy purpose and that's what we'll see by hopefully by the time that we're done because none of us see sin like god does if we could see sin like god does we would be an absolute horror and never get up we hardly see its offense we hardly experience its offense we hardly feel its offense and it's important to see how serious god takes sin in this passage with the added goal with the end goal that we would marvel over what the gospel is truly saying to us and that's where we'll get lord willing sometimes the most difficult passages like this are what we need the most and that's where the lord is challenging us right in the places that are the most uncomfortable where his word speaks to us in ways that make us uncomfortable these are the most needful it's the bad tasting medicine in the cabinet that you need to take even though it's awful going down and that's a passage like this in the last chapter you'll remember a prostitute and her family were delivered outside of the covenant they were saved by the lord and now a covenant son and his family are destroyed that's a powerful message that the community needs saved too. That those in the church need salvation. That those on the inside can't be presumptuous just because you've been raised in it. It's important. It's super important. And this was an exposure to the covenant community of their own great need for a Savior. Now, with that in mind, we're considering here the humiliation that happens to Israel and then the divine interrogation that the Lord gives to the nation and then Joshua's purification that happens to stop this terrible event. Everything in Joshua so far has been going, what we might say, gangbusters. This has been success after success. There has been nothing but success. In the last chapter, the great mighty city of Jericho fell and all they did was shout. All they did was sound horns and march. Just with a shout, the walls fell and really it was the battle that never took place. They went right on in and they marched in and they took the city and they captured it and everything was burned to the ground. Israel was somewhat cruising through the conquest. But then we come to chapter 7. But the people of Israel, verse 1, broke faith in regard to the devoted things. And Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. We begin this narrative. One man's sin. one man's sin is singled out to set this whole thing up but the crucial thing to notice here the crucial thing that you can't miss i don't know anyone could miss this and it and we'll look at this for the implications of today it runs so contrary to how we think as american individualists there's nothing about our thinking that's covenantal but that's not how the scriptures look at things that's not how the lord looks at things in the covenant community you will notice that as akinson is mentioned we read the lord's anger burned against the entire congregation now that's quite a statement to make one secret sin think of think of this one secret sin of a man's heart that led to the outward action of theft called down God's anger on the whole congregation. That's at the heart of what the Heidelberg was saying when it made that little statement in the Heidelberg, maybe it's troubled you, when the covenant of God is profaned, His wrath is kindled against the whole congregation. How does that make you feel? We don't think about it that way, do we? it's troubling because it's representative the sin is representative we don't think this way we you know we we think our sins are private matters i mean this is almost universally what we hear today from the culture that's why we do what we do because it's not hurting anyone else god doesn't see sin that way and that what we do in secret is never really secret it matters and it doesn't really matter how we feel about this the truth of it is what it is the lord is going to show us the consequence of that way of thinking in this passage so the text has been set up the text has been set up their secret sin who can see somebody's secret sin right who can see into your hearts as to what you're doing the lord can but we can't nobody can it's a great problem now notice what follows so joshua sent men from jericho to i which is near beth haven east of bethel and said to them go up and spy out the land and the men went up and spied out i 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 i don't make the people toil up there toil up there for they are few so about three thousand men went up from the people now this just seems like pointless detail doesn't it you can't miss the spirit here in the leadership joshua we just knocked down jericho with no problem that powerful city fell at our march we don't need a big army here we got this we got this don't trouble them let us just go take it do you see the spirit in this you see the pride that's coming out in this presumptions all over the pages the pride is astounding it's as if they completely disregard the lord as the one who is the one doing the fighting remember he's out in front joshua 5 with the sword drawn they completely take this upon themselves remember he said no but i'm the commander of the army of the lord no dependency no prayer and they say it's ours let's just go take it. Now I find this to be a fascinating connection. Everything about chapter 7 is going wrong. As sin was committed in the camp, what do we see in the people? No reliance upon the lord no dependency pride no prayer no humility i can't help but make the connection that the withdrawal of the lord's blessing on the campaign here was evidenced also in the fact that the leadership in the community there was total loss of dependency upon the lord to do this work in other words pride shows itself in a person and in a church and a people when there's no real trusting in him when there's no real seeking of him when there's no real humility before him in prayer how many problems do we face that we complain about how many challenges in the church and everything's just chatter what do you want to see the church be what do you want to see the church overcome rather we see just presumptuous expectation that as the covenant people of god whiz bang bam we will have success it's all of grace and that pride is evidenced that somewhere in the life of the people there was sin the point is is that secret sin in our lives can be a costly endeavor to the whole congregation I think A.W. Pink makes a powerful point here when things go seriously wrong with the individual Christian or with the local church diligent and solemn examination is called for when the providential frown of god be upon us and we ignore it we are inviting heavier chastisement closing our eyes to the providential signs god gives us of displeasure doesn't improve matters nor wringing our hands in despair when things go wrong he then asked this question what should be the believer's reaction to the sad state which the religious world is in right now as we see the awful declension of the outward cause of Christ on earth and realize that the Spirit's been quenched. Should we do nothing? He says, I think most people realize that the ministry of the church has fallen on hard times. He says, what took place at I has been and is being duplicated in thousands of churches and assemblies all over. Instead of overcoming the enemy, they're humiliated before him. How many minister of the gospel has to the best of his ability faithfully preached God's word yet to no effect unless it be to considerably reduce the size of his congregation? A spirit of deadness rests upon the church. The prayer meeting thinly attended. Preaching is burdensome. His most earnest appeals seem to hit the wall and trust upon him. The power of the spirit is markedly absent. souls are not converted nor even convicted. He's making the point from this text. And you might disagree with some of that. Obviously not everything that goes wrong is due to that. You know that. Job can testify to that. But we should not read every hard circumstance this way. But it's important to consider it. If there's sin in the life of the church and we're full of pride, There are consequences, earthly consequences. That's just a basic point of this text. And I think we have to consider then the Lord's interrogation that is so important here. What does Joshua do? Well, when the dark providences come, what did they always lead God's people to do? What do we see in the scriptures? Think of Daniel. Think of David. Think of Paul. always is what we have recorded is a moment of deep humility and confession before the Lord. This is what we have. It's not perfect, but listen to it. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening. He and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan of all to give us to the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan. O Lord, what can I say when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name? The Canaanites' hearts had melted. Now Israel's hearts are melting. Look at the deep humbling of themselves here for a minute. Joshua doesn't understand this. He can't see it. It sounds similar to the complaint of Israel before. But in this case, there was an open sin that could be pointed to. That's what makes this so surprising. This is not like the former complaints. Joshua had no knowledge of the sin in the camp. but here i think we're to see that no christian should ever today i think what we constantly struggle with in the church is that we everything always has to be up everything always has to be positive everything always has to be a praise song everything always has to make me feel good to the point where we rarely anymore take seriously the call to fall before the lord in deep repentance Confessions, confession, tears, bowed knees, serious inquiry, that's important. There are times that require this in our personal lives and in the church life. Will God hold secret sin accountable? And why is Achan's sin singled out? See, this starts leading to important questions here. Why is Achan's sin held out and not mine? If God would hold a man accountable for coveting like this, we're about to get to this here in a minute, and take a coat of a dead person, we're all in trouble. We're all in trouble. The effect of the exposure that's about to happen should have made israel take seriously how much god hates sin even the inmost fallen desires and ask him for mercy it was a lesson to israel sin has to be atoned for even the dark sins of the human heart that no one ever sees there is not a single sin a single thing happening in your inmost desires when it comes to the holiness of god that is done in isolation that number one doesn't hurt others but number two is not an affront to his holiness that's the situation you ever thought about how secret sins unconfessed not turned from hardening in going on in can hurt the body so what paul said in first corinthians 5 a little leaven does what leavens the whole lump. And all we hear today is love. Don't deal with it. What does God do? What are His words to Joshua? Get up. Get up. Why are you lying on your face? Israel, all Israel, has sinned and they've transgressed the covenant. We'll get to a moment. Praise the Lord for the new covenant. The old covenant was broken. They took the accursed things, stole them, and deceived, notice them, and it's in their belongings. Notice all this is plural. In chapter 2, God said all that the plunder was under the ban and devoted to destruction and that the gold was his and the silver was his. How much a better inheritance that he had had for them. And now he says the whole nation is devoted to destruction. Did you catch that? The whole nation now is under the ban. Because there's contamination in the camp. Everyone should feel and have some kind of sense here of the awful holiness of God. And that's the thing that no one wants to talk about today. This is what Isaiah, when he saw a glimpse of it, fell at his feet as dead and said, I'm breaking apart in the presence of God. The Lord says, you must sanctify yourselves. As long as this accursed thing is in your midst, O Israel, you can't stand before your enemies. So what does God do? He raises the sin to the surface. It's a great principle here when it comes to secret sin. There's no one who doesn't have it, by the way. There's no one who doesn't. Let me make sure that's really clear. There's no one who doesn't have secret sin. Have we coveted in the heart? Have we refused to forgive from the heart? Have we made a covenant with our eyes, like Job said, to look upon no worthless thing? what should we do with this problem the new generation seemed completely unaware of the holiness of god no one took it seriously everyone just said peace peace so what happens the tribes are summoned the families are summoned a family is summoned and out comes Achan. Son, tell me what you did. Don't hide it. You've been hiding it. Time of hiding is over. He confesses. I've sinned. When we were in battle in Jericho, I saw this gold and silver, but I saw a beautiful Babylonian garment. it's a beautiful coat I coveted it and then I took it and you know what it's sad irony here is he couldn't even enjoy it it was buried in the earth under the tent Joshua responds why have you troubled us so all Israel stoned him with stones with his wife and children. Even the tent was destroyed. How does that make you feel? It's troubling. It's meant to trouble. It's meant to make us feel that. Maybe it makes us offended at God's justice. But maybe we haven't considered how great our offense of sin is to God. Now you stand back from this, you know, and you preach this, and you say, well, is there any good news in an account like this? Well, the good news before us is that sin was purged from the camp. That's the good news of the text. Sin was purged from the camp. God's wrath was appeased in the stoning. But there's still a problem. what's the problem, beloved? I'm no different than Achan. You're no different than Achan. How many of us have set our heart on Babylon? How many of us have given our lives to the things of Babylon, coveting them and taking them? How many of us have always struggled with being satisfied with where the Lord has us, so we complain. How many of us have been given everything? And by the way, the people who have everything are the biggest complainers in life. Isn't it something? And God says this, be sure your sin will find you out. He will never allow his children to go on in continued, willful, blatant, secret sin. This is distressing. For who has control of their heart? We're not just talking about the outward sins. This began with coveting. The problem with secret sin is it's sheer power over our lives. Sheer power. Maybe you felt hopeless to overcome a particular sin that you have been a long time in captivity to and you're struggling with. This seems to do you no good, does it? What does one do when they feel discouraged and disgusted with a seeming lack of help over indwelling sin and the secret of it? What everyone should feel reading this text is the sheer powerlessness of our own hearts to deal with it. And that God could pull it all out for everyone to see. And at times He does. But the marvel here is that God did not raise the secret sins of everyone. that's the marvel what did God do God's wrath was satisfied when the sin of one man was removed in a sense it shows how guilty we are in the sin of one man doesn't it the whole camp was guilty in the sin of one man Achan couldn't bear his sins or theirs and that's why I said at the beginning there's a representative teaching in this passage is there someone who could represent us and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life because Achan is us in every way I can't get away from that connection. What did David say? David who had committed adultery and David who had committed murder. Here's what he said. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright and shall I be innocent from great transgression. When he had committed the great transgressions, what he did was realize I've got to go way back and I need the Lord to be Lord, notice this, and not to stop so that my sins would not have dominion over me. I am that much dependent on Him. And that He would cleanse me from them. Cleanse me from these secret faults. Let them not rule in my life. Let them not take over me. Let them not be brought out in shame so that the enemies may mock. I think we have to begin where David did. Lord, I've been completely ignorant to the prevalence of sin in my heart. I lack the ability to see my secret faults. Like Israel before the sin of Achan, I've not taken seriously your holiness or considered how my secret sin has hurt others. Would you please forgive all of my hidden faults? Would you provide me the strength that would restrain willful sins within me? Yes, Lord, with regard to the sin and desires of my own heart, I am completely cast upon you for mercy and grace and strength that these sins would not rule over me but most of all keep me from hypocrisy and lead me in a blameless life for all secret sins deny your righteousness cover my shame and bring me not into judgment for which i'm worthy cover me and forgive me with the blood of your son that's where we need to be what does God do for us in light of a problem that we can't solve and that we're all guilty of isn't the gospel overwhelming isn't the Christian gospel overwhelming he decided not to punish us all but through the death of one man even though through one man sin came to everyone through the righteous man and his death forgiveness and life would be given in exchange You want to know what we're celebrating today in the Reformation? Achan was taken outside the camp. He was a troubler of Israel. Achan itself means he that troubles. Hebrews, therefore Jesus, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood. Listen to this. Therefore, Jesus, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. He became the Achan. So, let us go to him outside the camp bearing his reproach. We'll get there in Hebrews. In the darkest passage possible, beloved, I've given you the best news possible. Do you understand that? Are you troubled by your sin? What are you doing about secret sin? Don't go on in it. Look what's being offered to you. Look to Jesus. What does He promise to do? Bear all the guilt and the shame. Taking it upon Himself. So that you don't have to face that. when we have faith in christ by the way god loves to give grace to who the humble not the proud when we look to him and we confess our sins the secret sins this is what david was saying when he says god loves truth where in the inward parts he doesn't want fake hypocritical religion of people who just come to do their duties but it's not on the inside when we confess our sins he's faithful and he's just to forgive you all your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness i mean that is the gospel that is the best news that could be given. God cursed His Son for you. Putting Him under the ban. Devoting Him to destruction. Because of how utterly helpless you are to save yourself. And now you can trust in Him. He takes that prodigal Son who went out to the pigsty and tested out all the lies of the heart. And when the Son came back in the muck feeding with the pods of the pigs when sin had ruined his life the father threw the robe around him and the father forgave him the father took him back in the father loved him the other son was sitting in the house complaining the whole time he needed the same thing he needed the same thing instead of bringing our sins out for everyone to see this is what preaching is designed to accomplish God would rather have it dealt with right here right now instead of bringing it out so that when we continue hardening and hardening and hardening this is how he'd rather do it that's why you have preaching that's why you have the gospel that's why the reformation happened he made full atonement and then you begin to understand what it means for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life and that's what we can celebrate even in the dark moment of a story like this that Jesus has saved us and so we will trust him and we will turn from sin because it's his goodness that has led us to repentance and that he has not shamed us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we confess our sins before you. We have not taken it seriously. We've toyed with it in our hearts. There's no one here who is without sin. And you have given a whole ministry to wash us and cleanse us. You are so faithful. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you for the righteousness of your son. Thank you for teaching this all over the pages of scripture. If only we would have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand. But by your grace we do. So thank you for the good news that you've given to us. And cover our shame, cover our sin and teach us the way of repentance. Give us the grace of repentance. That we, Lord, might be, as David said, blameless in the way that we go. Thank you for your favor and your mercy to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.