“Private Sin Made Public” Joshua 7:1-26

Private Sin Made Public

Joshua 7:1-26

Introduction (v. 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.”

Before the people rush in to attach once the walls of Jericho had fallen, Joshua warns the people; Joshua 6:18 “But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.”

The second generation of Israelites had seen the miraculous hand of God as they crossed the Jordan River.  They felt the power of God’s hand as the walls of Jericho fell and they easily conquered the city in seven days. Now a small city, stands before them. Nothing in comparison to a mile wide River or doubled walled city.  But the Israelites were humiliated, thoroughly defeated, but more importantly their conquering the Promised Land comes to a grinding stop. “It is the only defeat of the invading forces recorded in Joshua, and it contains the only report of Jews slain in combat.”[1]

Why?  There was sin in the camp!  Someone had kept some of the plunder from Jericho that was supposed to be dedicated to God.  Whenever we sin, it hurts the whole work of God.  Corporate guilt and individual responsibility go hand in hand.  Our individual sin and the effects upon the entire body are irreparably linked. This morning we will look at how this is true:

Private Sin Hurts Those Who Fight For The Lord (vv. 2-5)

“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.”

(1:7-8) God’s promise was based on covenant obedience, and this obedience had been withheld.  We sometimes think that our personal private sin doesn’t really hurt anyone, here the truth is that it does. Holding each other accountable, and lovingly seeing that we all stay faithful is a community duty. Matt 18:15-17 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’  17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Notice also that the conquering of the Promised Land stops.  Time has to be taken away from conquering to dealing with internal difficulties. When Christians give themselves over to habitual sin, the church must decide to either be campers or warriors.  If they simply want to sit around a small fire and remember the good old days, and they remain in sin. But if they want to follow God’s will and remain warriors then the sin has to be dealt with.

The Israelite’s hearts were brazen and bold in the Lord, but sin in the camp causes that courageous heart to melt with fear. There is confusion and doubt.  Joshua looks to the Lord and asks “why?”  The courage and excitement for being on God’s team suddenly gets extinguished. If Satan wants the conquest of the land to stop, he has to cause God’s own people to turn against Him. He has to get them to not want to fight anymore.

Private Sin Hurts The Witness of All Believers (vv. 6-9)
“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. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O 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! 8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 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?”

Joshua calls God “O Lord God,” meaning that he knows God is sovereign over all things and is in control of all things. He then questions God “why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?”  Joshua is dumbfounded that they had been defeated, and with his face to the ground, asks “why?”

Combined with Joshua’s confusion, there is also a fear that God’s name would look bad.  Joshua is concerned about God’s reputation. If we lose battles, how can we say that you are our God, or that we are your people? Are you concerned about God’s reputation?  If you are then it will be displayed by how you live your life.

Achan thought his deed would never be found out. He thought God would not respond to his sin. As long as it stayed hidden under the floor of his tent, who would ever know? What’s the difference? The strangest thing to me is that he thought God would not deal with him.  God dealt with his parents.  They wandered in the desert for forty years.  God was dealing with the Canaanites. They had just finished a battle at Jericho and it was just the beginning of their judgment.  But somehow because God would overlook his sin?

Israel was about to inherit homes they did not build, fields they did not plant, flocks they did not raise, and the spoils of dozens of cities, but Achan wanted it all now. Achan settled for trinkets under a rug for the vastness of knowing God and His presence. Achan settled for trash when he could have had unlimited treasure.

When we settle for the lies of the world, the lust of the flesh, the emptiness of possessions, then we settle for only a mere small portion of what God desires to give to us. He desires to give the knowledge of winning victory after victory against God’s enemies. God desires to give us the privilege of rescuing the perishing (like Rahab), He desires to give the riches and empowering of heaven in order to serve Him. – Don’t settle, don’t settle for trash.

Why didn’t God just judge the one who was sinning? Why did the Israelites have to lose the battle, and why did other men have to die? Because we are all connected.  The opening verse of the chapter even says, “But the people of Israel broke faith. . .” You cannot live your life without affecting others. Like ripples in a pond, one touches another.   Christians are linked by a bond of blood of Jesus Christ.

Understanding this concept of community, we have Grow Groups/Sunday School classes.  It is my hope that these family units will develop authentic friendships, share each other’s burdens and hold each other accountable for their sin. Consider the cost of your private sin.

Private Sin Is A Devotion To Destruction (vv. 10-12)
“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. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.”

The nature of the sin is clearly stated: a breech of covenant. Israel, not God was the cause of the defeat. There are many people while they sit on their pile of trinkets, knowing they are not following God actually blame Him for their miserable lives.

Here is how they sinned: violated the covenant, taken the devoted things, stolen property, lied, and put them among their own possessions.  This list grew from one thing to another. As it is with sin, once we begin down the slippery slope, it is difficult to stop the descent.

There is something within us all that sometimes thinks that if the sin is small enough, and if no one knows that God will over look it, “sweep it under the rug,” “let it go.”  But God was clear with the Israelites that everything was to be devoted to the Lord.  Achan’s sin was “I’ll just keep a little, for my family.”  “After all, I saw all that the city had, they will never miss it.”

Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” In Achan’s case, he coveted what was dedicated to destruction. The desire for things beyond what God has intended or proposed for him to possess. The sin of covetousness is the worship of things.  It is the life that is gives value and is interpreted by things. It leaves God out and it places things on the throne of our hearts.

God told Adam and Eve that they could eat of any tree except one. Haman, in the book of Esther, had everyone in the kingdom bow to him except one Mordeci, and it drove him crazy. David had several wives and unknown number of concubines, but he wanted another man’s wife for himself.   All three of these people’s lives became fixated on having the one thing they could not get.

Achan’s sin began with seeing the articles (and he fully knew that he was not supposed to take them). He then said in his mind, “I want these things.” His love for those things was more than his love for God and His people. He liked the way these things made him feel. (successful with the robe, a secure future with the gold). It then led him to hide the sin – so that he could continue in the sin.

How do we overcome the hidden sin? Colossians 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” Grow to love something else, or should I say loving someone else, more than you love the stuff.  Our love for God and His people is to be the driving force in our lives, when we place stuff above His will, then we love the stuff more.

This was the sin that Achan committed and that God could not allow to continue. Achan was living a dual life. He would serve God on the battle field during the day, but would come and worship the pile of gold by night. Many say they worship God on Sunday, but live their lives as though they don’t even know Him the rest of the week.

Private Sin Must Be Dealt With Family By Family (vv. 13-18)
“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.’” 16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.”

The people were to sanctify themselves: This is to separate the holy from the common.  Complete purity is a prerequisite for service and communion with God.  There could be no victory, without the removal of the sin.  Don’t expect to win any battles for God, if you are sitting on hidden sin.

Why does God choose to go tribe by tribe, clan by clan, and then family by family.  If we were to suffer defeat and God said there is sin in the church, we then went family by family before the Lord, what would be going through your mind?  Would you be thinking, it must be me.  I have hidden sin, I have things hidden in my life, in my home.

If we were to go person by person in this room,

and you were to pass before God, what would your heart be saying?

Notice also that Achan does not speak up, during this long process of finding the guilty person. He could have stepped up and ended it all. But he chooses to remain quiet.  Even then does he think that he will get away with it?

Let me give you an example of when a family stays quiet about sin.  (2 Sam. 13) David’s son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar.  David did nothing. Absalom, David’s son killed his half-brother Amnon; and again David did nothing. Later, Absalom tries to take over the thrown, and again David does nothing.  – It was not because of his lack of courage, but he simply chose not to deal with sin within his own family.

Private Sins Destroy Everything You Have (vv. 19-26)

“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.” 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.” 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. 23 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. 24 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. 25 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. 26 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.”

Giving “glory to the LORD,” and praising Him is more than just words or a song, they are a life lived in accordance to His ways. Where would he wear the robe or spend the money? All would know where he got it?  It was useless to him.

What Achan did not understand and realize, is that as God’s chosen child, he already had a robe far more beautiful than a man’s hand can craft.  He may have desired to get the robe out and pretended to be a king or prince, but as a child of God he already was a prince.  He already had the vast riches of a God who owns all things!

Achan’s stuff that he had stolen, his wife and children, his tent, everything was killed and burned.  On Achan’s body was a pile of stones that served as a memorial for others.  This morning is your life a memorial to hidden sin? Has it affected your children, everything that you are?

Conclusion

In the following chapter Joshua and the Israelites go on the conquer Ai, but they do it without Achan.  As a church we will continue to conquer, but if you hold back what is God’s then you will be found out. Just as Achan’s sin affected the whole nation, so can your obedience affect the whole church.  Instead of slowing down the work of God, you can speed it up.  Instead of causing the eternal loss of many, you can see many saved.

If you look at yourself and you see stones and a person who has settled for trinkets instead of true godly treasure then it is not too late. 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

God desires to have a relationship with you, but you must lay everything at His feet, don’t hold anything back. Achan’s sin cost him his life.  But God sent Jesus, so that your sin won’t have to cost you your life.  Jesus gave His life as our substitute.

Eph. 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.”  He offers this forgiveness as a gift.  Will you receive his gift this morning?

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[1] James Montgomery Boice, Joshua We Will Serve the Lord (Old Tappan, New Jersey; Fleming H. Revell, 1989) 78.