September 28, 2025 • 47 mins
The story of Achan in Joshua 7 reveals how one person's hidden sin affected an entire community and teaches us that while we can commit sin, we can never contain its consequences.
• One person's disobedience caused defeat for Israel at Ai and the death of 36 soldiers
• The Valley of Achor (meaning "trouble") shows the severity of sin's consequences
• We often misdiagnose difficulties in our lives instead of examining hidden sin
• Joshua's response of tearing his clothes and falling to the ground in repentance
• God's surprising command to "get up" and address the real problem
• The process of revealing Achan's sin among two million people demonstrates God's sovereignty
• Nothing hidden will remain hidden - God already knows the sin no one else sees
• When we sin, other people must clean up our messes and face consequences
• The Valley of Trouble (Achor) later becomes a "gateway of hope" through God's grace
• We cannot fully comprehend our sin's severity or the sufficiency of God's grace
Run to repentance. Don't walk to find it. For your own sake as well as for the sake of the people around you.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Will (00:00):
You not fun scriptures to read.
So semi-apologies, but all ofit's the word of God, all
inspired.
So here we go, Joshua 7.
Sarai (00:08):
Please turn your Bibles to Joshua 7, 19 through 21, 25
through 26, which is on page 183in the Pew Bibles.
Then Joshua said to Akon, Idon't know how to say that.
Achan, my son, give glory tothe Lord God of Israel and give
(00:31):
praise to him.
And tell me now what you havedone, do not hide it from me.
And Achan answered Joshua,Truly I have sinned against the
Lord God of Israel, and this iswhat I did.
When I saw among the spoil abeautiful cloak from Shannar,
and two hundred shekels ofsilver, and a bar of gold
weighing fifty shekels.
Then I coveted them and tookthem, and see they are hidden in
(00:55):
the earth inside my tent withthe silver underneath.
And Joshua said, Why did youbring trouble on us?
The Lord brings trouble on youtoday.
And all Israel stoned him withstones.
They burned them with fire andstoned them with stones.
And they raised over him agreat heap of stones that remain
to this day.
Then the Lord turned from hisburning anger.
(01:17):
Therefore, to this day the nameof that place is called the
Valley of Acor.
This is the word of the Lord.
Will (01:27):
Hang out with me for a minute.
I threw you off by by likecorrecting Achen when you said
it.
Let me share with you somethingthat's important.
The reason y'all check thisout.
This is really cool.
Achen and Akor sound verysimilar because in the Hebrew,
both of them mean trouble.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have saidit because I was about to say
it like a hundred times.
Thank you, sir.
Much appreciated, muchappreciated.
(01:48):
So, what that means is we'relooking at a guy who's about to
get into a bunch of trouble.
The word leave this up, don'tchange it.
We're going to end in a placecalled the Valley of Trouble.
But please don't miss this.
It's going to be hard for youto find the grace of God today
unless you choose to look forthe grace of God today.
And it is right here in thissentence in line two from the
(02:09):
bottom.
Then the Lord turned from hisburning anger.
So the Bible makes it veryclear, God having anger, an
anger that is big and powerfuland deep and strong, is
appropriate.
There is a way in which we canfind him turn from it.
How on earth do we do that?
(02:29):
So as we kind of keep both ofthese things in mind, all right,
guys, I'm gonna try and takecontrol.
I know we've been havingtrouble back there, so I'm just
giving you a heads up.
That's what's about to happen.
Let's see.
I'm just spinning.
Oh perfect.
Good stuff.
All right.
(02:49):
So uh as we begin to wrestlewith this, here's what I want
you to imagine.
I I don't think this is gonnabe hard.
I think most of us, most of uswere public school, uh, a
handful of us were privateschool, and as adults, only a
very small subsect of us werehomeschool, and you can usually
tell.
All right, but I'm justkidding.
(03:09):
My kids are homeschooling, it'sfine, it's fine.
I'm making fun of myself here.
All right.
If you went to a school with aclassroom in it, I'm just
wondering, did your teacher eversay something like?
And you can pick grade school,high school, whatever, because
it it played out for me both atDouble Churches Elementary and
at Hardaway High.
I would have a teacher say, Allright, class, that's important,
(03:32):
class, here's the deal.
If everybody can pass thiscoming test, we will not have a
final.
Can anybody relate to that?
Okay, all right.
If you go back to grade school,the way it worked was this: if
everybody sells gift wrappingpaper, we will have a pizza
party, okay?
It doesn't matter to me whichone you pick.
(03:53):
Here's all that I care about inthis moment.
We understood something aschildren that we wrestle with as
adults.
What was our teacher trying toaccomplish?
Number one, there was a goodcorporate goal they were going
for.
I want the class to have highscores.
That is a good thing.
I want the class to raise moneyfor the school.
(04:15):
That is a good thing.
The goal of the teacher, thegoal of God is a very good
thing.
So what happened was this.
So what I'm gonna do is I'mgonna give an opportunity for
everyone to be a winner.
The whole class has to passthis coming test, and then,
consequence, we will not have afinal.
(04:36):
Why did the teacher do it thatway?
Because she wanted theindividual pupils to hold each
other accountable.
But how many people did it taketo screw it up for the whole
class not to get pizza?
One, two, three.
I'm not gonna ask, but some ofyou were that one, okay?
The best church members are nottypically the all-A students,
(04:59):
okay?
Those are the Pharisees whoreally have to wrestle with
themselves.
And if you're honest withyourself, you know that about
yourself.
A lot of the best churchmembers are the ones who realize
I don't deserve to be with thepeople of God.
It is a miracle that I show upon Sunday morning with a Bible
in my lap.
And here is what we find inGod's word as we start in the
book of Joshua.
(05:20):
Joshua 6, 27.
This is where we stopped lastweek.
So the Lord was with Joshua andhis fame was in all the land.
Is this a good, a glad verse ora gravity verse?
One, two, three.
This is gladness, man.
The Lord's with Joshua, hisfame is spreading.
They take Jericho down,literally without holding up a
(05:42):
sword.
And then in Joshua chapter 7,it begins in all of the ways I
tell my children never to writea sentence.
And that is one verse later,but the people of Israel, I this
is not the way to start asentence, okay?
It's not the way to start achapter.
It's definitely not the way tostart a military campaign.
(06:03):
But here we are, one verselater, by the way, pause.
I know that my uh slides arecrooked.
If you don't know, and it'sbeen bothering you, the 2%, I
know that it's because I updatedto the liquid glass, and my
apps do not like the new Appleuh update.
So I'm sorry, but I've beendealing with it all week.
So welcome to my ownfrustration, deal with it and
(06:25):
move on.
All right.
But the people of Israel brokefaith in regard to the devoted
things.
Who broke faith with Godaccording to this?
Who broke?
The people.
Now I want you to guess howmany people it took for them to
break faith to the point thatthey would end up in a situation
(06:47):
like this.
Was this half the people ofGod?
Was it an entire tribe ofpeople?
Right now, the people of Godamassed to somewhere in the
vicinity of two million people.
And this could immediatelydiscourage you.
Everything's going great.
Jericho falls, and the verynext line is but this generation
(07:08):
that was supposed to get itright, they were supposed to
learn, they've walked throughthe water, they've seen the
miracles, but do not bediscouraged.
Here is what actually tookplace.
But the people of Israel brokefaith in regard to the devoted
things.
For this guy cost them thepizza party.
(07:28):
That's what's about to happen.
Now, I told you what we weregoing to deal with on the front
end that this was going to beheavy.
We're going to look at thejudgment of God.
We're going to look at the costof sin.
We're going to look at how yourindividual sin affects the
people who are sitting near youright now, and not just the ones
who carry your bloodline, andnot just the ones who carry your
(07:48):
last name.
The people who are sittingbehind you, whose faces you
can't picture right now, thepeople sitting in front of you,
who all you know is the color oftheir hair right now.
This is what's about to happenin God's word.
Achan, the son of Carmi, theson of Zabdi, son of Zara, of
the tribe of Judah, took some ofthe devoted things, and the
anger of the Lord burned againstthe people of Israel.
(08:11):
And what happens when they dothis?
Well, here is the story.
Joshua sent men from Jericho toAi, which is near Bethaven,
east of Bethel, and said tothem, Go up and spy out the
land.
Have they done this before?
Yeah.
I mean, this is normal strategyfor them.
And the men went up and theyspied out Ai.
(08:32):
And they returned to Joshua andthey said to him, Great news.
Josh, gather round.
We've got an unranked opponentthis weekend.
How hard could this possiblybe?
It's ap state, for goodnesssakes.
I mean, we're in the top ten.
What do we have to worry about?
We just took down Jericho.
They were number one, and wedidn't even have to run the
ball.
I'm contextualizing.
(08:53):
They didn't actually say that.
They returned to Joshua andthey said to him, Do not have
all the people go up.
Let about two or three thousandmen go up and attack Ai.
Do not make the whole peopletoil up there, for they are few.
We got this, is what they'resaying.
So about 3,000 men went up fromthere, up from the people, and
(09:14):
they fled before the men of Ai.
And the men of Ai killed about36 of their men.
Now, some of you read thatimmediately and you're like, 36
isn't that big of a deal.
I mean, it's a battle.
Time out on that.
Just hold it.
They killed about 36 of theirmen, and they chased them before
the gates as far as Shabarimand struck them at the descent.
(09:36):
And the hearts of the peoplemelted and became as water.
Now you would have to have comefor the past couple of weeks to
realize every time we've seensomebody's heart melt, it has
never been the people of God.
It has always been theirenemies.
So something has happened.
Something dramatic hashappened.
For the first time, they'velost a battle.
(09:58):
They've lost a battle againstan unranked opponent.
People are dead on the groundas a result.
And now they have become likethe rest of the nations.
Their hearts have melted.
So what does Joshua as theleader do?
This is so cool.
It is so cool.
Don't miss this.
What does Joshua do?
He's incredible.
Joshua tore his clothes.
(10:19):
He fell to the earth on hisface before the ark of the Lord.
He stayed there until theevening.
Can I tell you that many timeswe struggle?
Just pause for a moment onthis.
When we repent, all right?
When we recognize our sin, I'mnot trying to be pastoral.
Let me turn off like the pastortalk or the speaking tone or
whatever else it is.
(10:40):
Just please hear from me, manto man, man to woman.
When we repent, our repentanceshould look like something.
So often our repentance, ifwe've been a Christian for a
long time, looks like this.
And that's it.
And somewhere in that fourseconds was us saying, My bad,
God.
And I appreciate the fact thatwe are confident in the work of
(11:01):
Christ and the repentance thatHe has opened up, that we
realize it's His grace alonethat saves us.
What am I supposed to do?
Give money.
Am I supposed to bleed?
Am I supposed to punish myself?
No, no, no.
Jesus has paid the price.
But when it comes to ourrepentance, it should invoke in
us something more than mentalassent that I made a boo-boo,
(11:23):
okay?
And Joshua puts on repentance.
He's tearing his clothes andfalling on the ground.
He's there until the eveningand he invites people in.
Hey, all the elders of thepeople of Israel, all the
leaders, get in here, put duston your head, and join me in
this.
Now, if I'm God and I see theleader of my people respond this
(11:45):
way, when 36 men die, aftertens of thousands had been
slaughtered not long before,what would be your response if
you were God to this?
Don't answer out loud.
If I look at this, I can tellyou what my response would be.
I'd be like, son, get up.
You're hey, hey, I forgive you.
(12:07):
Look at how can look look athow contrite you are.
I'm with you.
What watch what God's responseis.
Joshua, oh, I'm sorry, one morething.
Here's what Joshua says (12:17):
Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought
this people over the Jordan atall to give us into the hands of
the Emirites to destroy us?
Would that we had been contentto dwell beyond the Jordan.
Lord, what can I say aboutthese people?
Oh Lord, what can I say whenIsrael has turned their backs
before their enemies?
For the Canaanites and all theinhabitants of the land will
(12:38):
hear of it and will surround usand cut off our name from the
earth.
And what will you do for yourgreat name?
So Joshua tears his clothes, hegets in the dust, he invites
people in.
Now, at first he blames God.
I don't know if you noticethat.
This is what we do as soon asthere's a problem in our lives.
We blame God, we blame thepeople around us.
I wouldn't have yelled at mykids if they weren't that
(12:59):
annoying, okay?
You can say it out loud, or youcan say it inside, but you're
saying it.
That is your sin nature.
My marriage would have beenbetter if my husband had been
romantic.
You know what?
I would have been more generousif this had happened with my
tax.
And we give ourselves all kindsof little excuses.
God hears him, he looks and hesays, God, I don't even know
(13:19):
what to say in this moment.
And God looks at him on theground, dust on his head, shirt
torn, and this is his response,and I love it.
Joshua tears his clothes, andwhat would God's response be?
I got way ahead of my notes.
I'm sorry, guys.
Get up.
(13:40):
Why have you fallen on yourface?
I love this, I love this, Ilove this.
And this sort of concept thatif we just give God big
emotions, he's gonna meet us inour big emotions.
And Joshua's like, ah, andGod's like, get up, get up, get
up, what are you doing?
Up, up, up.
Why are you on your face?
(14:01):
That has to be a very weirdmoment for Joshua.
He's like, I am leading exactlyhow I'm supposed to lead.
Right?
I got all the leaders praying.
This was a nice shirt.
And the Lord looks at Joshuaand he's like, Hey, get up.
What are you doing on yourface?
What am I doing on my face?
(14:22):
We lost.
We lost to an unrankedopponent.
36 men are dead.
We're supposed to be theundefeated champions as you have
brought us into the promisedland.
People are gonna question me.
People are gonna question you.
I'm trying to lead thiscampaign not only for your
people, but for your great name.
And God looks at him, he says,Get up.
(14:43):
What are you doing?
Falling on your face.
Now, why would God tell them toget up?
Why would he say this?
To understand, you've got to goback to Joshua's saints.
Now, when they're going intoJericho, this was last week, by
the way, there's this cut scenethat we talked about last week
where Joshua says, shout.
And the text freezes right whenthey're about to shout, and
(15:05):
their hands are coming up, andthey're about to shout.
And these are the four thingsthat God said.
When you shout, everything'sabout to change.
So let me make sure you havegood marching orders and
instructions.
Here were the four things theywere supposed to do.
The city and all that is withinit, I want you to devote to
destruction.
Is Jericho destroyed?
(15:28):
Yes.
Check.
They did that.
Rahab the prostitute, who hadhid the messengers, was supposed
to be rescued not only for hersake, but as this pillar of
grace erected in the midst ofdestruction.
Does that happen?
Yes.
All right.
Now it gets a bit shaky.
They were told to keepthemselves from the things
(15:48):
devoted to destruction.
Now, Achan stole three things.
We read it to you a minute ago.
Does anybody remember what hetook?
Points to the camp store if youcan tell me.
Two of them are obvious, okay?
He takes clothes, gold, silver.
Okay.
I don't understand.
I do not know how pretty thiscloak was.
(16:10):
I mean, it must have been thebest-looking tailor-made cloak
that anybody had ever seen intheir lives that you're willing
to wager your soul against thisthing.
But the gold, the silver, Ikind of get that.
That's a pretty typicalresponse of people.
So here they have failed.
Literally, silver, gold, all ofit is supposed to be given to
the Lord.
It's supposed to build thetemple.
(16:31):
They don't even know thatthey're going to build yet.
So, in two of the four thingsthat God told them to do, hey,
if you want a pizza party, Iwant you to have a pizza party.
If you don't want to have afinal, I don't want a grade
finals.
All you need to do, destroy thecity, make sure Rahab lives as
(16:52):
a testimony of my grace.
Don't get your hands in all ofthe things that they were about,
like these pretty cloaks orwhatever.
And the gold and the silverneeds to go into the treasury so
that we can one day build atemple.
There are two million people inGod's family at this point.
One of them messes up.
(17:13):
One.
And because of that oneperson's mess up, because he
didn't keep himself from thingsdevoted to destruction, because
he stole silver and gold, wehave a huge problem.
Joshua falls on his face and hetears his clothes because they
lost a battle.
And in Joshua chapter 1, verse5, you can flip there if you
(17:35):
want to verify what I'm saying.
God looked at Joshua and hesaid, No one will ever be able
to stand before you.
And in that moment, beforeJoshua fell to the ground and
put on repentance, he shouldhave started asking questions.
God has made a promise.
It seems like he hasn't keptit.
What in the world is going on?
(17:57):
This is why when he gives thisemotional plea, God says, get
up.
This isn't a repentance issuefor you.
Somebody didn't do what theywere told to do.
And it's affecting everybody asa result.
Joshua, get up and figure thisout.
Let me tell you why I thinkthis matters in a big way.
(18:18):
It matters because when wemisdiagnose difficulty, despair
is going to multiply.
When you misdiagnose why yourlife is difficult, despair is
going to expand from it.
Let me just explain for amoment.
If you look at the I see thisall the time.
(18:39):
If you look at the diff, infact, I'll just use this as an
illustration.
When Kelsey got baptized lastweek, four times in her story
when difficulty came up, thiswas her response.
God's making me pay for what Idid.
Miscarriage, God's making mepay for what I did.
Struggles in uh struggles witha family member, God's making me
(19:00):
pay for what I did.
Do you know why that exists?
Because all of us understand ina very innate sense, your sin
is never yours.
You can commit it, but youcannot contain it.
You can commit your sin, butyou will never contain your sin.
This is why I began by tellingyou the people in front of you
and the people behind you, notjust the people in your
(19:22):
bloodline or with your lastname, are dramatically affected
when you know what God iscalling you to do.
Ephesians 4.
Put off the old self.
Put on the new self.
But when we do not, you willlook at all of the difficulties
in your life and you willdiagnose them wrong and you will
say things like, God doesn'tcare, God isn't here, my life
(19:46):
doesn't matter, his promisesaren't true.
Get up, get off the ground.
What you're probably dealingwith is sin that is hidden.
Because you can overanalyzeyour circumstances while you
underanalyze your sin.
And you can overanalyze yourcircumstances while you
underanalyze someone else's sinaround you.
(20:07):
And if you have a couple ofdecades of walking with Jesus
under your fingernails, you havefelt this.
You have thought all along thatthis was broken because of X,
only to find out five yearslater, ten years later, 13 years
later, it wasn't that at all.
It wasn't even something thatnecessarily had to do with you.
Hidden sin.
(20:28):
You see, the problem wasn'twith God's faithfulness.
The problem was not with theirstrategy, the problem was not
with their reputation before thenations, the problem was hidden
sin.
Get up.
Why have you fallen on yourface?
And so this is the remedy.
Israel has sinned.
(20:50):
They've transgressed mycovenant that I commanded them.
They have taken devoted things,they have stolen, they have
lied.
Pause for a moment.
Who stole?
Who stole?
Can you pronounce it?
Achid.
Who lied?
Achid.
Who took devoted things?
But what word does the Bibleuse?
(21:10):
They.
I wish there was a way.
My kids and I watched TheMatrix a number of years ago,
years ago, and we talk about itall the time.
Because uh Neo plugs into thismachine.
This is one of my favoritelines from it.
He comes out of the machine andgoes, I know kung fu.
Do y'all remember that?
Whatever.
(21:31):
It connects.
Just stick with me for just aminute.
I can't tell you how bad I wishthere was a way for us to just
grab our Bibles and all of asudden just know the sins that I
commit affect the people aroundme.
I wish we could know it.
But we convince ourselves thateverything in our spiritual life
is so individualized andprivatized, we miss out on this.
(21:55):
They have stolen, they havelied.
Therefore, because Israelsinned, I will be with you no
more unless you destroy thedevoted things from among you.
Why?
Because the wages of sin isdeath.
When we sin, the consequence isnot discomfort, it is not
(22:18):
inefficiency.
The consequences of your sin,big and small, are one word in
Scripture (22:25):
death.
That's what it costs.
The good news is that just asthis chapter began, so this
verse moves on and it says, Buthang on for another moment, and
I will show you hope.
Now, how does this pan out?
In Joshua 7, Joshua's told toget up, to go to the people and
(22:46):
to consecrate them, to make themholy.
So he goes and he says,Consecrate yourselves tomorrow.
For thus says the Lord, the Godof Israel, there are devoted
things in your midst, O Israel.
You're not going to be able tostand before your enemies until
you take away the devoted thingsfrom among you.
So here is how God is going todeal with this.
I know that somebody's about todie.
I know that we're dealing withthe judgment of sin.
(23:08):
This to me is so cool.
So cool.
And I get it, it's dark andit's heavy.
Oh, but please just watch howamazing this is.
And imagine being achen in a moin this moment.
In the morning, therefore, I'mgoing to zoom in on this if I
can.
There shall be brought near uhin the morning, therefore, you
(23:29):
shall be brought near by yourtribes, and the tribe that the
Lord takes by lot shall come byclans.
The clan that the Lord takeswill come by households, and the
household that the Lord takesshall come near by one man.
Here's what's about to happentwo million people are about to
be arrayed or lined up.
Now, for logistics sake, theyprobably don't all show up.
(23:51):
What happens is arepresentative of all of the
twelve tribes comes up, and thenby lot, which means they either
drew sticks or rolled a die orpulled a stone out of a jar, and
one of them was painted adifferent color than the rest.
Then he's gonna go to thattribe and he's gonna say, Of all
(24:12):
the clans there, that one, thenthe household, and then the
man.
Why?
Because according to God'sword, he who is taken with the
devoted things is gonna beburned with fire, he and all
that he has, because he hastransgressed the covenant of the
Lord, and because he has donean outrageous thing in Israel.
(24:32):
What he did was no minoroffense.
It was so clear what God wantedfrom him, and yet he did not do
it.
So what happens?
Sorry, man, this is killing me.
This update is just driving menuts.
Okay.
Proverbs 16, 33.
There are two million people,and God selects Achan with four
(24:56):
little winnowing steps.
Why?
Because there is no such thingas coincidence in your life.
No such thing.
The lot is cast into the lap,but it's every decision is from
the Lord.
Every red light you miss andevery red light you make is in
the hand of the Lord.
(25:16):
Every time you miss your alarmclock and every time you make
it, all of the teeny littlecomings and goings, from the
losing of your earring and whatthat brings about, to showing up
and your kid having a blowoutand you not having another
diaper in the bag.
Guys, no consequences.
God loves you enough to neverstop working on you enough.
(25:38):
All of the things in your lifethat you would pile up in the
win column and pile up in theloss column.
No mistakes, no coincidences,all intended by God to bring you
nearer to him.
And so here is how it playedout.
Joshua rose early in themorning and brought Israel
nearby tribe.
The tribe of Judah is selected.
(26:00):
Then the clan of the Zarahitesis taken, then Zabdi is taken,
and then finally we get to theone kid who cost two million
people a pizza party.
Achan, whose name sounds reallyclose in Hebrew to the word
trouble.
Now let me tell you how amazingthis is.
Two million people in thepeople of God.
(26:25):
Right now, I did some research,I think it was like 2024, there
were two million registereddrivers in the state of Georgia.
You would need something like6,500 acres to park all of the
cars that are registered inGeorgia.
And some of you don't registeryour cars, so there's probably
even more.
Here's my point.
(26:46):
I want you to imagine God goingto you and saying, I've got a
parking lot with uh 6,500 acresfull of 2 million cars.
You get to pick one, and in thetrunk is a bomb.
And if you don't deal with thatbomb and defuse it, it's gonna
kill all of the two millionpeople.
You get one pick.
(27:07):
Go.
And do you know what God does?
He says, I want you to go toparking lot B.
I want you to go down row F.
I want you to go to spot six,and I want you to open the
trunk.
Now, I find that amazing.
I find the sovereignty of Godand the providence of God
(27:28):
astounding.
The only thing more amazing isthe fact that Achan is watching
this happen.
How on earth?
How do you not fess up?
As soon as it's like tribe ofJudah, I'm like, it's me, it's
me, it's on me, right here, thisguy, and it's just like goof,
(27:49):
doof, doof, doof.
And finally the lot falls onAchan.
Would it have been different ifhe fessed up?
All of us know this innately.
When we confess our sin, theconsequences are different than
when our sin is found outwithout us confessing first.
I wonder if it would have beenany different.
So Joshua turns to Achan and hesays what might be confusing to
(28:10):
us, but I put these two wordsin bold for a reason.
My son, he's being kind to him.
Give glory to the Lord God ofIsrael and give praise to him.
It sounds like Joshua's like,all right, man, you need a
really good worship service, allright?
We're gonna put on King'skaleidoscope or whatever else it
is that you need, all right?
And I just need you like, comeon, get right with the Lord.
(28:32):
What this is actually saying ismore along the lines of, I need
you to honor God and I need youto confess.
That's what this is saying.
Praise and confession go handin hand in our worship to God.
So he looks at Achan, he says,You need to honor the Lord.
You need to confess to him.
Tell me what you have done, donot hide it from me.
(28:55):
And Achan answered Joshua,Truly, I have sinned against the
Lord God of Israel, and this iswhat I did.
When I saw among the spoil abeautiful cloak from Shannar,
two hundred shekels of silver,and a bar of gold weighing fifty
shekels, I broke one of the bigten.
I coveted them, I took them,and see they are hidden in the
(29:16):
earth inside my tent with thesilver underneath.
Jesus would respond to asituation like this in the New
Testament, and he would put itthis way: Luke 12, 2.
Nothing is covered up that willnot be revealed, or hidden that
will not be known.
One of the greatest pastoralthings I can do in this moment
(29:39):
is leave that there.
The reason it's one of thegreatest pastoral things I can
do is because I know you and Iknow me.
And the reality of it is someof us have buried things
thinking it would never be foundout.
We have buried truths that needto be shared.
(29:59):
We have hidden things that needto be repented of.
And I want you to understandthis.
God's people looked at a sea oftwo million folks and they
said, How on earth are we evergoing to figure out where the
sin is so that we can get backon the right track?
But God says, I've got noproblem with that.
There is nothing hidden thatwill not be revealed.
(30:22):
Or to put it differently, Godalready knows the sin no one
else sees.
And I am telling you thisbecause I love you.
I'm telling you this because Idon't want you driving around
with a bomb in the back of yourcar.
I don't want you driving aroundwith a sin bomb in the back of
your car for your sake, and thesake of the people who ride in
the car with you, and the sakeof the passers-by who you do not
(30:43):
even know, that I promise youit will affect.
God already knows the sin thatnobody else sees.
Do you know how much moneyAiken stole in today's I don't
know how much the cloak costs,but in today's day and age he
took about $40,000.
It's a sizable amount.
(31:04):
40 grand is what he took.
But I don't want you toremember what it cost him.
Thirty-six men are dead.
Which means 36 womenpotentially are widowed.
When the people of Israelgather together, it's not
praises that they hear this day.
It is the cries of women whowill never see their husbands
(31:27):
again, and it is the cries ofchildren who will never see
their father again.
We look at 36 in a battle, andwe think it's not a big deal.
It's a huge deal.
It was a huge deal to God.
You may hide your sin frompeople, but hiding it from God
never works.
Didn't work in Genesis 3 whenAdam and Eve ran, it didn't work
(31:48):
for Jonah when he jumped out ofthe boat, and it isn't gonna
work for Joshua for Achan, eventhough there was a one in two
million chance he would ever befound.
So what does Joshua do?
He sent the messengers and theyran to the tent.
If you are hiding something,run.
Don't walk to find repentance.
(32:10):
Run to the diffusing of thatbomb.
For the sake of the people whoride with you and for the sake
of the people who are aroundyou.
And I know this, you're alreadyjustifying not doing it.
You're already justifying notrepenting.
You're already telling yourselfthat sin is not that big of a
deal.
You're already telling yourselfthat, hey, I've lived with this
long enough, I can live with ita little bit longer.
(32:31):
This is just one Sunday, it'sjust one sermon, it's just one
text.
I'm sure we'll get somewhereelse.
I just need to make it through.
No, run to the tent, find whatis hidden, deal with what is
there.
It was hidden in the tent, thesilver underneath.
And they took them out of thetent.
They brought them to Joshua andall the people of Israel, and
they laid them down before theLord.
(32:53):
God, we're sorry.
We weren't even a part of this,but we're sorry that it
happened.
We're sorry that you're knownfor this now.
We're sorry that you lost to anunranked opponent.
We're sorry that 36 men aredead and 36 families are ruined.
We're sorry, and it wasn't evenour sorry to feel.
And Joshua and all Israel withhim took Achan, the son of
Zarah, and the silver and thecloak and the bar of gold.
(33:14):
And if that's where the textended, all of us would be fine.
All of us would be fine withit.
Why?
Because here's what's beingdealt with.
Achan, he committed the sin,the silver, the cloak, and the
gold.
That's where it should end,right?
No, because sin is a biggerdeal than that.
It cost him his sons, it costhim his daughters, his ox, his
donkeys don't make it away fromthis thing.
(33:34):
His sheep, everything he owned,everything he touched,
everything that was near him.
And they brought them up to thevalley of Acor, to a place of
trouble.
And Joshua said, Why have youbrought this trouble on us?
The Lord brings trouble on you.
The Bible understands innatelyand explains to us what we
(33:56):
understood when we were sevenyears old.
It only takes one person tocost you a pizza party.
And that one person, trouble onyou today, they will deal with
the brunt of it.
But your sin affects the peoplearound you in ways you will
never fully understand.
If you could see it with theeyes of God, you would get it.
And all Israel stoned him withstones.
(34:16):
They burned them with fire, andthey stoned them with stones,
and they raised over him a greatheap of stones that remains to
this day.
Then the Lord turned from hisburning anger.
Therefore, to this day, thename of that place is called the
Valley of Acre.
Here's the reality that youcan't miss out of God's word
today.
It is impossible for us toappropriately estimate the
(34:41):
severity of our sin.
We will either say his punGod's punishment was too severe,
or it was too sort of likefar-reaching.
One sin cost them victory.
36 people die, widows andfatherless children.
God's people become like theirenemies because of this one
(35:03):
person's sin and their heartmelts.
And in case you didn't realizeit, other people had to clean up
his mess.
What is it like to have tostone somebody to death?
I'm grateful that on this sideof the cross, we will never
know.
But I want you, I don't wantyou to miss this.
Other people had to clean uphis mess because he made it.
(35:24):
And they would never walk pastthat pile of stones again and
not remember what happened.
And if you want to see abeautiful poetic reality of who
God is, there was a pile ofstones right as they walked into
Jericho, as God said, I'mguaranteeing you victory.
And now there is a pile ofstones where God says, Victory
is not the only thing Iguarantee.
(35:44):
I also guarantee holiness ifyou're going to come after me.
Was this too far-reaching?
I don't think so.
One sin cost them victory, andone sin will cause you to lose
battles you should easily win.
One sin undealt with men willmake it harder for you not to
glance twice at something youshouldn't have seen once.
(36:06):
It will cause you to lose easybattles.
When you, moms, when you loseyour temper with your kids.
There are so many things thatlead to things like that.
And if we don't address thehidden sin, we shouldn't be
surprised when other things getsqueezed out of us.
Sin leads to 36 dead people,and in our case, broken families
(36:27):
today.
And many of you have felt that.
Additionally, just as God'speople had their hearts melt,
sin causes all of a sudden themore we sin, the easier it
becomes to continue sinning, andwe stop looking like salt and
we stop looking like light.
Is God's punishment too severe?
I don't think so.
He certainly doesn't seem tothink so.
(36:47):
And does our sin affect others?
Yes.
In this case, other people hadto enter into the punishment
that came in that they wouldnever forget.
And you know what happens withyour sin?
Other people have to get theirhands dirty to try to clean it
up.
Is God's punishment too farreaching?
Well, can you ever tell me of asin that's only affected you?
(37:08):
You ever committed a sin that'sever just stayed there?
I've yet to see one.
Every time we choose to sin, wechoose to harm the people
around us.
Every time.
Especially those we love.
But the wages of sin is death,but the free gift of God is
(37:31):
eternal life in Christ Jesus ourLord.
Stokesy, go ahead and come onup here.
One of the most beautifulrealities, and I'm not trying to
take us out of this heavymoment because I want us to feel
this heavy moment.
I'm good with this.
But I do want you to see whathappens when we repent.
When we repent, this is thekind of stuff we see.
Hosea and Isaiah would laterwrite about the same place that
(37:54):
stones were piled up over thisone man.
Hosea 2.15.
There I will give her vineyardsback to her.
I will make the valley of Acre,this place of trouble, into a
gateway of hope.
I want you to realize that youwill never understand how far
reaching your sin is.
(38:16):
But I also need you to realizethis.
You can never understand howfar-reaching the grace of God
is.
Sharon will be a pasture forflocks, and the valley of Acre,
this rocky place that wascovered in blood and death, it's
going to become a place wherecattle lie down.
It's going to be picturesque.
It would be a place where youwould take your family for
family photos.
(38:36):
This is what God does with thebroken things in our world.
I told you I wanted to teachyou something about God, and
this is the last thing that Ihave to teach you.
Therefore, just as sin cameinto the world through one man.
Now, this one man is pointingto Adam.
(38:56):
In our story, we get anotherexample in Achan.
I want you to understand wecould stop here today and be
true of God and not read thesecond part of Romans 5.
Just as sin came into the worldthrough one man and death
through sin, so death spread toall because all sin.
(39:16):
Do you want to know why youhave a sin issue?
Because Adam screwed it up.
You can be as upset at him asyou want, but this is the
reality (39:24):
individual responsibility and corporate
responsibility.
You have a sin problem becauseAdam had a sin problem.
That is the reality, like it ordon't, that is what happened.
This is your only hope.
For if, because of one man,Adam's trespass, death reigned
through that one man, twobeautiful words, much more will
(39:49):
those who receive the abundanceof grace and the free gift of
righteousness reign in lifethrough one man, Jesus Christ.
In other words, it isimpossible for us to
appropriately estimate theseverity of our sin, but in a
bigger way, in a much more way,it is impossible for us to
(40:10):
appropriately estimate thesufficiency of God's grace.
Did you see what Joshua did?
He was willing to tear hisclothes and fall on the ground,
and it wasn't even his fault.
God tells him to get up.
He also runs toward that sin.
Why?
Because you will never be ableto understand how severe your
(40:31):
sin is.
The only great news I have, andit is great, is the only thing
bigger than your sin is thegrace of God.
And you will never be able toappropriately estimate his
efficiency.
The question is, will you trustin it?
Will you walk toward it?
Will you run toward that thing?
And I can tell you what it'lllook like.
(40:52):
It could look like you sittingwhen other people stand so that
you can process and repent.
It could look like you fixing arelationship that is sideways
in this room before you make itto the car.
It could look like we're gonnado prayer on the back porch
instead of the front porchbecause we're still working on
painting all these pews.
It could look like you going tothe back porch and just saying,
hey, I need somebody to prayfor me.
(41:13):
I really don't care how itlooks because it's not like it's
impressive anyway.
The only thing that'simpressive is when we believe in
the sufficiency of God's graceover the incredible size of our
sin.
And I promise you, whatever thepunishment is, is not too
severe and it is not too farreaching.
It is precisely appropriate.
(41:35):
So may that be placed onChrist.
Since God sent him, that youwould have hope through him.
Respond as you feel free.
Respond freely as you feel led.
But let us not walk from hereuntil we have run to the cross
first.
Stokesy, however, you feel led.
You not fun scriptures to read.
So semi-apologies, but all ofit's the word of God, all
inspired.
So here we go, Joshua 7.
Sarai (00:08):
Please turn your Bibles to Joshua 7, 19 through 21, 25
through 26, which is on page 183in the Pew Bibles.
Then Joshua said to Akon, Idon't know how to say that.
Achan, my son, give glory tothe Lord God of Israel and give
(00:31):
praise to him.
And tell me now what you havedone, do not hide it from me.
And Achan answered Joshua,Truly I have sinned against the
Lord God of Israel, and this iswhat I did.
When I saw among the spoil abeautiful cloak from Shannar,
and two hundred shekels ofsilver, and a bar of gold
weighing fifty shekels.
Then I coveted them and tookthem, and see they are hidden in
(00:55):
the earth inside my tent withthe silver underneath.
And Joshua said, Why did youbring trouble on us?
The Lord brings trouble on youtoday.
And all Israel stoned him withstones.
They burned them with fire andstoned them with stones.
And they raised over him agreat heap of stones that remain
to this day.
Then the Lord turned from hisburning anger.
(01:17):
Therefore, to this day the nameof that place is called the
Valley of Acor.
This is the word of the Lord.
Will (01:27):
Hang out with me for a minute.
I threw you off by by likecorrecting Achen when you said
it.
Let me share with you somethingthat's important.
The reason y'all check thisout.
This is really cool.
Achen and Akor sound verysimilar because in the Hebrew,
both of them mean trouble.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have saidit because I was about to say
it like a hundred times.
Thank you, sir.
Much appreciated, muchappreciated.
(01:48):
So, what that means is we'relooking at a guy who's about to
get into a bunch of trouble.
The word leave this up, don'tchange it.
We're going to end in a placecalled the Valley of Trouble.
But please don't miss this.
It's going to be hard for youto find the grace of God today
unless you choose to look forthe grace of God today.
And it is right here in thissentence in line two from the
(02:09):
bottom.
Then the Lord turned from hisburning anger.
So the Bible makes it veryclear, God having anger, an
anger that is big and powerfuland deep and strong, is
appropriate.
There is a way in which we canfind him turn from it.
How on earth do we do that?
(02:29):
So as we kind of keep both ofthese things in mind, all right,
guys, I'm gonna try and takecontrol.
I know we've been havingtrouble back there, so I'm just
giving you a heads up.
That's what's about to happen.
Let's see.
I'm just spinning.
Oh perfect.
Good stuff.
All right.
(02:49):
So uh as we begin to wrestlewith this, here's what I want
you to imagine.
I I don't think this is gonnabe hard.
I think most of us, most of uswere public school, uh, a
handful of us were privateschool, and as adults, only a
very small subsect of us werehomeschool, and you can usually
tell.
All right, but I'm justkidding.
(03:09):
My kids are homeschooling, it'sfine, it's fine.
I'm making fun of myself here.
All right.
If you went to a school with aclassroom in it, I'm just
wondering, did your teacher eversay something like?
And you can pick grade school,high school, whatever, because
it it played out for me both atDouble Churches Elementary and
at Hardaway High.
I would have a teacher say, Allright, class, that's important,
(03:32):
class, here's the deal.
If everybody can pass thiscoming test, we will not have a
final.
Can anybody relate to that?
Okay, all right.
If you go back to grade school,the way it worked was this: if
everybody sells gift wrappingpaper, we will have a pizza
party, okay?
It doesn't matter to me whichone you pick.
(03:53):
Here's all that I care about inthis moment.
We understood something aschildren that we wrestle with as
adults.
What was our teacher trying toaccomplish?
Number one, there was a goodcorporate goal they were going
for.
I want the class to have highscores.
That is a good thing.
I want the class to raise moneyfor the school.
(04:15):
That is a good thing.
The goal of the teacher, thegoal of God is a very good
thing.
So what happened was this.
So what I'm gonna do is I'mgonna give an opportunity for
everyone to be a winner.
The whole class has to passthis coming test, and then,
consequence, we will not have afinal.
(04:36):
Why did the teacher do it thatway?
Because she wanted theindividual pupils to hold each
other accountable.
But how many people did it taketo screw it up for the whole
class not to get pizza?
One, two, three.
I'm not gonna ask, but some ofyou were that one, okay?
The best church members are nottypically the all-A students,
(04:59):
okay?
Those are the Pharisees whoreally have to wrestle with
themselves.
And if you're honest withyourself, you know that about
yourself.
A lot of the best churchmembers are the ones who realize
I don't deserve to be with thepeople of God.
It is a miracle that I show upon Sunday morning with a Bible
in my lap.
And here is what we find inGod's word as we start in the
book of Joshua.
(05:20):
Joshua 6, 27.
This is where we stopped lastweek.
So the Lord was with Joshua andhis fame was in all the land.
Is this a good, a glad verse ora gravity verse?
One, two, three.
This is gladness, man.
The Lord's with Joshua, hisfame is spreading.
They take Jericho down,literally without holding up a
(05:42):
sword.
And then in Joshua chapter 7,it begins in all of the ways I
tell my children never to writea sentence.
And that is one verse later,but the people of Israel, I this
is not the way to start asentence, okay?
It's not the way to start achapter.
It's definitely not the way tostart a military campaign.
(06:03):
But here we are, one verselater, by the way, pause.
I know that my uh slides arecrooked.
If you don't know, and it'sbeen bothering you, the 2%, I
know that it's because I updatedto the liquid glass, and my
apps do not like the new Appleuh update.
So I'm sorry, but I've beendealing with it all week.
So welcome to my ownfrustration, deal with it and
(06:25):
move on.
All right.
But the people of Israel brokefaith in regard to the devoted
things.
Who broke faith with Godaccording to this?
Who broke?
The people.
Now I want you to guess howmany people it took for them to
break faith to the point thatthey would end up in a situation
(06:47):
like this.
Was this half the people ofGod?
Was it an entire tribe ofpeople?
Right now, the people of Godamassed to somewhere in the
vicinity of two million people.
And this could immediatelydiscourage you.
Everything's going great.
Jericho falls, and the verynext line is but this generation
(07:08):
that was supposed to get itright, they were supposed to
learn, they've walked throughthe water, they've seen the
miracles, but do not bediscouraged.
Here is what actually tookplace.
But the people of Israel brokefaith in regard to the devoted
things.
For this guy cost them thepizza party.
(07:28):
That's what's about to happen.
Now, I told you what we weregoing to deal with on the front
end that this was going to beheavy.
We're going to look at thejudgment of God.
We're going to look at the costof sin.
We're going to look at how yourindividual sin affects the
people who are sitting near youright now, and not just the ones
who carry your bloodline, andnot just the ones who carry your
(07:48):
last name.
The people who are sittingbehind you, whose faces you
can't picture right now, thepeople sitting in front of you,
who all you know is the color oftheir hair right now.
This is what's about to happenin God's word.
Achan, the son of Carmi, theson of Zabdi, son of Zara, of
the tribe of Judah, took some ofthe devoted things, and the
anger of the Lord burned againstthe people of Israel.
(08:11):
And what happens when they dothis?
Well, here is the story.
Joshua sent men from Jericho toAi, which is near Bethaven,
east of Bethel, and said tothem, Go up and spy out the
land.
Have they done this before?
Yeah.
I mean, this is normal strategyfor them.
And the men went up and theyspied out Ai.
(08:32):
And they returned to Joshua andthey said to him, Great news.
Josh, gather round.
We've got an unranked opponentthis weekend.
How hard could this possiblybe?
It's ap state, for goodnesssakes.
I mean, we're in the top ten.
What do we have to worry about?
We just took down Jericho.
They were number one, and wedidn't even have to run the
ball.
I'm contextualizing.
(08:53):
They didn't actually say that.
They returned to Joshua andthey said to him, Do not have
all the people go up.
Let about two or three thousandmen go up and attack Ai.
Do not make the whole peopletoil up there, for they are few.
We got this, is what they'resaying.
So about 3,000 men went up fromthere, up from the people, and
(09:14):
they fled before the men of Ai.
And the men of Ai killed about36 of their men.
Now, some of you read thatimmediately and you're like, 36
isn't that big of a deal.
I mean, it's a battle.
Time out on that.
Just hold it.
They killed about 36 of theirmen, and they chased them before
the gates as far as Shabarimand struck them at the descent.
(09:36):
And the hearts of the peoplemelted and became as water.
Now you would have to have comefor the past couple of weeks to
realize every time we've seensomebody's heart melt, it has
never been the people of God.
It has always been theirenemies.
So something has happened.
Something dramatic hashappened.
For the first time, they'velost a battle.
(09:58):
They've lost a battle againstan unranked opponent.
People are dead on the groundas a result.
And now they have become likethe rest of the nations.
Their hearts have melted.
So what does Joshua as theleader do?
This is so cool.
It is so cool.
Don't miss this.
What does Joshua do?
He's incredible.
Joshua tore his clothes.
(10:19):
He fell to the earth on hisface before the ark of the Lord.
He stayed there until theevening.
Can I tell you that many timeswe struggle?
Just pause for a moment onthis.
When we repent, all right?
When we recognize our sin, I'mnot trying to be pastoral.
Let me turn off like the pastortalk or the speaking tone or
whatever else it is.
(10:40):
Just please hear from me, manto man, man to woman.
When we repent, our repentanceshould look like something.
So often our repentance, ifwe've been a Christian for a
long time, looks like this.
And that's it.
And somewhere in that fourseconds was us saying, My bad,
God.
And I appreciate the fact thatwe are confident in the work of
(11:01):
Christ and the repentance thatHe has opened up, that we
realize it's His grace alonethat saves us.
What am I supposed to do?
Give money.
Am I supposed to bleed?
Am I supposed to punish myself?
No, no, no.
Jesus has paid the price.
But when it comes to ourrepentance, it should invoke in
us something more than mentalassent that I made a boo-boo,
(11:23):
okay?
And Joshua puts on repentance.
He's tearing his clothes andfalling on the ground.
He's there until the eveningand he invites people in.
Hey, all the elders of thepeople of Israel, all the
leaders, get in here, put duston your head, and join me in
this.
Now, if I'm God and I see theleader of my people respond this
(11:45):
way, when 36 men die, aftertens of thousands had been
slaughtered not long before,what would be your response if
you were God to this?
Don't answer out loud.
If I look at this, I can tellyou what my response would be.
I'd be like, son, get up.
You're hey, hey, I forgive you.
(12:07):
Look at how can look look athow contrite you are.
I'm with you.
What watch what God's responseis.
Joshua, oh, I'm sorry, one morething.
Here's what Joshua says (12:17):
Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought
this people over the Jordan atall to give us into the hands of
the Emirites to destroy us?
Would that we had been contentto dwell beyond the Jordan.
Lord, what can I say aboutthese people?
Oh Lord, what can I say whenIsrael has turned their backs
before their enemies?
For the Canaanites and all theinhabitants of the land will
(12:38):
hear of it and will surround usand cut off our name from the
earth.
And what will you do for yourgreat name?
So Joshua tears his clothes, hegets in the dust, he invites
people in.
Now, at first he blames God.
I don't know if you noticethat.
This is what we do as soon asthere's a problem in our lives.
We blame God, we blame thepeople around us.
I wouldn't have yelled at mykids if they weren't that
(12:59):
annoying, okay?
You can say it out loud, or youcan say it inside, but you're
saying it.
That is your sin nature.
My marriage would have beenbetter if my husband had been
romantic.
You know what?
I would have been more generousif this had happened with my
tax.
And we give ourselves all kindsof little excuses.
God hears him, he looks and hesays, God, I don't even know
(13:19):
what to say in this moment.
And God looks at him on theground, dust on his head, shirt
torn, and this is his response,and I love it.
Joshua tears his clothes, andwhat would God's response be?
I got way ahead of my notes.
I'm sorry, guys.
Get up.
(13:40):
Why have you fallen on yourface?
I love this, I love this, Ilove this.
And this sort of concept thatif we just give God big
emotions, he's gonna meet us inour big emotions.
And Joshua's like, ah, andGod's like, get up, get up, get
up, what are you doing?
Up, up, up.
Why are you on your face?
(14:01):
That has to be a very weirdmoment for Joshua.
He's like, I am leading exactlyhow I'm supposed to lead.
Right?
I got all the leaders praying.
This was a nice shirt.
And the Lord looks at Joshuaand he's like, Hey, get up.
What are you doing on yourface?
What am I doing on my face?
(14:22):
We lost.
We lost to an unrankedopponent.
36 men are dead.
We're supposed to be theundefeated champions as you have
brought us into the promisedland.
People are gonna question me.
People are gonna question you.
I'm trying to lead thiscampaign not only for your
people, but for your great name.
And God looks at him, he says,Get up.
(14:43):
What are you doing?
Falling on your face.
Now, why would God tell them toget up?
Why would he say this?
To understand, you've got to goback to Joshua's saints.
Now, when they're going intoJericho, this was last week, by
the way, there's this cut scenethat we talked about last week
where Joshua says, shout.
And the text freezes right whenthey're about to shout, and
(15:05):
their hands are coming up, andthey're about to shout.
And these are the four thingsthat God said.
When you shout, everything'sabout to change.
So let me make sure you havegood marching orders and
instructions.
Here were the four things theywere supposed to do.
The city and all that is withinit, I want you to devote to
destruction.
Is Jericho destroyed?
(15:28):
Yes.
Check.
They did that.
Rahab the prostitute, who hadhid the messengers, was supposed
to be rescued not only for hersake, but as this pillar of
grace erected in the midst ofdestruction.
Does that happen?
Yes.
All right.
Now it gets a bit shaky.
They were told to keepthemselves from the things
(15:48):
devoted to destruction.
Now, Achan stole three things.
We read it to you a minute ago.
Does anybody remember what hetook?
Points to the camp store if youcan tell me.
Two of them are obvious, okay?
He takes clothes, gold, silver.
Okay.
I don't understand.
I do not know how pretty thiscloak was.
(16:10):
I mean, it must have been thebest-looking tailor-made cloak
that anybody had ever seen intheir lives that you're willing
to wager your soul against thisthing.
But the gold, the silver, Ikind of get that.
That's a pretty typicalresponse of people.
So here they have failed.
Literally, silver, gold, all ofit is supposed to be given to
the Lord.
It's supposed to build thetemple.
(16:31):
They don't even know thatthey're going to build yet.
So, in two of the four thingsthat God told them to do, hey,
if you want a pizza party, Iwant you to have a pizza party.
If you don't want to have afinal, I don't want a grade
finals.
All you need to do, destroy thecity, make sure Rahab lives as
(16:52):
a testimony of my grace.
Don't get your hands in all ofthe things that they were about,
like these pretty cloaks orwhatever.
And the gold and the silverneeds to go into the treasury so
that we can one day build atemple.
There are two million people inGod's family at this point.
One of them messes up.
(17:13):
One.
And because of that oneperson's mess up, because he
didn't keep himself from thingsdevoted to destruction, because
he stole silver and gold, wehave a huge problem.
Joshua falls on his face and hetears his clothes because they
lost a battle.
And in Joshua chapter 1, verse5, you can flip there if you
(17:35):
want to verify what I'm saying.
God looked at Joshua and hesaid, No one will ever be able
to stand before you.
And in that moment, beforeJoshua fell to the ground and
put on repentance, he shouldhave started asking questions.
God has made a promise.
It seems like he hasn't keptit.
What in the world is going on?
(17:57):
This is why when he gives thisemotional plea, God says, get
up.
This isn't a repentance issuefor you.
Somebody didn't do what theywere told to do.
And it's affecting everybody asa result.
Joshua, get up and figure thisout.
Let me tell you why I thinkthis matters in a big way.
(18:18):
It matters because when wemisdiagnose difficulty, despair
is going to multiply.
When you misdiagnose why yourlife is difficult, despair is
going to expand from it.
Let me just explain for amoment.
If you look at the I see thisall the time.
(18:39):
If you look at the diff, infact, I'll just use this as an
illustration.
When Kelsey got baptized lastweek, four times in her story
when difficulty came up, thiswas her response.
God's making me pay for what Idid.
Miscarriage, God's making mepay for what I did.
Struggles in uh struggles witha family member, God's making me
(19:00):
pay for what I did.
Do you know why that exists?
Because all of us understand ina very innate sense, your sin
is never yours.
You can commit it, but youcannot contain it.
You can commit your sin, butyou will never contain your sin.
This is why I began by tellingyou the people in front of you
and the people behind you, notjust the people in your
(19:22):
bloodline or with your lastname, are dramatically affected
when you know what God iscalling you to do.
Ephesians 4.
Put off the old self.
Put on the new self.
But when we do not, you willlook at all of the difficulties
in your life and you willdiagnose them wrong and you will
say things like, God doesn'tcare, God isn't here, my life
(19:46):
doesn't matter, his promisesaren't true.
Get up, get off the ground.
What you're probably dealingwith is sin that is hidden.
Because you can overanalyzeyour circumstances while you
underanalyze your sin.
And you can overanalyze yourcircumstances while you
underanalyze someone else's sinaround you.
(20:07):
And if you have a couple ofdecades of walking with Jesus
under your fingernails, you havefelt this.
You have thought all along thatthis was broken because of X,
only to find out five yearslater, ten years later, 13 years
later, it wasn't that at all.
It wasn't even something thatnecessarily had to do with you.
Hidden sin.
(20:28):
You see, the problem wasn'twith God's faithfulness.
The problem was not with theirstrategy, the problem was not
with their reputation before thenations, the problem was hidden
sin.
Get up.
Why have you fallen on yourface?
And so this is the remedy.
Israel has sinned.
(20:50):
They've transgressed mycovenant that I commanded them.
They have taken devoted things,they have stolen, they have
lied.
Pause for a moment.
Who stole?
Who stole?
Can you pronounce it?
Achid.
Who lied?
Achid.
Who took devoted things?
But what word does the Bibleuse?
(21:10):
They.
I wish there was a way.
My kids and I watched TheMatrix a number of years ago,
years ago, and we talk about itall the time.
Because uh Neo plugs into thismachine.
This is one of my favoritelines from it.
He comes out of the machine andgoes, I know kung fu.
Do y'all remember that?
Whatever.
(21:31):
It connects.
Just stick with me for just aminute.
I can't tell you how bad I wishthere was a way for us to just
grab our Bibles and all of asudden just know the sins that I
commit affect the people aroundme.
I wish we could know it.
But we convince ourselves thateverything in our spiritual life
is so individualized andprivatized, we miss out on this.
(21:55):
They have stolen, they havelied.
Therefore, because Israelsinned, I will be with you no
more unless you destroy thedevoted things from among you.
Why?
Because the wages of sin isdeath.
When we sin, the consequence isnot discomfort, it is not
(22:18):
inefficiency.
The consequences of your sin,big and small, are one word in
Scripture (22:25):
death.
That's what it costs.
The good news is that just asthis chapter began, so this
verse moves on and it says, Buthang on for another moment, and
I will show you hope.
Now, how does this pan out?
In Joshua 7, Joshua's told toget up, to go to the people and
(22:46):
to consecrate them, to make themholy.
So he goes and he says,Consecrate yourselves tomorrow.
For thus says the Lord, the Godof Israel, there are devoted
things in your midst, O Israel.
You're not going to be able tostand before your enemies until
you take away the devoted thingsfrom among you.
So here is how God is going todeal with this.
I know that somebody's about todie.
I know that we're dealing withthe judgment of sin.
(23:08):
This to me is so cool.
So cool.
And I get it, it's dark andit's heavy.
Oh, but please just watch howamazing this is.
And imagine being achen in a moin this moment.
In the morning, therefore, I'mgoing to zoom in on this if I
can.
There shall be brought near uhin the morning, therefore, you
(23:29):
shall be brought near by yourtribes, and the tribe that the
Lord takes by lot shall come byclans.
The clan that the Lord takeswill come by households, and the
household that the Lord takesshall come near by one man.
Here's what's about to happentwo million people are about to
be arrayed or lined up.
Now, for logistics sake, theyprobably don't all show up.
(23:51):
What happens is arepresentative of all of the
twelve tribes comes up, and thenby lot, which means they either
drew sticks or rolled a die orpulled a stone out of a jar, and
one of them was painted adifferent color than the rest.
Then he's gonna go to thattribe and he's gonna say, Of all
(24:12):
the clans there, that one, thenthe household, and then the
man.
Why?
Because according to God'sword, he who is taken with the
devoted things is gonna beburned with fire, he and all
that he has, because he hastransgressed the covenant of the
Lord, and because he has donean outrageous thing in Israel.
(24:32):
What he did was no minoroffense.
It was so clear what God wantedfrom him, and yet he did not do
it.
So what happens?
Sorry, man, this is killing me.
This update is just driving menuts.
Okay.
Proverbs 16, 33.
There are two million people,and God selects Achan with four
(24:56):
little winnowing steps.
Why?
Because there is no such thingas coincidence in your life.
No such thing.
The lot is cast into the lap,but it's every decision is from
the Lord.
Every red light you miss andevery red light you make is in
the hand of the Lord.
(25:16):
Every time you miss your alarmclock and every time you make
it, all of the teeny littlecomings and goings, from the
losing of your earring and whatthat brings about, to showing up
and your kid having a blowoutand you not having another
diaper in the bag.
Guys, no consequences.
God loves you enough to neverstop working on you enough.
(25:38):
All of the things in your lifethat you would pile up in the
win column and pile up in theloss column.
No mistakes, no coincidences,all intended by God to bring you
nearer to him.
And so here is how it playedout.
Joshua rose early in themorning and brought Israel
nearby tribe.
The tribe of Judah is selected.
(26:00):
Then the clan of the Zarahitesis taken, then Zabdi is taken,
and then finally we get to theone kid who cost two million
people a pizza party.
Achan, whose name sounds reallyclose in Hebrew to the word
trouble.
Now let me tell you how amazingthis is.
Two million people in thepeople of God.
(26:25):
Right now, I did some research,I think it was like 2024, there
were two million registereddrivers in the state of Georgia.
You would need something like6,500 acres to park all of the
cars that are registered inGeorgia.
And some of you don't registeryour cars, so there's probably
even more.
Here's my point.
(26:46):
I want you to imagine God goingto you and saying, I've got a
parking lot with uh 6,500 acresfull of 2 million cars.
You get to pick one, and in thetrunk is a bomb.
And if you don't deal with thatbomb and defuse it, it's gonna
kill all of the two millionpeople.
You get one pick.
(27:07):
Go.
And do you know what God does?
He says, I want you to go toparking lot B.
I want you to go down row F.
I want you to go to spot six,and I want you to open the
trunk.
Now, I find that amazing.
I find the sovereignty of Godand the providence of God
(27:28):
astounding.
The only thing more amazing isthe fact that Achan is watching
this happen.
How on earth?
How do you not fess up?
As soon as it's like tribe ofJudah, I'm like, it's me, it's
me, it's on me, right here, thisguy, and it's just like goof,
(27:49):
doof, doof, doof.
And finally the lot falls onAchan.
Would it have been different ifhe fessed up?
All of us know this innately.
When we confess our sin, theconsequences are different than
when our sin is found outwithout us confessing first.
I wonder if it would have beenany different.
So Joshua turns to Achan and hesays what might be confusing to
(28:10):
us, but I put these two wordsin bold for a reason.
My son, he's being kind to him.
Give glory to the Lord God ofIsrael and give praise to him.
It sounds like Joshua's like,all right, man, you need a
really good worship service, allright?
We're gonna put on King'skaleidoscope or whatever else it
is that you need, all right?
And I just need you like, comeon, get right with the Lord.
(28:32):
What this is actually saying ismore along the lines of, I need
you to honor God and I need youto confess.
That's what this is saying.
Praise and confession go handin hand in our worship to God.
So he looks at Achan, he says,You need to honor the Lord.
You need to confess to him.
Tell me what you have done, donot hide it from me.
(28:55):
And Achan answered Joshua,Truly, I have sinned against the
Lord God of Israel, and this iswhat I did.
When I saw among the spoil abeautiful cloak from Shannar,
two hundred shekels of silver,and a bar of gold weighing fifty
shekels, I broke one of the bigten.
I coveted them, I took them,and see they are hidden in the
(29:16):
earth inside my tent with thesilver underneath.
Jesus would respond to asituation like this in the New
Testament, and he would put itthis way: Luke 12, 2.
Nothing is covered up that willnot be revealed, or hidden that
will not be known.
One of the greatest pastoralthings I can do in this moment
(29:39):
is leave that there.
The reason it's one of thegreatest pastoral things I can
do is because I know you and Iknow me.
And the reality of it is someof us have buried things
thinking it would never be foundout.
We have buried truths that needto be shared.
(29:59):
We have hidden things that needto be repented of.
And I want you to understandthis.
God's people looked at a sea oftwo million folks and they
said, How on earth are we evergoing to figure out where the
sin is so that we can get backon the right track?
But God says, I've got noproblem with that.
There is nothing hidden thatwill not be revealed.
(30:22):
Or to put it differently, Godalready knows the sin no one
else sees.
And I am telling you thisbecause I love you.
I'm telling you this because Idon't want you driving around
with a bomb in the back of yourcar.
I don't want you driving aroundwith a sin bomb in the back of
your car for your sake, and thesake of the people who ride in
the car with you, and the sakeof the passers-by who you do not
(30:43):
even know, that I promise youit will affect.
God already knows the sin thatnobody else sees.
Do you know how much moneyAiken stole in today's I don't
know how much the cloak costs,but in today's day and age he
took about $40,000.
It's a sizable amount.
(31:04):
40 grand is what he took.
But I don't want you toremember what it cost him.
Thirty-six men are dead.
Which means 36 womenpotentially are widowed.
When the people of Israelgather together, it's not
praises that they hear this day.
It is the cries of women whowill never see their husbands
(31:27):
again, and it is the cries ofchildren who will never see
their father again.
We look at 36 in a battle, andwe think it's not a big deal.
It's a huge deal.
It was a huge deal to God.
You may hide your sin frompeople, but hiding it from God
never works.
Didn't work in Genesis 3 whenAdam and Eve ran, it didn't work
(31:48):
for Jonah when he jumped out ofthe boat, and it isn't gonna
work for Joshua for Achan, eventhough there was a one in two
million chance he would ever befound.
So what does Joshua do?
He sent the messengers and theyran to the tent.
If you are hiding something,run.
Don't walk to find repentance.
(32:10):
Run to the diffusing of thatbomb.
For the sake of the people whoride with you and for the sake
of the people who are aroundyou.
And I know this, you're alreadyjustifying not doing it.
You're already justifying notrepenting.
You're already telling yourselfthat sin is not that big of a
deal.
You're already telling yourselfthat, hey, I've lived with this
long enough, I can live with ita little bit longer.
(32:31):
This is just one Sunday, it'sjust one sermon, it's just one
text.
I'm sure we'll get somewhereelse.
I just need to make it through.
No, run to the tent, find whatis hidden, deal with what is
there.
It was hidden in the tent, thesilver underneath.
And they took them out of thetent.
They brought them to Joshua andall the people of Israel, and
they laid them down before theLord.
(32:53):
God, we're sorry.
We weren't even a part of this,but we're sorry that it
happened.
We're sorry that you're knownfor this now.
We're sorry that you lost to anunranked opponent.
We're sorry that 36 men aredead and 36 families are ruined.
We're sorry, and it wasn't evenour sorry to feel.
And Joshua and all Israel withhim took Achan, the son of
Zarah, and the silver and thecloak and the bar of gold.
(33:14):
And if that's where the textended, all of us would be fine.
All of us would be fine withit.
Why?
Because here's what's beingdealt with.
Achan, he committed the sin,the silver, the cloak, and the
gold.
That's where it should end,right?
No, because sin is a biggerdeal than that.
It cost him his sons, it costhim his daughters, his ox, his
donkeys don't make it away fromthis thing.
(33:34):
His sheep, everything he owned,everything he touched,
everything that was near him.
And they brought them up to thevalley of Acor, to a place of
trouble.
And Joshua said, Why have youbrought this trouble on us?
The Lord brings trouble on you.
The Bible understands innatelyand explains to us what we
(33:56):
understood when we were sevenyears old.
It only takes one person tocost you a pizza party.
And that one person, trouble onyou today, they will deal with
the brunt of it.
But your sin affects the peoplearound you in ways you will
never fully understand.
If you could see it with theeyes of God, you would get it.
And all Israel stoned him withstones.
(34:16):
They burned them with fire, andthey stoned them with stones,
and they raised over him a greatheap of stones that remains to
this day.
Then the Lord turned from hisburning anger.
Therefore, to this day, thename of that place is called the
Valley of Acre.
Here's the reality that youcan't miss out of God's word
today.
It is impossible for us toappropriately estimate the
(34:41):
severity of our sin.
We will either say his punGod's punishment was too severe,
or it was too sort of likefar-reaching.
One sin cost them victory.
36 people die, widows andfatherless children.
God's people become like theirenemies because of this one
(35:03):
person's sin and their heartmelts.
And in case you didn't realizeit, other people had to clean up
his mess.
What is it like to have tostone somebody to death?
I'm grateful that on this sideof the cross, we will never
know.
But I want you, I don't wantyou to miss this.
Other people had to clean uphis mess because he made it.
(35:24):
And they would never walk pastthat pile of stones again and
not remember what happened.
And if you want to see abeautiful poetic reality of who
God is, there was a pile ofstones right as they walked into
Jericho, as God said, I'mguaranteeing you victory.
And now there is a pile ofstones where God says, Victory
is not the only thing Iguarantee.
(35:44):
I also guarantee holiness ifyou're going to come after me.
Was this too far-reaching?
I don't think so.
One sin cost them victory, andone sin will cause you to lose
battles you should easily win.
One sin undealt with men willmake it harder for you not to
glance twice at something youshouldn't have seen once.
(36:06):
It will cause you to lose easybattles.
When you, moms, when you loseyour temper with your kids.
There are so many things thatlead to things like that.
And if we don't address thehidden sin, we shouldn't be
surprised when other things getsqueezed out of us.
Sin leads to 36 dead people,and in our case, broken families
(36:27):
today.
And many of you have felt that.
Additionally, just as God'speople had their hearts melt,
sin causes all of a sudden themore we sin, the easier it
becomes to continue sinning, andwe stop looking like salt and
we stop looking like light.
Is God's punishment too severe?
I don't think so.
He certainly doesn't seem tothink so.
(36:47):
And does our sin affect others?
Yes.
In this case, other people hadto enter into the punishment
that came in that they wouldnever forget.
And you know what happens withyour sin?
Other people have to get theirhands dirty to try to clean it
up.
Is God's punishment too farreaching?
Well, can you ever tell me of asin that's only affected you?
(37:08):
You ever committed a sin that'sever just stayed there?
I've yet to see one.
Every time we choose to sin, wechoose to harm the people
around us.
Every time.
Especially those we love.
But the wages of sin is death,but the free gift of God is
(37:31):
eternal life in Christ Jesus ourLord.
Stokesy, go ahead and come onup here.
One of the most beautifulrealities, and I'm not trying to
take us out of this heavymoment because I want us to feel
this heavy moment.
I'm good with this.
But I do want you to see whathappens when we repent.
When we repent, this is thekind of stuff we see.
Hosea and Isaiah would laterwrite about the same place that
(37:54):
stones were piled up over thisone man.
Hosea 2.15.
There I will give her vineyardsback to her.
I will make the valley of Acre,this place of trouble, into a
gateway of hope.
I want you to realize that youwill never understand how far
reaching your sin is.
(38:16):
But I also need you to realizethis.
You can never understand howfar-reaching the grace of God
is.
Sharon will be a pasture forflocks, and the valley of Acre,
this rocky place that wascovered in blood and death, it's
going to become a place wherecattle lie down.
It's going to be picturesque.
It would be a place where youwould take your family for
family photos.
(38:36):
This is what God does with thebroken things in our world.
I told you I wanted to teachyou something about God, and
this is the last thing that Ihave to teach you.
Therefore, just as sin cameinto the world through one man.
Now, this one man is pointingto Adam.
(38:56):
In our story, we get anotherexample in Achan.
I want you to understand wecould stop here today and be
true of God and not read thesecond part of Romans 5.
Just as sin came into the worldthrough one man and death
through sin, so death spread toall because all sin.
(39:16):
Do you want to know why youhave a sin issue?
Because Adam screwed it up.
You can be as upset at him asyou want, but this is the
reality (39:24):
individual responsibility and corporate
responsibility.
You have a sin problem becauseAdam had a sin problem.
That is the reality, like it ordon't, that is what happened.
This is your only hope.
For if, because of one man,Adam's trespass, death reigned
through that one man, twobeautiful words, much more will
(39:49):
those who receive the abundanceof grace and the free gift of
righteousness reign in lifethrough one man, Jesus Christ.
In other words, it isimpossible for us to
appropriately estimate theseverity of our sin, but in a
bigger way, in a much more way,it is impossible for us to
(40:10):
appropriately estimate thesufficiency of God's grace.
Did you see what Joshua did?
He was willing to tear hisclothes and fall on the ground,
and it wasn't even his fault.
God tells him to get up.
He also runs toward that sin.
Why?
Because you will never be ableto understand how severe your
(40:31):
sin is.
The only great news I have, andit is great, is the only thing
bigger than your sin is thegrace of God.
And you will never be able toappropriately estimate his
efficiency.
The question is, will you trustin it?
Will you walk toward it?
Will you run toward that thing?
And I can tell you what it'lllook like.
(40:52):
It could look like you sittingwhen other people stand so that
you can process and repent.
It could look like you fixing arelationship that is sideways
in this room before you make itto the car.
It could look like we're gonnado prayer on the back porch
instead of the front porchbecause we're still working on
painting all these pews.
It could look like you going tothe back porch and just saying,
hey, I need somebody to prayfor me.
(41:13):
I really don't care how itlooks because it's not like it's
impressive anyway.
The only thing that'simpressive is when we believe in
the sufficiency of God's graceover the incredible size of our
sin.
And I promise you, whatever thepunishment is, is not too
severe and it is not too farreaching.
It is precisely appropriate.
(41:35):
So may that be placed onChrist.
Since God sent him, that youwould have hope through him.
Respond as you feel free.
Respond freely as you feel led.
But let us not walk from hereuntil we have run to the cross
first.
Stokesy, however, you feel led.
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.