SERIES: Joshua: Victory through Faith
Sin in the Camp
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: Joshua 7 is tied intimately with Joshua 6, and to grasp its significance, one must read it along with chapter 6, the story of the amazing victory God achieved over the Canaanites at Jericho. But in the interest of time this morning we will begin our reading with the last verse of chapter 6:
So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land. But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.
Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”
The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
“Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.
“‘In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe the Lord chooses shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the Lord chooses shall come forward family by family; and the family the Lord chooses shall come forward man by man. Whoever is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done an outrageous thing in Israel!’”
Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was chosen. The clans of Judah came forward, and the Zerahites were chosen. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was chosen. Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was chosen.
Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord.
Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.”
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
Chapter 7 begins with the ominous word, “But.” That is a signal that things are about to change. Joshua’s fame has spread throughout the land, and he and the Israelites have begun to believe their own press clippings. You know, it is a very dangerous thing when any child of God begins to develop so much self-confidence that he thinks he is invulnerable to the enemy, but that’s in essence what happened. I know of no OT passage that more clearly illustrates the truth of 1 Cor. 10:12: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
That’s the theme of our text this hour. It’s a theme for individuals, for families, for churches, and for nations. So crucial is it for God’s people to grasp this truth that God deemed it necessary to press it home to the Israelites by means of a very painful lesson right here at the beginning of their entrance into the Promised Land. They needed to learn that no person and no nation can bask in the sunshine of victories already won; and no person and no nation is immune to the cancer of sin. There are five key points made in Joshua 7:
1. Success frequently leads to overconfidence.
2. Overconfidence results in vulnerability to sin.
3. Sin always interrupts the blessing of God.
4. The only remedy for sin is judgment.
5. Judgment executed opens the door to forgiveness and restoration.
Success frequently leads to overconfidence.
There is no experience in the Christian life so full of peril as the hour when we are flush with recent victory. We begin to take pride in our accomplishments; we take credit for knocking walls down, when it was really God who knocked them down for us; and we begin to look with contempt upon the Ai’s that follow our Jericho’s.
Let’s suppose you have worked hard and have received several promotions and a significant increase in salary at work. Everything is going your way, and whatever you touch seems to turn to gold. Does that success drive you to your knees in thanksgiving and motivate you to greater prayer regarding your future? Unfortunately, the answer is often, “no.” Our thought pattern instead tends to be, “Why pray if everything is going well?” And we quickly retreat into a kind of smug self-confidence.
Frankly, when we’re struggling, we tend to be much more dependent upon the Lord. If there is a serious illness in the family, if we’re at the end of our financial rope, if one of our kids is in trouble, we turn quickly to the Lord and we pray a lot more. But when things are going smoothly, we get the foolish idea we can handle things in our own strength. Somebody said once, probably with tongue in cheek, “The reason we Christians are in so much trouble is that this is the only time God hears from us.”[i]
Listen to the Israelite spies who canvassed Ai: “Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there.” After all, hadn’t they defeated Jericho without the use of a single battering ram or catapult? Hadn’t they annihilated all the inhabitants of Jericho without the loss of a single one of their soldiers? And amazingly, Joshua instantly takes the counsel of the spies. He doesn’t pray about it. He doesn’t seek the face of the Lord. Success has led to overconfidence, even for Joshua. But that’s only the beginning of the cycle.
Overconfidence, in turn, results in vulnerability to sin.
The reason is simple. The overconfident person has let his guard down. He has a tendency to underestimate the opponent and to overestimate his own strength. Furthermore, Satan is a great strategist, and he goes for the kill when we’re on a high. That is one of the reasons why Proverbs16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
The Israelites’ overconfidence in sending just 3,000 men to take Ai made them quite vulnerable militarily to that little fortress, and they were soundly defeated. I can’t help but think of the shock the experience must have been to them. I can just hear them saying, “How could we lose? Don’t we have the Book? Don’t we have the supernatural power of God on our side? Don’t we have God’s appointed leader? Haven’t we just experienced two stupendous miracles? Haven’t we just renewed the covenant of circumcision and once again observed Passover? How could we be defeated?” There’s only one answer: SIN.
Their military vulnerability resulted from their moral vulnerability, which in turn was caused by their overconfidence. They were so sure of themselves that they became indifferent to the commandments of God.
Joshua had spoken unambiguously on behalf of the Lord, placing the entire city of Jericho under the ban, i.e., no plunder was to be taken by any individual. Now that’s rather curious, for when Ai was finally taken the people were allowed to plunder it for spoil. Why not Jericho? I’m sure Achan asked that same question. Why burn all that good stuff? It’s a waste of economic productivity! God’s commandment isn’t rational or logical, so I’ll make my own rules. Achan took some of the things under the ban.
Well, why the ban on Jericho but not on Ai? It seems that Jericho was viewed by God as the firstfruits of the land, kind of a tithe on the Promised Land. The first city went to God—after that the people could enjoy the spoils. Which means, ironically, that had Achan been a bit more patient, he could have had the Babylonish garment he stole, only he could have worn it openly, instead of burying it under his tent. He could have had the gold and silver and been able to spend it. But Jericho was devoted to God, and that heightened Achan’s sin, for the sin of coveting is exacerbated when it is indulged by robbing God.
Yet there are multitudes of God’s people today who are following in Achan’s footsteps. Some time ago a Christian friend of mine and a valued parishioner bought a new car. As I was admiring it, he said, “Yes, it’s amazing what I’ve been able to afford since I quit tithing.” Now he said it in jest, but the fact is that many Christians are indulging their covetous appetites with resources that belong to the Lord. There are many other areas of disobedience that we tolerate in our lives. And just because God does not deal with us immediately and drastically as he did with Achan, we assume we are home free.
I fear overconfidence has produced a veritable plague of vulnerability among God’s people today—vulnerability to the Enemy of our souls, who is capitalizing on God’s grace and lulling us to sleep. Can a person sin with impunity? Can he get away with it? The Bible screams in a thousand ways, “NO!”
“Be sure your sin will find you out!” (Numbers 32:23)
“The soul that sins, it shall die?” (Ezekiel 18:4, 20)
“Be not deceived. God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” (Gal. 6:7)
Pastor John Huffman writes with great insight:
“I am haunted by this spiritual reality. I’ve seen so many Christian leaders once powerful in their ministries fall by the wayside in embarrassing defeat. There are evangelists who once led hundreds and even thousands of people to personal faith in Jesus Christ whose lives ended up as hollow shells of what they once were spiritually. Pastors of energetic churches filled with people growing in their faith, at a moment of self-confidence, have stumbled in defeat, never to regain their former stride. Youth ministers, Christian musicians, founders of Christian parachurch organizations, all with God-given genius, have knocked down spiritual walls much larger and impenetrable than those physical walls of Jericho, only to be defeated by some little Ai.”
And that brings us to our third principle:
Sin always interrupts the blessing of God.
With Achan’s deed sin entered the camp of Israel. That is not to say this was the very first sin committed by any Israelite in the two weeks since they crossed the Jordan. But this sin was such a blatant violation of a clear commandment of God that God moved quickly to address it by interrupting His blessing upon the nation.
So the miracles ceased, and the people who had experienced no loss of life in crossing the rampaging Jordan, and no loss of life in taking the double-walled fortress of Jericho, suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of little Ai, including the death of 36 men.
This was such an incredible reversal that Joshua threw himself upon the ground before the Lord and sought the reason why God had allowed this to happen. There is a strong hint in Joshua’s words that God is somehow to blame. “Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?” But perhaps if Joshua had prostrated himself before God amid the cries of victory over Jericho, there would have been no need for prostrating himself here in defeat.
How often do we tend to blame God when His blessing is removed from our lives, failing to recognize that the blessing is gone because of us? We complain to God because the temptation was too strong, or our resources were too weak, or our friends weren’t sufficiently supportive, or we just didn’t get enough good breaks.
Yet the Scriptures tell us that there is no task without sufficient grace to handle it, no temptation without a way of escape, no trial without sufficient resources available to withstand. Yes, sin always interrupts the blessing of God, but it’s never God’s fault.
The really curious fact about our text is that while the sin was Achan’s, the blessing of God was removed from the whole nation. And this raises two important points:
1. The most private of sins is fully known to God, and
2. The most private of sins has public repercussions.
Ever since Adam tried to hide his sin in the garden of Eden, mankind has entertained the hopeless notion that he could sin privately. May God impress this truth upon us today—there is no such thing as private sin. Every sin is fully known to God. Isn’t it ironic that another person’s knowledge of our secret sins seems to bother us more than God’s thorough knowledge of all our sins? The fact that God is omniscient should not only be comforting but also convicting.
Somewhat more difficult to accept is the fact that the most private of sins has public repercussions. Chapter 7 begins with these solemn words: “But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.” What Achan did, he did secretly. He didn’t call a press conference to show everyone what he had taken. He didn’t hang the garment on a clothesline outside his tent—he buried everything under his tent. But was this just Achan’s private little escapade? Try telling that to the mothers and wives and children of the 36 men slain in battle with Ai. Try telling that to Joshua who is now embarrassed and confused. Try telling that to the nation which is now filled with fear in a strange and foreboding land.
No, there was sin in the camp, and the camp must be cleansed. God laid some responsibility for this sin upon everyone. Look at verse 11: “Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.” No man is an island. We cannot sin without affecting the spiritual condition of all our associates. No member can grow cold without lowering the spiritual temperature of the whole church.
Are you fostering a secret sin in your life? It may be secret (from all but God, that is), but it isn’t private. Your secret sin is adversely affecting your family, your testimony at work, your church, and, to a certain extent, even your nation.
Let’s take an example. Suppose you are struggling with a secret sin such as adultery. Obviously, that can’t be a totally secret sin, for at least one other person besides God knows about it, and, of course, that person is being very adversely affected by it. But let’s suppose you are certain your partner in adultery will never divulge the fact of your involvement to anyone else. Isn’t the sin just the secret of the two of you?
Oh, it may be your secret, but many others are deeply involved:
1. You cannot possibly love your spouse as God’s Word commands if you’re involved with someone else.
2. Your family is no longer your priority.
3. You are risking infecting your spouse with disease.
4. You have broken your fellowship with God and have thus deprived your family of the spiritual leadership you should be providing.
5. You are depriving your church of the service you should be giving, or worse yet, you continue to serve as a blatant hypocrite.
6. You are ruining your testimony before unbelievers, certainly if they are aware of your behavior but even if they are not, because God will not bless your witness while you’re living in sin and hypocrisy.
7. You are losing valuable time for spiritual growth, which will in turn affect negatively all your future relationships.
8. You eliminate yourself from effective ministry to anyone else involved in sexual sin, for your own failure will cause you to either condone the sin in others or treat them extra harshly, as a sort of defense mechanism for your own conscience.
9. You unconsciously contribute to the general moral collapse of society, the breakdown of the family, and the spiritual deterioration of your nation, for since you are involved in the sin yourself, you cannot become an effective spokesman against sin in the lives of others.
Now those are just a few of the ways in which the most private of sins produces public repercussions. Remember the words of the song:
“Sin will take you further than you want to go,
slowly but wholly taking control.
Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay.
Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.”
Of course, the greatest and most serious consequence of sin occurs when the wheels of God’s justice begin to turn. And that brings us to our fourth point:
The only remedy for sin is judgment.
That statement may sound shockingly harsh to us, especially since we are so used to hearing that the remedy for sin is confession and forgiveness. That sounds so
easy—you sin, you confess, you’re forgiven. One, two, three, no sweat. The problem is that when we say “sin, confession, forgiveness” we are leaving a crucial step out. It actually should go like this: “sin, confession, judgment, forgiveness.” Sin must be judged, always and without exception.
When Achan was discovered, he confessed, openly and fully. But that didn’t eliminate the need for judgment. Joshua took him, his children (I would assume they were privy to his misdeed), his animals and all that he owned and burned them with fire after stoning them with stones.
An almost exact parallel to the judgment on Achan occurred in the NT church in the Book of Acts when Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives. You perhaps remember the story from Acts chapter 5. Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property, brought a portion of the proceeds to the apostles and gave it as an offering. But they pretended to give all the proceeds. Actually, they didn’t have to give any of it, but the fact that they tried to deceive the apostles into thinking they were giving more than they actually were, is called a lie to the Holy Spirit and to God. When their sin was revealed, both Ananias and his wife died right on the spot. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. I imagine so! I’ll bet the offering plate was full the next week.
Then at Corinth there were some believers who died prematurely because they acted in an unworthy manner at the Lord’s Table. Apparentlym they were treating communion in a flippant manner, getting drunk on the wine and excluding those who weren’t in their clique.
Fortunately, someone else has taken our place and served as our Substitute in receiving the judgment of God due us. But that should not blind us to the fact that our sin still must be judged. But for the grace of God, every one of us might have been taken to the Valley of Achor long ago. But when the wrath of God is kindled because of our sin, our attorney in Heaven, Jesus Christ the Righteous, speaks to the Father in our behalf, “I died for that sin, I paid the penalty for that broken commandment.” And on the basis of His sacrifice, the Father withholds wrath and judgment from us.
Our final point this morning is that …
Judgment once executed opens the door to forgiveness and restoration.
Listen to verse 26 once more: “Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore, that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.”
I don’t know what Achan’s place will be in eternity. It could be that his case is an OT parallel to 1 Cor. 5, where Paul said regarding a sinful man in the Corinthian church, “I have decided to deliver him to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Achan was judged physically and temporally; we just do not know what his eternal destiny was.
We do, however, know that the judgment on Achan opened the door to forgiveness and restoration for the nation. For immediately following the executions in the Valley of Achor, the Lord spoke to Joshua (8:1) and ordered him to go up against Ai: “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.”
You know something interesting? The Valley of Achor, where Achan was stoned, shows up one more time in the Bible—in the book of Hosea. Hosea is about troubled spiritual relationships. Hosea’s estrangement from his wife because of her unfaithfulness is illustrative of Israel’s estrangement from God because of sin. In an effort to win his wife back, Hosea is forced to use very strong measures, as God does with us when He disciplines us. Listen to what God says through the prophet to his people Israel (2:14-15):
Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
The Valley of Achor—a door of hope. Amazing isn’t it? Israel went on from the Valley of Achor to conquer Ai, as we’ll see next week. And then it took only seven years to complete the conquest of Canaan. What appeared to be a great disaster was a learning experience for the whole nation as they accepted their discipline and their fellowship with God was renewed.
Let us not overlook the fact that forgiveness and restoration was preceded by repentance. Joshua, the leader, tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. Those were the signs of humiliation, grief, mourning, and repentance. And Joshua prayed and wrestled with God.
Conclusion: Praise God! Because Jesus took our judgment and paid our penalty, the Valley of Achor can be a door of hope for us as well, as we find forgiveness and restoration of fellowship with God. What a wonderful thing to know that sin in the camp doesn’t have to be fatal. Rather it can be forgiven. We do not have to wallow in a state of defeat and spiritual ruin; we can experience healing and restoration.
Yet the fact that forgiveness is available should never cause us to consider sin as insignificant. It is a cancer that will eat away at one’s spiritual vitality until all that is left has the stench of death. “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
DATE: June 16, 1996
Tags:
Overconfidence
Sin
Confession
Judgment
Forgiveness
Restoration
[i] Doug Goins, Peninsula Bible Church, Discovery Papers, #4463, p. 1.