The Sin of Achan.

Jake Morris

[0:09] Go ahead and have a seat. [0:11] Good morning for those that do not know me. [0:13] My name is Jake and I serve on staff here at Village as the youth director and I am [0:17] always thankful for any opportunity that I get to come and be able to speak here on Sunday [0:21] morning and open God’s word with you all. [0:24] Before we begin this morning, I want to mention two things briefly.

[0:27] Firstly, first, I can officially say fundraising for Village students for camp is done. [0:34] Praise God.

[0:37] Over the last few months, you guys have bought raffle tickets, you bought donuts once and [0:42] then I asked you to buy them again last week and you did that too. [0:45] You sacrificed your waistline and your money so I appreciate that. [0:49] But I just wanted to let you guys know that because of your generosity, we were able this [0:52] time to raise the most money we ever have in Village students history. [0:55] We were able to raise over $9,000 towards Village students camp, which that equals

[1:02] me being able to tell 29 students you don’t have to pay for camp, which is amazing. [1:06] So thank you, thank you, thank you for everybody that participated in that. [1:10] You were helping to give students a week that can change their lives for eternity. [1:14] If you want to know who, I can point you to some students that are Christians today because [1:18] of camp. [1:20] So thank you for that.

[1:21] Second, I want to wish everybody, every person here that this qualifies for a happy non-birthing [1:27] person’s day.

[1:32] Oh, is that wrong? [1:33] Happy Father’s Day. [1:35] That’s it, that’s it. [1:37] Okay, we got it. [1:37] Sorry, 2023 messes me up sometimes. [1:40] But happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

[1:43] I can tell you that apart from being a husband, there’s not a title or a role that I enjoy [1:47] more or take more seriously than that of being a father to my daughter and my son. [1:52] And fathers, I just want you to know and I want you to hear it from me that you are [1:56] vital, that you are vital to your wife, that you are vital to your kids and you are vital [2:01] to the life of this church. [2:03] And I want you to know that I’m praying for you.

[2:05] I’m praying for you as you are a disciple to yourself. [2:08] I’m praying for you as you disciple and lead your families because we need fathers to lead [2:13] in a time such as this. [2:15] But this morning, the greatest gift I can give to you is to preach the gospel to you. [2:19] So that’s what I’m going to do. [2:20] And that’s where I want to turn this morning.

[2:22] This morning, we’re continuing in the book of Joshua. [2:25] If you were here last week, you saw that the Israelites had this amazing moment of overtaking [2:30] Jericho, that the chosen people of God had this victory that they had not had yet going [2:36] into the promised land. [2:37] And it was an amazing high moment for them. [2:40] But what we’re going to see today is that that moment comes crashing down with a crippling

[2:45] defeat and that crippling defeat is due to something that you and I struggle with on [2:49] a daily basis and that’s sin. [2:52] In this case, it was secret sin. [2:54] And what I hope that we see through God’s word today is that the holy and righteous [2:58] God that we serve sees our sin and the consequence of that sin is far greater than we could ever [3:05] imagine but that God has made a way to deal with our sin ultimately.

[3:08] So with that in mind, let’s open up Joshua, Chapter 7. [3:12] We are going to do our best to make it through a whole chapter this morning, God willing. [3:16] Starting in verse 1, it says, but the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted [3:22] things for Achan, the son of Karmay, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of [3:28] Judah, took some of the devoted things and the anger of the Lord burned against the [3:33] people of Israel.

[3:34] Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-Avon, east of Bethel, and said [3:40] to them, go up and spy out the land. [3:43] And the men went up and spied out Ai. [3:45] And they returned to Joshua and said to him, do not have all the people go up, but let [3:49] about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. [3:53] Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.

[3:57] So about three thousand men went up there from the people and they fled before the men [4:01] of Ai. [4:02] And the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gates [4:07] as far as Sherebim and struck them at the descent. [4:10] And the hearts of the people melted and became his water. [4:14] Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord

[4:18] until the evening. [4:20] He and the elders of Israel. [4:22] And they put dust on their heads and Joshua said, alas, O Lord God, why have you brought [4:27] this people over the Jordan at all to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy [4:31] us? [4:33] Would that be we have been content to dwell beyond the Jordan?

[4:36] O Lord, what can I say when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? [4:41] For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround [4:46] us and cut off our name from the earth. [4:48] And what will you do for your great name? [4:52] The Lord said to Joshua, get up. [4:55] Why have you fallen on your face?

[4:56] Israel has sinned. [4:58] They have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them. [5:01] They have taken of the devoted things they have stolen and lied and put them among their [5:07] own belongings. [5:09] Point number one this morning. [5:11] You do not define obedience.

[5:13] God does. [5:14] You do not define obedience. [5:17] God does. [5:18] See, this passage opens up telling us of a great problem. [5:21] See, Israel had broken their covenant with God by taking what the text tells us is devoted [5:26] things.

[5:27] And we see that this is referencing specifically a man named Achan. [5:31] And Achan had taken these devoted things from Jericho. [5:35] Now, these things that are mentioned here, we find out later in the passage, were items [5:39] such as a cloak, a bunch of silver, and a bunch of gold. [5:43] But this is a major issue since God had specifically told the people what to do with the [5:49] items that they had found in Jericho.

[5:51] This goes back to Joshua chapter six, where God tells his people in verse 18. [5:56] But you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted [6:01] them, you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction [6:06] and bring trouble upon it. [6:09] But all silver and gold and every vessel of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord. [6:14] They shall go into the treasury of the Lord.

[6:18] So what this means is that when Achan stole from Jericho, he was not stealing from Jericho. [6:23] He was stealing from God. [6:25] And stealing from God is a problem, and God is going to deal with that in this passage. [6:31] But the next thing that we see in the passage is Israel is looking to continue their conquest [6:35] of the land of Canaan, and they come to the city of Ai. [6:39] Now, the city of Ai was not as big as Jericho, and we can see that from the text.

[6:44] You see, Joshua sends out spies into the land and says, hey, I want you to come back, [6:48] tell me what you see, tell me how many people are there. [6:50] And they come back to him and they say, Joshua, there’s not that many people. [6:55] Like, we don’t even have to send but a few thousand troops and we can go in, [6:58] destroy them and keep moving. [7:00] And that was a great plan until they executed it.

[7:04] They go into the land and they get destroyed. [7:07] It was so bad that 36 of them died. [7:10] It was so bad that they didn’t just leave the city. [7:12] They got chased out of the city. [7:15] Israel has been embarrassed to the point where it says that their hearts melted. [7:21] And that wording is very important because I want you to remember back

[7:25] before they overtook Jericho. [7:27] In the book of Joshua, we see that Rahab uses the same phrase [7:31] to speak of the people in Jericho when they looked at Yahweh. [7:35] It said that they melted before Yahweh. [7:38] But now in a strange turn of events, the people of God are melting before Yahweh. [7:44] You see, what’s happening here is because of Achan’s sin

[7:48] and the tragedy that his sin was. [7:50] God is judging Israel. [7:53] That in this moment, the Israelites have become like Canaanites. [7:56] That God is not there to protect them and therefore the only thing they can turn to [8:00] is the same thing that the people of Jericho turn to, which is fear. [8:05] But if you notice, the melting did not stop with the Israelites

[8:07] but it can be seen most notably through the actions of Joshua and the elders. [8:12] See, Joshua here is overwhelmed by grief. [8:15] I think sometimes we can read this passage and think he’s just crying [8:17] but I don’t think that necessarily is the case. [8:19] I think Joshua in this passage, think about where he’s been. [8:24] He is overtaken for the greatest leader Israel has ever known.

[8:28] He’s led them on the conquest in Canaan and he’s seen God already do two miraculous events. [8:34] And they get to this city that should have been easy [8:37] and they should have just gone in and kept moving, but instead they get destroyed. [8:42] And so Joshua is sitting there saying, what is going to happen? [8:45] How would Canaan ever take him seriously again? [8:48] How would they ever be feared in the land?

[8:51] Did God bring us to this point only to destroy us? [8:54] What would God do to renew Israel? [8:56] What would God do for his great name? [8:59] But after he does this and the elders do this, I love God’s response. [9:03] I’m pretty sure I’ve said this to my kids this week and you probably have too. [9:06] Two words, very powerful words, get up.

[9:11] Get up. [9:12] Stop whatever you’re doing, stop. [9:15] But what is God saying? [9:16] He’s saying, listen, stand up. [9:19] Listen to what I’m about to tell you. [9:21] This is important.

[9:22] Stop whining and find out the reason. [9:25] And so then that’s where God tells them about what had occurred, [9:29] that Israel had forsaken God by taking what they should not have taken. [9:33] And so it’s tempting with a passage like this to summarize it by saying, [9:37] okay, Jake, I think I get what’s going on here. [9:39] Don’t steal.

[9:41] Stealing is bad. [9:43] And then you put your Bible down, you had a great study. [9:46] You move on with your day. [9:47] Right? [9:48] Sometimes that’s what we do. [9:49] And this is what I want to say to all the parents in the room.

[9:52] If kids are fearing here, stealing is bad. [9:55] Don’t steal. [9:56] Adults in the room, stealing is bad. [9:59] Don’t steal. [10:01] But I think if that’s where we end on this passage, [10:03] we are missing the point completely.

[10:06] Because the passage is about more than just stealing. [10:10] And so I want us to look and see that Achan here is guilty of breaking [10:13] many of God’s commandments, even in the Ten Commandments. [10:17] You see, do not steal is in the Ten, and he stole. [10:21] But also do not covet is in the Ten, and he coveted. [10:25] But there’s one that’s even that includes all of those things together.

[10:29] And it’s the very first commandment that God gives to his people. [10:32] And that’s Exodus 20 verse three. [10:34] Says, you shall have no other gods before me. [10:39] Now you may be saying, Jake, where were the idols in breaking this commandment? [10:42] I didn’t see him worshiping any idols. [10:45] I didn’t see Israel worshiping any idols of any type or form.

[10:50] And friend, I’m going to tell you to look into the mirror, [10:54] like I would tell Achan to look into the mirror, and there you find your idol. [10:58] There he found his idol. [11:00] You see, he was idolizing and worshiping himself in that moment. [11:04] That he obeyed his own will over the will of God. [11:07] And that’s vital importance, not only for Israel at that time, but for us today.

[11:11] And here’s the reason. [11:12] Whoever has authority defines obedience. [11:15] Want to say that again? [11:17] Whoever has authority defines obedience. [11:21] And so we have to look at scripture and say, who has authority? [11:24] See, Jesus didn’t leave this up for debate for us.

[11:27] That even in the Great Commission, we see Jesus claim authority. [11:30] But I want you to look at the Great Commission through the lens of obedience. [11:36] Check this out, Matthew 28. [11:37] Says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [11:42] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, [11:45] baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

[11:50] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. [11:53] And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. [11:57] Did you catch it? [11:59] Jesus says, all authority is mine. [12:03] Therefore, you go. [12:05] And what are you to do?

[12:08] Teach, disciple. [12:09] But what are you supposed to teach them? [12:10] To obey and observe all that he has commanded you to do. [12:15] You see, whoever has authority defines what obedience is, [12:19] and authority demands obedience. [12:22] So if Jesus is your authority for you today,

[12:26] that means that you do not get to define what obeying him looks like. [12:30] That means that if God’s word tells us something is sin, [12:34] that thing is sin. [12:36] That it does not matter how bad your anxiety is right now. [12:40] It does not matter how chaotic your kids are. [12:42] It doesn’t matter how stressful of a week you have.

[12:45] It doesn’t matter how much you feel you deserve it. [12:47] And it doesn’t matter if you felt like you were even born that way. [12:50] It is sin because God said it was sin. [12:55] But it’s not just that. [12:57] It also means when we look to God’s word, [13:00] we see a command to obey that’s not optional.

[13:03] You see, that command for obedience doesn’t mean [13:05] that you get to translate that however you want to translate it. [13:08] It doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do it because it’s difficult. [13:13] It doesn’t matter how much it goes against who you are as a person. [13:17] That we obey God’s commands not because we say so, [13:20] but because he has the authority to say so.

[13:25] See, the tragedy of Aiken is that his recent experience [13:28] had no impact on his actions. [13:30] I mean, think back to Jericho. [13:33] What did Israel do? [13:34] They marched around the city. [13:37] They blew trumpets.

[13:38] And yelled, wow, you did so much. [13:44] Right? [13:44] No, God did everything. [13:46] That Aiken had just seen God destroy a stronghold in Canaan.

[13:52] He had just had this mountaintop moment with God.

[13:57] Then God says, just don’t take anything from Jericho. [14:00] And if Aiken would have just trusted God for a bit longer, [14:04] if he would have trusted in his authority, [14:06] he would have gotten what he wanted. [14:07] I’m going to give you a spoiler alert for next week if you’re here. [14:11] When AI is eventually defeated, guess what?

[14:14] Israel gets to take of the spoils of the city of AI. [14:19] You see, God is a gracious God, [14:22] but Aiken lost sight of the generosity of God, [14:24] of the God that he was supposed to be serving. [14:27] See, friends, God alone won that victory at Jericho. [14:30] God alone delivered the Israelites over and over and over and over again.

[14:36] But what Aiken did is he saw a move of God. [14:39] And when he saw that move of God, he took credit for himself. [14:43] He stole from God. [14:45] And in doing so, he spit in the face of the ultimate authority in his life. [14:49] And friend, let me just be honest with you. [14:51] When you sin, you do the same exact thing.

[14:55] And that’s a problem. [14:57] And the end result in this passage is tragic, just like it will be for us. [15:01] But it’s important for us to understand, [15:03] which leads to point number two this morning. [15:05] Disobedience only leads to destruction. [15:08] Disobedience only leads to destruction.

[15:11] I want to pick up in verse 19 to give you a recap [15:14] of what’s been happening after the verses we read. [15:17] God commands Joshua to go into the camp and find this person. [15:20] He gives them very specific commands on how to find that person. [15:24] And he says, when you find him, you need to execute him. [15:28] So that was the payment for the sin.

[15:29] And so what we see is that through the direction of God and the casting of lots, [15:34] Joshua’s led to the tribe of Judah. [15:36] And then he’s led to a specific clan in the tribe of Judah. [15:39] And then he’s led to a household in that tribe. [15:43] And that’s where we pick up in the text. [15:44] Verse 19.

[15:46] It says, and Joshua said to Achan, [15:48] My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. [15:53] And tell me now what you have done. [15:55] Do not hide it from me. [15:56] And Achan answered Joshua, [15:58] Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel.

[16:00] And this is what I did. [16:01] When I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar [16:04] and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels. [16:09] And then I coveted them and took them. [16:12] And see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath. [16:17] So Joshua sent messengers and they ran to the tent.

[16:19] And behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. [16:24] And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua [16:26] and to all the people of Israel. [16:28] And they laid them down before the Lord. [16:30] And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zarah [16:34] and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold

[16:37] and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his donkeys and sheep [16:42] and his tent and all that he had. [16:45] And they brought them up to the valley of Acre. [16:48] See here we find Joshua confronting Achan on his sin [16:51] to which Achan actually to his credit fully confesses here. [16:55] And it says this confession brings glory to God.

[16:58] But it only brings glory to God in the truth [17:01] that the truth has finally come to light. [17:04] That Achan’s sin has finally been exposed. [17:07] Friends, did you know that God is glorified by truth? [17:10] God is glorified by truth and he will not allow sin to endure forever. [17:16] But did you notice what he did with the stolen goods though?

[17:19] This is how I know he knew what he was doing was wrong. [17:21] What did he do with them? [17:23] He took them home, he dug a hole and he hid them. [17:26] So he sins, goes home, hides those potentially from both [17:32] Joshua and the leadership and from God. [17:35] That is foolish, right?

[17:37] That is a foolish thing to do to think that just by burying [17:40] this stuff that you can hide it from God. [17:44] And although we may see that as foolish, [17:45] we like Achan can also hide nothing from God. [17:50] You see scripture over and over again shows us [17:52] that there is nothing in your life that God does not know.

[17:56] Let me say, Jake, how do you know that? [17:58] Let’s turn the Psalm 139. [18:01] Starting at verse seven. [18:03] So what it says, where shall I go from your spirit? [18:06] Or where shall I flee from your presence? [18:09] If I ascend to the heaven, you are there.

[18:11] If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. [18:14] If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, [18:18] even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. [18:23] If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, [18:29] even the darkness is not dark to you. [18:33] The night is as bright as the day for darkness is as light with you.

[18:39] Friend, let me tell you this morning, [18:41] you may think you can hide your sin from everyone, [18:45] but the scariest fact in your life [18:47] shouldn’t be the people in your life that know your sin. [18:49] It should be that there is a God, a holy and righteous God that sees everything.

[18:56] Nothing about you is hidden. [18:58] Scripture describes in other places as we are naked and exposed before God. [19:04] So you can hide from everyone, but you can’t hide from him. [19:06] He knows everything. [19:09] And so Joshua in this moment sends messengers to retrieve the goods [19:13] and they’re brought to Joshua and Achan’s brought out to meet his destruction due to his sin.

[19:19] But this is where the story turns much darker. [19:21] And I hope that you caught this in the text, but if you didn’t, [19:24] I’m going to read it. [19:24] I’m going to go over that again. [19:26] You see, it wasn’t just Achan that was brought out. [19:29] It wasn’t just the goods that he stole.

[19:33] See, apart from that, his oxen were brought out, [19:36] his donkeys, his sheep, all of his belongings, his tent, [19:42] and then the one that’s really bad, his sons and his daughters. [19:48] Everything he had was brought out. [19:51] You see, Achan’s entire world is about to be judged for his sin [19:54] against the holy and righteous God and his family would not escape the judgment.

[20:00] And I think this brings us to a critical warning in the text. [20:04] Friends, your disobedience will bring destruction on you. [20:07] Yes, but that destruction is not limited to yourself. [20:12] That we see this even through the first sin through Adam. [20:15] You see, through Adam’s sin, sin was spread through all time to all men. [20:20] This is what Romans 5-12 tells us.

[20:22] Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, [20:27] and so death spread to all men because all sinned. [20:31] So through that, we can see that sin has the capability [20:34] to destroy everything in its path. [20:38] Everything.

[20:40] And sin has the capability to not only destroy us, [20:43] but everything within our reach and our path. [20:47] You know, your sin just starts with you. [20:49] But if you keep going, it will affect your marriage. [20:52] It will affect your family. [20:54] It can even affect this church.

[20:56] And we found out from this passage, it can even affect a nation. [21:00] Sin is serious. [21:02] That Achan brought the stolen goods home. [21:05] That when he brought those home, he condemned his own family [21:09] because he made them sin with him. [21:12] That he didn’t leave his sin there.

[21:14] He gave them an execution sentence along with him.

[21:19] So friends, do you really think that your sin is any different? [21:22] Your sin’s always going to start with you because it does. [21:25] Sin is personal. [21:26] It’s always going to start with you. [21:28] But it doesn’t end with you if it goes unchecked. [21:31] That it will affect every single aspect of your life until you have nothing.

[21:36] I can tell you, after being in ministry for a while, [21:38] I’ve seen many a marriage and families be destroyed [21:42] because the father or the mother chose disobedience to God [21:46] and sin over obedience to a holy and righteous God.

[21:52] And Achan’s learning this the hard way. [21:54] But friends, the good news of the gospel [21:56] and the good news I have for you this morning if you’re stuck in sin [22:00] is that it doesn’t have to be that way. [22:01] It doesn’t have to end that way. [22:03] Look at Romans 8-12.

[22:05] It says,

[22:13] But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. [22:19] See friends, the only way to defeat sin in our lives is to wage war. [22:24] But we wage war not on our strength, [22:26] but on the strength of the Holy Spirit working through us. [22:28] But that means that we no longer see our sin as a house cat. [22:31] We see it as a lion that’s at your door waiting to devour you,

[22:36] your family, your kids, and everything you know. [22:40] Have you waged war to that point with your sin? [22:44] You see, we declare war on our sin because we know our sin has a great cost. [22:48] And that leads me to my last point this morning. [22:51] Point number three, God demands a payment for the forgiveness of sin. [22:56] God demands a payment for the forgiveness of sin.

[23:00] Pick back up in verse 25 of Joshua 7. [23:04] It says, And Joshua said, Why did you bring trouble on us? [23:06] The Lord brings trouble on you today. [23:09] And all Israel stoned him with stones. [23:11] They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. [23:14] And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

[23:18] Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. [23:21] Therefore, to this day, the name of that place is called the Valley of Acre. [23:26] You see, this punishment was not arbitrarily mandated by Joshua. [23:30] But this death sentence was a direct command of God. [23:33] This goes back to a passage we didn’t read initially, [23:35] but I’m going to read it here.

[23:37] Joshua 7.15 says, And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire. [23:43] He and all that he has because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord [23:48] and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel. [23:52] You see, Achan faced God’s judgment by not only being burned with fire, [23:56] but all of Israel stoned him and his family. [24:00] You see, Achan’s sin had affected not just him, but the entire nation.

[24:04] And so it seems only fitting that the entire nation of Israel [24:06] is the ones that are bringing the judgment onto him on this day. [24:11] But it wasn’t just Achan. [24:13] We said this before. [24:14] It was everything. [24:15] Everything he owned, his entire family, they were stoned to death and burned with fire.

[24:21] So that all that remained of the house of Achan after this event [24:25] was a pile of ash and a heap of stones. [24:30] That this event was so prominent in Israel’s history [24:32] that the valley where this took place in the original language was called [24:36] the Valley of Trouble. [24:39] That it served as a reminder to Israel of what was going to happen

[24:42] if they decided to be God on their own. [24:46] But when we look to the text, that’s not the only reminder that we see. [24:49] That I can’t help but see a connection here between another monument [24:52] that we saw earlier in the book of Joshua. [24:55] If you remember, they had 12 stones that they placed on the bank of the Jordan River [24:59] at the beginning of Joshua that stayed there to this day.

[25:02] And then when you look at this text, you see that they put stones over top of Achan’s body [25:07] and that remained to this day. [25:09] And so that means that those things were set in place to remind Israel [25:12] of two very prominent but different things. [25:15] The 12 stones on the banks of the Jordan reminded God’s people that he was with them. [25:21] That it signified that God was with his chosen people

[25:25] and that he was going to work among his people. [25:29] But then the stones over the body of Achan served as a reminder to Israel [25:34] that the price of sin against a holy and righteous God is severe. [25:37] And the ultimate penalty for that is death. [25:40] So be warned. [25:42] So if you look at the text again, you’ll see

[25:45] when was God’s anger immediately relented? [25:49] As soon as Achan’s family was consumed. [25:52] It says immediately God relented. [25:56] Why? Because a payment had been made. [26:00] Achan had to die for God to be with his people of Israel once more. [26:05] One commentator put it this way.

[26:07] There could be no victory over the enemy without removal of the curse. [26:11] And friends, that’s not just the nature of God in this moment. [26:14] It’s the nature of God for all of eternity. [26:17] Think back to the entire Old Testament sacrificial system [26:20] that has served as a reminder to Israel and to us [26:24] that our sin cannot be hidden from God.

[26:27] That our sin is hideous but in the sight of a holy and righteous God. [26:33] That when we look at it, it is a bloody mess. [26:37] But ultimately the sacrificial system of the Old Testament [26:40] was a foretaste of a greater sacrifice that was to come. [26:44] You see, God showed us the ultimate price for our sin when he sent Jesus. [26:48] But the difference with Jesus and Achan, Achan had plenty of sin, but Jesus had none.

[26:54] Achan deserved it, Jesus did not. [26:57] See, Jesus was the perfect and spotless lamb of God. [27:01] Yet Jesus died in your place so that God’s wrath towards your sin would be appeased. [27:07] This is what Romans 5 tells us starting in verse 15. [27:10] It says, but the free gift is not like the trespass. [27:13] For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more

[27:17] have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, [27:22] abounded for many. [27:24] And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. [27:27] For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, [27:31] but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. [27:36] For if because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man,

[27:40] much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness [27:46] reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. [27:51] Friends, please, if you hear nothing else I say this morning, hear this. [27:55] You and I are Achan. [27:58] That you may not have stolen physical things, but we all in our sin have stolen [28:03] from a holy and righteous God.

[28:05] We’ve taken glory for ourselves. [28:08] That we like to get as much of it as we can and ignore him in our sin as much as we can [28:13] that we have committed the same sin. [28:16] And guess what? [28:16] That sin still brings the same judgment on us. [28:19] That we deserve not only death in this life, but death forever.

[28:23] God will not let our sin go unpunished. [28:26] But what that passage in Romans tells us is that because of Jesus Christ, [28:30] you have been given a gift. [28:33] It’s a gift you don’t deserve. [28:35] It’s grace for your sin.

[28:38] So like Achan, we have stolen from God and we were justifiably condemned before him. [28:44] And friend, this morning, if you do not know God, that is your path. [28:48] But deserving of death for all eternity, you were heading to destruction. [28:52] But if you like me have come to know Jesus, there was a day in my freshman year of college [28:56] where I was on my college campus and I all of a sudden put all of it together through God’s word. [29:02] And in that moment, I saw my sin for what it was.

[29:05] I saw the thing that was out to destroy me and my family and my future. [29:10] And Jesus showed me I have made a way for you. [29:14] And I’ve made it through my blood. [29:18] And so friends, when we’re looking at the gospel, look to the cross and see [29:22] your Savior dying for your sin that you committed against him. [29:27] Whenever we look at the cross, we should see us.

[29:30] That it should have been us up there. [29:32] But Jesus redeemed us because of his great love for us. [29:36] And so because of that, I gave Jesus the rightful seat on the throne of my life. [29:40] I stepped down and I said, Jesus, you are what I obey. [29:44] You are the person I obey. [29:45] You’re the one I look to.

[29:47] You’re the one who owns my life and my future and everything that I am. [29:51] I’ve given it to you. [29:53] And friends, if that’s you, if you have given that to Jesus, [29:57] then your next step is to wage war against any sin because you see what it cost Jesus. [30:04] But past that, if you’re married, think about your wife. [30:09] Think about your husband.

[30:10] If you have children, think about your children. [30:13] Think about this church. [30:14] Think about your community group. [30:16] Think about your discipleship group. [30:17] When you were tempted to sin, don’t play with it. [30:21] That’s what Aiken is trying to show us in this passage.

[30:24] That’s what God is teaching us. [30:27] Be warned, your sin can destroy you. [30:32] So don’t play with it. [30:33] Wage war against it.

[30:36] So friends, I ask you, do you have that attitude towards your sin? [30:40] If you don’t, then you haven’t looked at the cross enough. [30:46] Look at the cross. [30:47] See the cost of your sin. [30:49] See the good news that Jesus paid it. [30:51] But then leave from this room today and declare war on your sin.

[30:56] Why? [30:56] Because the gospel is worth it. [30:58] A couple of application points this morning. [30:59] Number one, stop defining obedience to God by your own standards. [31:05] Friends, we’ve all done this in some way. [31:07] We’ve read a passage and tried to form it into our own lives and make it what we want it to be.

[31:12] That’s not what God commands us to do though. [31:14] God tells us to look at what he says and obey it, even if it costs us a lot. [31:20] Second, remember the great cost of sin against the holy and righteous God. [31:24] These passages serve as a reminder to us that our sin is not petty. [31:28] It’s destructive. [31:30] Do you see your sin in that way?

[31:32] Do you see the sin that you commit on a daily basis in that way with the ability it has to destroy? [31:38] Third, don’t leave sin unchecked. [31:39] Wage war. [31:40] Don’t leave sin unchecked. [31:42] Wage war. [31:44] That today is the day to repent.

[31:45] Today is the day to say no more for the sake of you, your wife, and your children. [31:52] No more.

[31:54] Fourth, treasure Jesus Christ and the gift of your salvation daily. [31:58] I was convicted this week when I was thinking through when’s the last time I just stopped [32:02] what I was doing and I just said, Jesus, thank you. [32:06] Like you’ve given me a gift I did not deserve. [32:09] When’s the last time you did that? [32:11] That should be something that we come to daily, that we remember daily.

[32:15] Remember that we’ve been given a gift of salvation, that we deserve what Achan got, [32:20] but Jesus took that for us. [32:22] Friends, treasure Jesus because he’s the only thing that’s worthy of being treasured to be in.