Yesterday’s sermon was more on Matt’s topic last week. Listen to it here. It’s called Powerless in Ai, and is on Joshua 7. It is an example of how the unseen affects the seen, and the unexpected consequences of secret sin. There are many examples of this throughout the bible, from David and Bathsheba to Ananias and his wife. Sin will out, as the saying goes. And even though it is painful, as in the operation that removes the cancer, it is necessary and good to go through the process.
Achan took some things he should not have taken, and the consequences were that the Israelites lost a battle they should have easily won. They had just miraculously taken Jericho, in comparison to that, defeating Ai should have been pretty easy. But they were defeated and left fearful, confused, and suffering. All because of Achan’s sin? Not exactly… the failure was on more than one level. Achan sinned, but Joshua had not sought wisdom from God before the battle; if he had, things might have been very different. But the combination of Achan’s sin of commission, and Joshua’s sin of omission, cost 36 men their lives, not to mention Achan and his family. There was no direct, worldly link between Joshua and Achan’s sin and the defeat; this is an example of God’s refusal to bless people who are in sin. God is holy, He cannot and will not tolerate sin. The result of sin is death, hence Jesus’ death on the cross. If there had been an easier or more logical way, God would have done that.
This unseen world, as it plays out all around us, is fueled and moved by our actions. Obey God, and you get Jericho. Move yourself out from under God’s protection and you get Ai. Joshua and Achan’s sins had the effect of giving a great victory to the enemy on more than one level. The men of Ai had the victory on the battlefield, and Satan had one inside the Israelite camp. The Israelites were fearful:
And about three thousand men of the people went up there. And they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, for they chased them from before the gate to Shebarim, and struck them in the road going down. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
(Jos 7:4-5 MKJV)
They were confused:
And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Jehovah until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, why have You at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? And, oh that we had been content and lived on the other side Jordan!
(Jos 7:6-7 MKJV)
They worried:
O, Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear, and shall surround us, and shall cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?
(Jos 7:8-9 MKJV)
Secret sin is not secret from God. And as a father He disciplines and corrects us to our benefit. When that happens, we have the opportunity to come back (repent) and fight for His side, instead of aiding and abetting the enemy. Every day we get to choose; and the consequences ripple out in all directions. My prayer today is that I make the right choice.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(Heb 10:31 MKJV)And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons, “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father does not chasten? But if you are without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For truly they chastened us for a few days according to their own pleasure, but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now chastening for the present does not seem to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it.
(Heb 12:5-11 MKJV)
