God sends the children of Israel to fight and says you must destroy the whole city. They circle Jericho 13 times, but Achan coveted something: he lied, he stole. They were to take nothing, but Achan took something.
Even though he knew what God said, he took the spoils that were forbidden. So they lost at AI, because they had sin. Why is this in the bible? Jericho represents the world, the place of rebellion, all who don't surrender to Heaven, who build walls against God, who rebel. Why does Joshua curse the place (Joshua 6:1)? Because Jericho represents the world. Jesus judged this world. Why? Because of sin.
The people of God were supposed to go and win the world, capture it for the world, and not mingle with the things of the world. They went and obeyed for a while, but then Achan disobeyed.
For how long have you been walking in obedience to the Lord?
These people walked in obedience until Jericho was taken. They entered the city, and Achan took something, a devoted thing. One man sinned, and the Lord's anger burned against all of Israel. The whole camp. Why is that? God looks at the whole church as one. Your one sin can block the whole work, the whole church. As far as God was concerned, his anger burned against all Israel.
The next step was to go to another city. They decided to reuse the old method: sending spies. New ideas are not the way to go. We can't just copy old methods. They didn't hear from the Lord, they relied upon their own experience. They said only to send a few people. And so 36 were slain. They were ashamed and defeated.
The church is not winning the battle. George Barna wrote a book on this topic, explaining how Missouri, the headquarters of the Assemblies of God and two other Protestant denominations is also the place with the highest gambling rate in America. It is also the central location for a number of other sins in America. Where is the victory of the church? Where is the victory here in Boston? People go to church, but what do they do the rest of the time? Yesterday we saw a brother who had just come from an ungodly sorority event. I'm tired of hearing about revival. Everyone has big retreats. At a theological seminary, someone came from India and said he was disgusted by the way women dressed. This was a theological seminary! Where is the victory?
If we are honest, we'd agree that we are being defeated. We have gadgets, buildings, crowds, but not five percent of people from England or the U.S. who say they're "born again" are actually living up to the standards of the bible. The rest just had a mental decision to follow Jesus. Leonard Ravenhill tells about how he sees kids who go to bible camps and see people who return from them worse off then when they left. Since I came to MIT, I've seen more people turn away from their faith than be converted. I've only seen 2 people converted. Someone, a good friend of mine, turned from the Lord. I tried to win him back, but he said "It's just a religion like any other."
Where is your victory over sin, Satan, the devil, and the world? Are you conquering the world or vice versa? Can we see the bible in your life? Erlo Stegan used to say to his congregation, "If you don't want to live like the bible says, go home, and may I never see you again." Where is the victory over sin? The miracles of God? What can you point out in the last 3 months that come from the Lord unmistakably? For us s a church?
Why is there defeat? When the people returned, defeated at Ai, Joshua didn't come up with a better idea from the flesh. He sought the Lord. Today, people don't do that. We cover up our failure. Stop covering up the evidence that your life is not the Christian life. Either a tree is good and bears good fruit, or it is bad and bears bad fruit. If you are not bearing good fruit, acknowledge it. If your marriage is not bearing good fruit, acknowledge it. If your sermons are not bearing good fruit, acknowledge it. Joshua did not cover up. He fell on the ground weeping.
I'm waiting to hear someone who wants to get people together to weep over our sins and seek the Lord. If I heard of someone organizing such an event, I'd be the first to go. I'm tired of the other things... activities, dead works, etc. The people came to Joshua one by one. It will be every person before the Lord alone, without others. On Judgments day, every man will be called individually, and all the sins will be exposed before everybody.
(Joshua 7:19): Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. 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 wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
David Wilkerson says, while preaching on Moses, "I don't care how many tears you shed. It doesn't matter how much you cry or pray. He won't do anything until you seek him to reveal to you how that sin can be removed." What is the sin preventing you from your own revival? What are you hiding? For Achan, it wasn't many things--only 3, in fact. There might just be 3 things hidden in your life. Achan acknowledged his sin. Joshua didn't forgive him--why? Joshua verified what he said. Then everyone, all of Israel, stoned Achan and his family and burned them.
Merely acknowledging sin is not enough. Acknowledgement does not save. Achan had a little sin, he only took a little plunder. Sin kills you and the people around you. If you love your family, walk with the Lord in Holiness. My sin doesn't just bear on me, but my children in the future. You can't just say "I'm sorry." There's no way around our sins. Then the Lord turned from his anger against Israel. What do we do?
(Hosea 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.
There is a door of hope in place of the death that Achan suffered at the valley of Achor. He is not angry. Repent, turn to him. There is a door: the Lord Jesus. The way of escape out of the Judgment of sin. Take that door while it is still open. Jesus went to the valley of Achor for your sins.
Golgotha is the place of trouble. Right there in that place of judgment, there is hope. A door of hope where all sinners can escape. It is a narrow door. You can't take sin with you . You can't take worldliness with you. Achan couldn't take his gold with him if the door had been open to him.
I want to ask you: how is it with you? Have you been taking the door of hope? Have you been making excuses? Justifying yourself by the sinfulness of others around you? Every sin you commit will lead to punishment. If you want to walk with the Lord, surrender all, walk with him. If you haven't made a commitment, make it and tell God and tell people.