Please turn with me to Joshua 7.  As we’ve been moving our way through the book of Joshua we’ve been seeing that Joshua is about what?  real people facing enormous challenges and learning to trust God along the way.  We’ve been learning what it means for us to trust God through the circumstances of our lives.  We’ve also been learning what it means to trust God as He moves us forward as a congregation.

What we’ve seen up to now is that God requires us to trust Him.  That requirement means consecration - everything that we are totally surrendered to God - nothing held back - or held onto.  Its all God’s.  And God - if we will trust Him - will forgive us and set us free from our pasts - He will renew us - cleanse us - heal us - and place before us new opportunities.  He will give us direction for our lives - guidance in how to live our lives as He designed them to be lived - and He will be with us - even leading us to His victory in life.

Last Sunday - in chapter 6 - we saw a tremendous example of what happens when we trust God.  The conquest of Jericho - the defeat of an incredibly evil Canaanite city - and the salvation of Rahab and her family - as they were given a whole new start in life.  A significant high point in the life of God’s people - a victory that we even get excited about today.  That inspires us to trust God.

Which brings us to Joshua 7 - starting at verse 1 - and the defeat at Ai.  Verse 1:  But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore - because the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the ban - therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.

The word “ban” translates the Hebrew word “cherem.”  It has the idea of something devoted - or set-apart - for God.  God’s stuff that humans are banned from possessing.  God’s stuff that He can do with it whatever He wants to do with it.

The Law of First Fruits - remember this?  The first born - the first of our produce - the tithe coming off the top - whatever is first is God’s.  This is the first city in the Promised Land - the first city that God’s people have conquered.  It belongs to God.

We saw - when we looked at chapter 6 - that Jericho was perhaps the most twisted and evil culture of the ancient near east.  It was singled out by God for destruction.  First on the list of cities to be destroyed.  God wants it destroyed - totally - completely.  The city.  The people.  The young.  The old.  The livestock.  Kill them.  Burn the city.  The stuff that won’t burn - take into God’s treasury.  Because its His.

One of the reasons that God was so strict about all this came in chapter 6 - verse 18 - that if His people keep some of this evil condemned accursed stuff from Jericho - when they bring it back into camp with them - they’ll be bringing that sin into Israel’s camp.  They’re going to bring serious trouble and God’s condemnation - His anger - the same that was on Jericho - they’re going to bring all that on themselves.

Grab this:  God is trying to protect His people from sin.  To keep them living faithfully before Him.

Verse 2:  Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Bethaven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.”  So the men went up and spied out Ai.  They returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few.”  So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai.  The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

Notice two things.

First:  The overconfidence of God’s people.

If you look at the map.  Ai was a little town of about 12,000 people just slightly east of Bethel and slightly north west of Jericho.  It was about 15 miles west of Gilgal - Israel’s base camp.  The importance of Ai was its geographic location.  Jericho was at about 800 feet in elevation - Ai was at 2,500 feet.  Ai was on the way up to the highlands - on Joshua’s conquest route to split his enemies in two - north from south - and then to launch Israel’s military campaign against the north.

Joshua - like he did with Jericho - sends spies to find out what Ai is like.

Names are important here.  Ai - translated - literally means “a ruins.”  “Beth-Aven” is a slang term - pretty derogatory - that was used of Bethel.  “Beth-Aven meant “house of wickedness.”  Bethel was known for the wicked stuff that went on there. 

Manteca means what? “Lard.”  “Where you from?”  “Manteca.”  “No, really.  Where are you from?”  “Where you from?”  “Ai.”  “As in I’m sorry.”  “I’m from the ruins next to the house of wickedness.”  Ai was not much of a place.  A stopping point on the caravan routes.  But strategically important.

Imagine these spies coming to Ai - seeing the place for the first time - thinking to themselves, “What a dump.  After Jericho, we could take these ruins with one hand tied behind our backs.”  They literally tell Joshua, “Don’t sweat it.”  The people don’t need to strain themselves by making the trip up the hill.  About 3,000 of our guys can easily take this place.

Joshua’s response.  “Okay.”  And 3,000 men go charging up the hill to Ai.

What’s missing?  There’s no asking God for direction.  No seeking after God’s will.  No consecration of their hearts.  Spiritual preparation.  God’s people are just overconfidently trusting in themselves.  “This one’s easy.  We don’t need to seek God for the small stuff.”  Ever been there?

Second, notice:  God’s people trusting themselves got creamed.

Shebarim is a word that describes the rocky bluffs overlooking the Jordan River Valley.  They went up with swagger - being all full of themselves - and came back down running in fear - all the way down to the Jordan.

36 guys dying in a major loss isn’t very impressive militarily.  But psychologically - for a people on a winning streak - it was devastating.  Their hearts melted.  The wind got knocked out of their - what?  sails.

There are times when our faith gets tested.  When we’re forced to rely on God.  When we find Him faithful - sufficient - to care for us.  To bring victory in us and through us.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me…  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You’ve anointed my head with oil.  My cup overflows”  (Psalm 23:4,5)

Our faith grows.  We feel good.  Especially spiritually - which is what this really all about.  Consecration - following God - faith - trusting Him through the circumstances of our lives.  God blesses us.

Then we fail to remember when things are going good what we learned when things were coming apart.

When it comes to trusting God - overconfidence in ourselves leaves us open to getting creamed in life.  Say that with me, “Overconfidence in ourselves leaves us open to getting creamed in life.”

Verse 6:  Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.  Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?  If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan!  O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?  For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth.  And what will You do for Your great name?”

Notice that this is the wrong prayer.  Its self serving.  Self focused.

“God, we could have stayed on the other side of the Jordan.  But You had to bring us over here.  What were You thinking?  Why did You let this happen?  God, do You have any clue how disastrous this is?  We’re going to be toast - wiped out by the Canaanites.  And if we’re wiped out how will anyone ever know about You?  Without us, who’s going to believe in You?”

Its a senior moment.  Short term memory loss.  Things weren’t so good on the east side of the Jordan.  But, they seem to have forgotten that.  Its déjà vu.  God delivers His people from Egypt and they’re camped by the Red Sea whining.  “Aren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you dragged us out here to die.  We’d rather go back to Egypt.”  Senior moment:  Remember what it was like making bricks without straw?

It is amazing how we as God’s people suffer so easily from this kind of memory loss.  We’re trusting God.  And then something goes wrong.  Some seeming set-back.  Things don’t work out the way we thought they should.  “It was better before I became a Christian.  I didn’t have to think about living righteously.”

But we forget the death.  The emptiness.  The lack of purpose.  The weight of life.  How grim life looks without God.  We lose sight of what He’s done and is doing in our lives.

It is so easy for us to turn against God rather than to Him.

If we’re going to live trusting God - to serve faithfully in a spiritual battle to be all that God has created us to be - to not get creamed - then we have to learn how to fight in the land - we need to learn to continually in faith turn to Him.

Verse 10:  So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up!  Why is it that you have fallen on your face?

“Get up man.  You’re embarrassing yourself.  Things aren’t that bad.  Action is required here.  Not a lot of self-serving wailing and whining.” 

Verse 11:  Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them.  And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived.  Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.

The issue here is what?  Sin.  Disobedience.  Taking stuff that was under the ban and should have been burned or put in God’s treasury.  You broke your promise to Me.  You stole what was not yours - what was Mine.  You acted deceitfully.  “You got creamed - not because of Me - but because you didn’t do what I told you to do.”

The sin in the camp needs to be dealt with before God’s people can be victorious for God.  Same for us - we can’t live for God - fight victoriously for God if we’re harboring sin our lives.  Sin harbored in the heart leads to defeat in life.  Say that with me, “Sin harbored in the heart leads to defeat in life.”

Verse 12:  Therefore - because there’s sin in the camp - therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed.  I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.  Rise up!  Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, “There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel.  You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.”

The solution to the problem of sin is simple - Consecration.

Consecration is turning our hearts towards God - in faith and trust in His promise.  Putting out of our lives anything that’s not of God.  Giving ourselves unreservedly to God - to be used in His work - nothing of ourselves held back from God.  Yielding ourselves to Him as willing instruments in His hand.  In this holy war waged by God - the only way to fight - is to put ourselves where God chooses work in us and through us so that we get blessed and God is glorified.

Verse 14:  In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes.  And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come near man by man.  It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

Let’s pause and notice three things.

First:  God gives Achan an opportunity to repent.

God - by grace - points out exactly what the problem is.  Its sin.  Taking banned stuff.  So there’s no question in the mind of the offender - Achan - who God is talking about and why.

God - mercifully - gives the solution.  Consecrate yourself.  Get rid of the sin and get right with Me.  There are some people who have suggested that if Achan had come forward that night - brought out the banned things that he’d hidden - confessed his sin - asked for forgiveness - if he’d come forward he would have been forgiven.

Personally - this is my own speculation - but personally I believe that that forgiveness is within the character of God.  I think God would have forgiven Achan.

Second - notice that Achan’s sin effects the whole nation. 

God doesn’t say, “Achan has sinned.”  God says, “Israel has sinned.”

God could have just pressed His smite button and “poof” no more Achan.  Everyone would have probably assumed that Achan was the guilty person.  But, God’s instructions for finding the sinner touch the entire nation because the entire nation has been effected by the sin.

Sin is never singular.  Say that with me, “Sin is never singular.”  That’s a tough one isn’t it?

Have you ever seen a family destroyed because of the sin of a father?  Or, a mother?  Some of you are living in that taste of hell right now.  A congregation can be defeated because of an individual’s unconfessed sin.  A nation - such as ours - can falter and fail - because individuals - refuse to live obediently before God.

Third - notice that there’s no escape.  There’s no guesswork about where God is going with all this.  (picture of road sign) 

God warns His people - Numbers 32:23:  “Your sin will find you out.”

Ecclesiastes 12:14:  “God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” 

Hebrews 4:13:  “There is no creature hidden from His - God’s - sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

God starts with the tribes of Israel - all 12 of them.  Moves to the families - the clans - the major divisions within the tribes.  Winnows down the possibilities - down to the households - the extended families.  Finally - the search is going to come down to the man - the nuclear family - husband - wife - children.

There is no question of what will happen.  The nation will do to them what Achan should have done in the first place.  What is accursed of God will be burned.  Destroyed.  Put out of the camp.  The nation will be made holy - consecrated to God.

We think we do such a wonderful job of hiding our sin.  Keeping our little pet indulgences hidden.  We go on making our excuses.  But our sin effects others.  And God knows.  Our sin - unconfessed - unrepented of - our sin will be judged.

Verse 16:  So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.  He brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken.  He brought his household near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken.

This is one of those amazing scenes in Scripture.  Before the whole nation  -before Joshua and the elders - before the 36 widows - before his tribe - clan - household - wife and kids - the circle is drawn closer and closer - tighter and tighter - finally the inquiry is divinely pointed at Achan.

Humiliation - shame - fear - embarrassment.  What must have gone through his mind.

Verse 19:  Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son”

Notice the tenderness of Joshua.  Hebrews 4:15 describes Jesus:  “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”  Jesus understands the depths of our struggle with sin.

My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done.  Do not hide it from me.”

To this point no one knows exactly what Achan did - or if he acted alone.  Giving glory to God means in humility - honesty - confessing that God has dealt justly in allowing the defeat at Ai - that Achan is justly accused by God.

Verse 20:  So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did:  When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar - which was probably a colorful robe made in Babylon - with gold woven throughout - and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”

Two things we need to pay attention to...

First - notice the progression of sin.

First:  “I saw the spoil.”  He calls these things “spoils” of war.  Which they weren’t.  They were God’s.  Not spoils of war for the soldiers. 

Later on in the book of Joshua - we’ll see that during subsequent conquests - Achan - along with the other soldiers - would have gotten spoils of war.  But not here.  Not now.

Second:  Achan “coveted.”  He reclassifies the spoils as beautiful.  Entertains their beauty in his mind.  Begins to focus on the possibility of personally acquiring the treasure for himself.  Wonders at what it would be like to wear that robe.

Third:  Achan “took them.”  His heart desire is expressed in physical action.

Fourth:  He hid them.  Surreptitiously snuck them out of Jericho.  Found a hiding place in his tent.  Made a commitment to continue in disobedience - even while God offers the opportunity for repentance and consecration.

James said it this way:  “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”  (James 1:14,15)

Bottom line:  The progression of sin - entertained and acted on - leads to death.  Sin is always self-destructive.  Say that with me, “Sin is always self-destructive.”

Second:  Sin never satisfies.

How could these riches ever satisfy Achan’s desires?  They have to remain hidden - buried in a hole in the ground - always leaving Achan with the fear of discovery - always weighing him down with guilt - always coming between him and God - effecting his relationship with his wife and children.  Even if - years later - even if he were to take them out - people would have known - those things were from Jericho.

The value of the sin is meaningless in contrast to what God would have blessed Achan with.  The value of the sin is paltry compared to the death of the 36 warriors - the widows and fatherless children.  No sin carries such great significance that its worth sacrificing God’s people victoriously living in obedience for Him.

The saddest part of all this is that Achan never asks for forgiveness.  He confesses - agrees with the verdict - only after he’s found out.  Which tells us where his heart was really at.  God leads Israel into this great victory at Jericho.  Achan had the privilege of being a part of all that - watching God at work first hand.  One of the greatest moments in Hebrew history.  He was there.

But he’s thinking of himself.  Rather than rejoicing in God’s victory - praising God - he’s thinking about how he can get away with his sin by hiding the spoils.  Rather than coming clean when God gave him the opportunity he’s thinking about how to continue in sin.

Grab onto this:  Its not the stuff.  It’s the heart.  All this points out where Achan’s heart was.  Whenever we’re only looking out for number one - trusting ourselves and not God - when we exalt ourselves we reject what God has for us.  When we reject what God has for us we always come up empty - never satisfied.

Verse 22:  So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it.  They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord.

What’s happening here is spiritual.  They bring out the banned articles and solemnly lay them before God.  There’s an accounting.  Its all there.  Its all presented to God.  An act of confession - contrition - consecration - by the nation.

Verse 24:  Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.  Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us?  The Lord will trouble you this day.”  And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.  They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger.  Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day.

At Gilgal the people made a stone memorial.  Remember this?  12 stones taken from the Jordan River bed - when the people crossed through the river on dry land.  The stones were set up as a testimony of God’s removal of Israel’s reproach.  God’s giving of new life in a new land.  A testimony of what God has done for His people.

At Achor another pile of stones exists.  A testimony of the danger of sin.  The need to deal swiftly - effectively - with sin.  And, that when we confess our sin - God will turn from His justified anger - and restore us to a right relationship with Him.

Isn’t that what John writes?  1 John 1:9:  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to what?  forgive us our sins and to what?  cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Two truths of application.

First:  The devastation of sin.  Say that with me, “The devastation of sin.”

Years ago - as World War II was coming to an end - General Dwight D. Eisenhower was touring the concentration camp at Ohrdruf - the first camp liberated by the Allies.  When General Eisenhower came to the concentration camp - with Generals Bradley and Patton - they were in high spirits - joking - laughing - victory was in sight.  But as they trudged past 3,200 corpses lying in shallow graves - as they looked at the SS’s instruments of torture - Bradley became so shocked he couldn’t speak.  Patton - imagine this - old blood and guts General Patton - became so sick he vomited.

General Eisenhower said, “The things I saw beggared description.”  He ordered as many soldiers as possible be shown the camp.  Eisenhower said, “We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for.  Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against.”  (1)

Sometimes we need to be reminded of what’s at stake here - that sin is a horror - a bondage and corruption in this life which weighs down our hearts - burdens our souls - tears at the fabric of humanity - destroys our homes and society - corrupts the Church - robs us of the ability to be whom God has created us to be.  And, waiting ahead is judgment and eternal separation from God.

God’s judgment on Achan and his family my seem harsh.  But so is the reality of sin.  So are the self-destructive consequences of continuing in sin - consequences for us and for those around us.

God does not wink at sin and let us slide.  Neither should we.

Second truth of application:  The hope of forgiveness.  Say that with me, “The importance of forgiveness.”

Within the account of Achan and Ai is God’s teaching on how to recover from spiritual defeat.  What do we do after we succumb to sin?  When we’re discouraged?  When like Joshua we’ve been brought to our knees?  Our prayers may not be the most theologically correct.  But they expose the struggle in our hearts - wrestling with the seriousness of what we’re involved with.

First:  Honesty.  Let God put His finger on the areas of our lives where we’re consciously or unconsciously resisting His will.  The things in our lives - the attitudes and actions - where sin exists - or the opportunity to sin is weaving its way into our hearts.

Second:  Consecration.  God gave Achan an opportunity and he hesitated.  Joshua rose early in the morning to cut sin out of the camp.  We need to be like Joshua.  Quick to agree with God.  Quick to renounce our sin - to reject it - to turn from it.

Third:  Hope.

In the book of Hosea - remember Hosea?  Hosea marries the prostitute Gomer - the unfaithful wife.  A symbol of Israel’s spiritual infidelity to God.  Hosea is forced to buy his wife back from her sin - uses extreme measures to bring his wife back into a faithful marital relationship.

Hosea 2:14 - God using the symbolism of Hosea and Gomer - God speaking to His people:  “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her.  Then I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope.  And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.”

Future generations of God’s people looked back on this experience in the valley of Achor - with the harshness of God’s discipline - and saw good - God’s blessing - hope.  Israel - consecrated - goes up from the valley of Achor - conquers Ai - goes on to conquer Canaan. 

We can experience the same thing today if we’re willing to let God put His finger on our sin and then to consecrate ourselves anew - receive His forgiveness - then go forward in His power - victorious - with hope.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.