Joshua chapter seven. The title today is “Striking Display Of Divine Grace – A Loving Warning.” And again, the striking display of divine grace is all throughout Scripture, obviously. So, but we’re using that, if you will, to kind of organize a few of these sermons that are from the book of Joshua. And when I say a loving warning, remember, in order to warn someone, you actually have to care for them, and it gives an opportunity for them what either not to do it or to turn back. And particularly when it comes to our great God, it’s an opportunity for us to repent because ultimately our God desires to be with His people, and so that’s our start. So, what I need to do though is just bring you up to speed a bit, because in Joshua chapter seven, prior to that, we had the Israelites who crossed the Jordan and supernaturally so. And then in chapter five, Joshua meets Christ Himself. Notice Joshua 5:13-14a, “When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted his eyes and looked. Behold, a man.” Now it says, “A man”. Yes, it was a man. It wasn’t actually Jesus taking on a human nature yet, but it is Jesus in a human form standing before him with His drawn sword in His hand. In other words, Jesus is showing Himself as the one who’s conducting this operation. He is in fact the one who’s executing justice upon the people of Canaan. “And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ‘Are You for us or You for our adversaries?’ And He said, ‘No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord.’” And a few verses later Joshua 6:2, and it says, “And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have given Jericho into your hand.’” It is in fact the Lord’s battle. He is the one with the drawn sword. Israel is to line up behind Him, and He’s given it into the Israelite’s hand with its king and its mighty men of valor. God is going to be faithful, and the people are going to do their part. And in the middle of this exhortation of the battle of Jericho, we have these two verses: Joshua 6:17-18, and they relate to our narrative today. Verse 17: “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.” All of it, dead and burned. We look at that a few weeks ago, and notice, and Rahab is saved, and that’s example of salvation through judgment. She wasn’t removed from the city of Jericho yet, but as Jericho received the judgment, she was saved out of it. We saw that for the people of Israel as well, because as they were executing justice, they should have been thinking, “Yep, should have been me, should have been me.” And so, this is strategically placed here. And notice the follow-up, verse 18, “But you keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them. You take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.” Notice that if anyone takes that which God says that’s devoted to Me for destruction, if any of you take it, you will turn the camp of Israel into a thing of destruction. There’s a warning here, and very loving for God to warn them. And I want you to notice that the individual can bring consequences to the entire camp. And so now we’re going to begin now in chapter seven. And what I’m going to do is a little bit different today. I don’t have sermon points per se, but I am going to give you a summary statement that I’m going to give you ahead of time before we read it. Now, why would I do that? Well, we’re actually going to see God Himself do it for us in the first verse, and so the first summary is simply this:
Yahweh’s Anger (burning)
Is that Yahweh’s anger is burning; it’s burning, and so, I do want to say this. I think oftentimes I hear the word “wrath”, the word “anger”, the word “judgment”. Oftentimes are interchanged. Obviously, they’re related, interchanged when they shouldn’t be. We learned in Romans one as we studied verse 18 that the wrath of God is revealed. That wrath is His attitude and action against any and all sin. We see its complete fruition when people are judged, and then it continues for the unrepentant. And we saw that Jesus Himself receives the wrath that is due His own, and so for the people of God there is no wrath. Now anger, what we see is that there is anger. This is again God’s opposition to sin. He can’t. He’s not going to condone it. He doesn’t look the other way. And for the people of God, when they sin, yes, there is anger. But notice the key difference. It’s temporary, and it’s rooted in love, because the end is restoration. It’s not condemnation, restoration, and so God is not like us, right? Can we agree? God is not like us. We can’t necessarily understand a holy being and His complete and utter hatred of sin. He hates it with a ferocity, ferocity that you and I, we can’t understand. Now we will one day, but for now we don’t. But he condescends to communicate with words that fit reality in a way that we can understand. We just can’t say, “Well, this is the way I am towards this person, so I understand what God’s feeling.” Now, don’t do that. Don’t do that. We’re going to let God tell us who He is, and we see that today. So again, I know that’s a long introduction to this, but let’s look at verse one. But the people of Israel, and I go, of course, that’s an ominous word. Joshua 7:1, “But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things (this is immediately following the victory at Jericho) Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things, and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.” This is God telling us ahead of time. Notice Joshua and the Israelites don’t know this yet, but He tells us ahead of time why. I think most likely we’ve got to make sense of chapter seven in light of this, and so He tells us ahead of time that He is angry with who the people of God. He’s angry with the camp. His anger burns against him. Why? Because this man sinned.
Let’s look at the second summary:
Yahweh’s Anger and Israel’s Destruction (partial).
When I say “destruction”, it’s partial. I could also put the word “trouble” or “calamity” in there. Again, I’m using language that we’re going to see in the text, and so we’re going to look at Joshua 7:2-5. “Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI (Is that how you pronounce AI? Yeah, probably not. It’s a guttural sound, but I’m going to spare you of that. I’m going to continue to use the way traditionally called “AI”) which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel and said to them, ‘Go up and spy out the land.’ And the men went up and spied out AI. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, ‘Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or 3000 men go up and attack AI. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.’” Don’t you love it when spies who are sent with a purpose come back and begin to tell you what to do? Yep. Well, that’s what they’re doing. Verse four, “So about 3000 men went up there from the people, and they fled before the men of AI.” That’s a problem, right? Because Yahweh promised that He was going to defeat all of those in the land of Canaan, and now we’re seeing the opposite. And the issue here is this: Remember from Joshua five, we have the commander of the army. Israel is to be submitted underneath that commander. What we’re seeing now is this: Israel is no longer submitted? They’re off doing their own thing. They’re off doing their own thing. Now, how do I know that? Because God in verse one says His anger is burning against them, and now we’re seeing what it’s like for Him to turn them over to do what they want to do. Verse five, “And the men of Ai killed about 36 of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent, and the hearts of the people melted and became as water.” What a tragedy here! Not only are 36 killed, the soldiers are chased, but the entire camp then melts. No longer courage. And again, remember we had verse one, which said, “What Yahweh’s anger burned. And so, we are to interpret verses two through five underneath that umbrella. Now we know this is what that looks like, and again there is anger, yes, but there’s mercy, because what could have the Lord done? Destroyed all of Israel. He could have. They were guilty. He does not.
Next summary:
Joshua before Yahweh (who (again) is angry)
Again, I’m not harping on this to just be harping on it, but because the text starts in verse one that Yahweh is angry, and it doesn’t resolve till the end of Joshua seven, we’re going to continue to state it. We need to understand this is how we interpret this narrative. Joshua 7:6-9, “Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord.” Oh, there it is. Kind of an afterthought here. Remember how prominent was when they crossed the Jordan? Remember how prominent it was in the battle of Jericho? But Joshua, for his part, does what he should do. He humbled himself before the ark. In other words, the ark represented the presence of Yahweh, and within it was then, of course, the covenant. And he was there “Until evening. He and the elders of Israel and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, ’Alas, O Lord God, why have You?’” And again, remember, remember what we saw-that Jesus is in fact the commander of the army of the Lord. He’s the one who’s leading them, and here Joshua is perplexed, and he says, “‘Why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us?’” The absolute opposite of what he thought was promised. With that, “‘We have been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?’” Okay, now there’s the question to ask right there. What will You do? What, what? Because it’s all about You. It’s all about Your glory. It’s all about Your honor. And so, I get it. If we were to analyze Joshua’s prayer, it’d be a bit of a mixed bag. But what do we know? He’s perplexed. He’s pouring out his heart, and what we do know is that Yahweh responds to him.
And so, our next point:
Yahweh (who is (still) angry (by the way, He) Reveals (why He is angry, and He) Instructs (them what to do)
And again, I want you to see this. Yes, the Lord is angry, but in His anger with His people there is mercy. Yes, He could have destroyed him ahead of time, and here what we see is the mercy that He does not leave the Israelites in the dark. He’s explaining to them exactly what the problem is. He’s gonna bring the sinner out, and He reveals what to do to resolve his anger, because underneath this is a clear desire to restore, not condemn GHs people. Joshua 7:10-15, Verse 10, “And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Get up! (And the Lord is going to tell Joshua twice to get up. This is number one.) Why have you fallen on your face?’” And again, the Lord is not rebuking him for being humble. More likely, He’s rebuking him in that in his humility, he’s not going on to his next. There’s a next here, and the Lord tells him exactly what that is in a moment. But first, He tells him why He’s angry. “‘Israel has sinned; (they’ve fallen short.) They have transgressed (they’ve gone too far) my covenant that I have commanded them, and (specifically) they have taken some of the devoted things. They have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings.’” Yep, that’s bad. That’s bad. It’s bad. Just to do one sin is bad, and then to pile these up. And remember that Joshua is laying down before the Ark of the Covenant. Ark is a chest. We have the mercy seat above it, pointing to the presence of our great God, and within that ark is in fact the Ten Commandments. Let me see if I could just do a quick checklist. It says, “Don’t covet.” Does someone covet here? They actually do. It says, “Don’t lie.” Does someone lie? Yes, someone did. It says, “Don’t steal.” Did they steal? Yes, they did. It says, “Don’t put anything or anyone before Me?” Did someone do that? They did. In fact, coveting is a form of idolatry. Yeah, this person didn’t love God and didn’t love people, and it’s very clear. And I want to just make a quick application. Okay, and understand here that the now for us today, Jesus Himself has received the curses. There is no curse. He Himself earned all of the blessings. They are ours in Him. But I get asked, and I’ve been asked a few times, why do you, at the end of a service, tell people to return the tithe? Well, it belongs to the Lord. It belongs to the Lord. You don’t want to take what is the Lord and put it among your own belongings. In other words, hide it in your bank account. Again, there’s no curses related to that for us today. That’s a valid warning that we want to pass on to you. Return it. It is His. Verse 12, “‘Therefore, (in light of what I just talked about, the Lord says) the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. (They turn their backs before their enemies) because they themselves (notice) have become devoted for destruction.’” They have become devoted to destruction. God Himself made a command. He warned them: if you take from the devoted things, the entire camp will then be devoted for destruction, but notice the mercy here. “‘I will be with you no more. (In other words, He really does long to be with His people. He wants to be restored, and He tells them exactly how. He won’t be with them) unless they destroy the devoted things from among you.’” I get it. This is hard to look at, but please don’t look away. Don’t look away from this. That that because there is sin of one individual, it goes to the entire camp, and God is no longer fighting for them. In fact, He says He’s no longer going with them, and He will not until the devoted thing is actually devoted to destruction, full and complete obedience. But even in his anger, there is mercy because He wants to be with His people. Now I get it. You might be asking questions like this: “Well, how is it fair that one man sins, an entire camp is held guilty?” Let me ask you a few questions. Did you create the heavens and the earth? Yes or no? Anyone? Yeah, no. God did. He created heavens and the earth. Who created earth? Yeah, He did. Who created man? He did. Who created nations? He did. Who created societies within? He did. Who created families? He did. Who created marriages? He did. God knows this stuff, and He knows how to administrate it. Please don’t get sidetracked and begin putting God on trial. He knows what He’s doing. He is holy and just, and it’s for us. Rather than get sidetracked in some questions, we simply humble ourselves, fear God, and run to Him. Run to Him, fear Him because He is to be feared. He is a consuming fire, and I think for us, we at times we get sidetracked rather than seeing the, if you will, the big picture. Rather than seeing the main thing, we get off on these tangents, and it’s like our curiosity has to be met. God, you need to answer this question for me, or I’m not going to go any further. Okay, yeah, that never, never works. Here’s what we know: God is holy. Amd, we have sinned.
We have sinned, and if God so deems things in a certain way, who are we to judge? We don’t have full understanding. And personally, I’m thankful because yes, I was in Adam, but now I am in Christ. Romans chapter five says that all of the benefits of Jesus Christ are now mine. Verse 13, “‘Get up! (Oh, there’s the second time the Lord has told Joshua, get up) Consecrate the people, and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.’” In other words, we don’t know all that’s involved here, but obviously it’d be at examining yourselves, I’d like the phrase in the book of Amos: “Prepare to meet your Maker.” That the entire camp is going to come before the Lord. “For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.’” Again, he’s talking to the entire camp, and he says, “Tomorrow, this is what’s going to occur.” Verse 14, He gives us more information, “‘In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot.’” This is actually a very aggressive term. It’s also used of enemy force taking another city or capturing by lot. We’re not given the details, but we can assume it’s the Urim and Thummim that is used by the high priest, or God uses through the high priest to discern God’s will. “‘And the Lord will take by lot shall come near by clans, and the clan that the Lord takes (again it’s He that is uncovering the sinner) and the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man.’” Please understand what’s happening here. Yahweh is through a process uncovering the sinner and the sin, and please note there is time given for the person to repent. Verse 15, “‘And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire. He and all that he has burned with fire, he and all that he has.’” Don’t look away from that. Please. Don’t look away. I know it’s uncomfortable, but we’ve been sold a bill of goods today. The bill of goods is something like this: God is holy, yeah, maybe, but He’s not as holy as He really says in the Word. Yeah, sin is bad, but you know it’s really not that bad. Everyone else is doing it. Yeah, you’ve sinned, but you know what? Everyone else is sinning, and God’s not really going to know. He’s got enough issues to deal with. That’s what we’ve been sold. We’ve been sold that God’s really not that holy, and sin’s really not that bad. And I’m speaking to you, me, as believers in Jesus Christ, that that there is these are areas that we need to be renewed in. We need to read words, God, Word of God, and when we have a high view of God, or high view of God’s word, we’re going to have a high view of God. We’re going to come to a better understanding of His holiness and His justice and His righteousness, and then we will be informed about how serious sin is. And God told them ahead of time, this is what’s going to happen, and there it is. They will be burned with fire, he and all that he has, “‘Because he has (notice) transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.’” Again, what should this do? This should take our breath away. This should say, “Oh, I fear You, God. I’m going to run to You. I want to run to You. I don’t want to run away. I’m going to run to You.”
Our next summary is this:
Israel Before Yahweh (who is (again still) angry)
So, the Lord has revealed, “This is why I’m angry. This is what you need to do.” And Israel is brought before Him. Joshua 7:16-23, verse 16, “So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near, tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken, and he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken, and he brought near the clan of the Zerahites, man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.” There he is. He has been dragged against his will into the light. This is Yahweh uncovering. Yes, the sinner. He’s uncovering the sin that that Achan tried to hide. And if I could give a brief resume to Achan, he saw his parents judged. He saw them, his parents’ entire generation get buried in where the wilderness. He ate manna. Yep, he was sustained by manna. He drank water from where? Of the rock. Was he ever sick? No. Did his shoes ever wear out? Nope. Did he cross the Jordan all by himself? Nope. He needed Yahweh’s work in that. Did he participate in circumcision? Obviously. So, Passover, yes. He was there when the walls came tumbling down. He went into the city, and at that moment he defied God. He defied Him. He knew what the command was, and this is what he would have said, if you will, I value this more than the Word of God. I value a cloak. I value silver. I value gold more than the Word of God. That was his calculation, if you will, and not only that. Again, these are terrible sins, and they’re piling up on each other as the nation is humiliated, as they run away from their enemy. He remains silent when 36 families had to mourn the death of a loved one, he remained silent. When the entire camp melted, he remained silent. When the day before Yahweh said, “I’m going to announce this through Joshua, he remained silent. Even as his tribe was chosen, he remained silent, as the clan, as the family, till at last he’s brought out into the open. Yahweh indeed uncovers that which we think we can cover. Verse 19, “Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the Lord and the God of Israel. Give praise to Him and tell me (obviously Yahweh knows Joshua. So now, telling him to tell, telling Achan to tell him) now what you have done, do not hide it from me.’ And Achan answered Joshua, ‘Truly, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did.’” Now, last two weeks ago, Matt talked about the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. We see worldly sorrow in people like Saul and Judas. We see godly sorrow in David. And again, which is this? Well, we’re not told, but we do know this: he had to be dragged out into the open. Verse 21, “‘When I saw among the spoil (we’re going to see a progression now) when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels (notice) then I coveted them (and then what did he do? He took them) And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath.’” What a progression! I don’t know if you’ve ever gone through that progression here in the past five minutes or 10 minutes. We know that progression, do we not? We do. We do. And what we see here is that sin upon sin upon sin, and it’s a sin that impacts others. And all the while, he’s trying to cover his sin. Verse 22, “Joshua sent messengers. They ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath.” Again, the Lord is uncovering that which he covered, and they took him out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the people of Israel, and they laid them before the Lord where they should have been in the first place, devoted to the Lord for destruction.
And so, the next summary is simply this:
Yahweh’s Anger and the Destruction of Devoted Things
Destruction. Why? Because that was his original command: destroy these things. They were devoted to me for destruction. But what did Achan do? He clutched onto them. And what we’re going to see now is that Achan himself and all that he has becomes devoted to destruction. Joshua 7:24-26a, Verse 24, “Joshua and all Israel took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold and his sons and daughters and his oxen, his donkeys and his sheep, and his tent and all that he had, and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.” And we’re going to see a wordplay here, which can mean “trouble”, it can mean “calamity”, it can mean “disaster”. Verse 25, “And Joshua said, ‘Why did you bring (again? There’s that word) trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.’ And all Israel stoned them with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.” And again this is Israel lining up behind the commander in chief. The commander in chief made a command and said, “This, if you do it, this is what you shall expect,” and this is what is happening. And I think the best way to understand it, and I get it. This seems a little confusing. All Israel stoned him. It’s singular, so obviously that’s Achan. But we would understand that it’s not only Achan, but also all that he has. And notice here they burned them, plural. They burned them. They didn’t burn them alive. But most likely they stoned Achan and all that he has-that’s the mode of execution-and then they burned them. They devoted them to complete and utter destruction, and then they stoned them with stones. This word “stoned” here is a different word than here. Most likely, this is referring to piling up the stones above the charred carcasses. Please see this. This is hard to see, I know, but look at it. Achan aligned himself with Jericho more than he did with our great God. He clutched on to those. He wouldn’t repent. He himself was devoted to destruction. Why? Because he took the devoted things, and but also notice the picture of the glory of our great God in salvation through judgment. The people here are delivered. How so? Because the judgment fell upon Achan. Salvation through judgment. These are portions of scriptures that oftentimes people don’t want to look at, but as we’ve been talking about, if you’re going to understand mercy, if you’re going to understand grace, you have to see it in the backdrop of the holiness and righteousness of God, and His attitude and action against all that opposes Him. You have to see that, and see it in light of that. Verse 26a, “And they raised over Him a great heap of stones that remains to this day.” So, you talk about the flow of redemption here. Remember, as they crossed the Jordan, they left a memorial in the actual riverbed. They set up a memorial outside the riverbed in the Promised Land, pointing to, of course, Jesus, our Savior. There was the rite of circumcision, again pointing to the work that Jesus would do, the Passover, of course, the work that Jesus would do as the spotless Lamb, and you see these things. And here we have a warning, a loving warning. And what is that? There is a pile of rocks in the Valley of Achor that cover up a man who defied God. He in all that he had, and you say, well, that that sounds like bad news. Well, it’s a loving warning, and it’s bad news in the sense it forces us to look for a Savior. Does it not? For us to cry out, oh, “We need a Savior now.”
Before we get there, I do want to put the other book in, and that is
Yahweh’s Anger (turned away)
There is resolution. Notice the last verse and the last part of the last verse of chapter seven. Joshua 7:26b, “…Then (in light of what they just did then) the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day, the name of the place is called the Valley of Achor.” The Valley of Trouble. Yeah, this is a wake up call. God is exactly who He says He is in His Word. He says He’s holy. He says He’s righteous, and we see this in action. We see that we should live by every word that proceeds from His mouth. We see that that sin is in fact very very serious. We see that sin in fact doesn’t just impact us individually; it impacts those around us. We see that there is also severe consequences to sin, and again, this should cause us to do what? Fear God and run to Him.
Now, you hear us say this often, and the principle is simply this:
God uncovers what we cover, and He covers what we uncover
Achan tried to cover it up. He tried to cover it up. Here’s what God did, He uncovered it. But for you and for me, what should we do? We should uncover so that God Himself can cover, and we’ll see that in a moment in the new and living way.
But before we go there, I just want to put this screen up there.
Joshua 7 narrative
Historically True
Masterfully designed by God
Embedded with Meaning
Type and Shadows
Points directly to Christ or our need for Christ
I know we’ve been here, done that. It’s historically true. It’s masterfully designed by God. Yes, embedded with meaning, rich in meaning. There are types and shadows. It’s pointing directly to Christ or our need for Christ. Even in this extended narrative, we see both. We have the bookend. First bookend was verse one that that Yahweh was angry with the people because Achan sinned. The other bookend was at the end of the chapter, verse 26, where He turned from His anger. And there is a fascinating story that we read, and it’s full of meaning that the Israelites were, if you will, destroyed in part. Why? Because Yahweh was no longer with them, and so Joshua approached Yahweh. What’s the response? Yahweh reveals the Lord reveals why He’s angry, and He gives Joshua exactly what they should do. The Israel’s brought before Yahweh. Achan is identified. And then the things that are devoted to destruction are in fact destroyed, and Yahweh turns away from His anger. The book ends, and what we should see here, of course, is this: Yeah, we need Christ. We need Christ. We need Him. I know that’s bad news, but I want to jump ahead. Hosea 2:14-15 says this. I can’t go into the depth, but it says this. And Yahweh is speaking. He says, “‘Therefore, behold, I will allure her. (That’s who’s? That’s Israel. That’s His adulterous wife) and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her, And there I will give her vineyards, and make the valley of Achor (there it is) a door of hope.’” Out of the bad news springs good news. Who is that door? That’s none other than Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah. He is, in fact, the only one who kept the covenant perfectly. And as we see in Galatians 3:13, “He redeemed us from the curse of the law (the very things that we broke by becoming a curse for us). For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who’s hanged on a tree.’” Jesus Himself became sin rather than being met with mercy, Ge was met with what wrath that was due you and me. Christ was punished why so that now we could uncover our sin, so that we might find forgiveness. And what’s our part? Look, Romans 4:5-7, “And to the one who does not work.” That’s not what we do, but believe. That’s our part. We believe in God through Christ, “Who justifies the ungodly, His faith is counted as righteousness.” Again, imputed righteousness. That’s not yours. That’s what Christ accomplished for us. And the ungodly here, it’s those who know it. Think about that. When He raised you from the dead, you then said, “This I repent of my sin.” You agreed with God. You uncovered it. “Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.’” God uncovers those sins that we try to cover, and He uncovers the very things we bring to Him. True of the day of your salvation, and true of each and every day afterwards. That’s why Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” I get it from day one in the Garden of Eden when they sinned. What did they try to do? They tried to hide. They tried to hide. We’ve got our excuses. “I hope I get away with it. I hope God doesn’t really pay attention to me. I hope there’s more important issues out there in the world.” Yeah, God knows and God cares. You’re His. He cares about what’s happening. He’s not going to gloss over that. He’s working for your restoration.
And how do we walk this out in the new and living way? 1 John 1:7-10. You guys knew I was going there. “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” There is the covering. There is the covering. Now, the opposite of that, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” If we try to cover our sin, and the unrepentant sinners, that that’s what forever they are doing. Verse nine, notice, “If we confess our sins.” In other words, if we agree with God, if we say the same word as God, when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin and He says, “This is a sin.” What should you say? Should you argue with Him? You just say, “Yes, Lord, I have sinned against You. I know underneath that is pride. I repent.” Notice what we uncover, “He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Is that not good news? That is good news. Of course, the opposite. “If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.” So that’s really from a personal point of view. I also, and it’s true of us as a body of believers.
And I want you now to look into one example of the church’s responsibility. This is Paul speaking to the church at Corinth 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, and he says this: “‘It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you of a kind that’s not tolerated even among pagans. For a man has his father’s wife, and you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn?’” And so, the Corinthians knew there was a man who was committing immoral acts, and they did nothing. And in fact, they’re arrogant rather than mourning that sin. And so now Paul is rebuking the man. Yes, but he’s rebuking actually the church. “‘Let him who has done this be removed from among you.’” 1 Corinthians 5:6-7, “‘Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?’” Let me ask you this: Do you know this to be true, that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? How many of you think you’re a bit smarter than God? Anyone? No, we’re not smarter than God. God’s telling us something here. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. We need to remember that little leaven leavens the whole lump in your life. Heads up, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. But here, the bigger application is within a church. A little leaven leavens the whole lump, folks. We do not know better than God. This ought to humble ourselves. This ought to cause us to be humble, and for us to recognize. “Yeah, I need to be on the lookout because when I see the sin in others, I need to lovingly confront them and tell them, gospel-centered community, because they can uncover it so that Jesus covers it.” Verse seven: “‘Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened, for Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.’” You know, it is important to drink water. By the way, you heard it here first. It’s important to drink water. Now, if you’re diagnosed with cancer, drinking water probably is not going to help with your cancer. Why? The cancer’s serious. You need a serious plan of action. When it comes to sin, we can’t trifle with it. We can’t get rid of it. It’s gone. Well, how do you get rid of it? You uncover it before the presence of the Lord, “I repent.” You can’t do it. He never said you could. He can, and He promised He would, if we simply do this: uncover our sin before Him. I know Joshua chapter seven takes our breath away. It’s like, God, you are a holy God, you are a consuming fire. “Oh woe is me! Oh, thank You, Jesus.” Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need.” God uncovers what we cover or attempt to cover, but He covers that which we uncover. Sherman Bible Church, here we go, let’s run to Him. Let’s run to Him and uncover our sin and agree with Him and “Thank You, Jesus, for Your death on the cross,” so that no wrath comes to us when to Him, and we get to praise Him forever and ever for the work He has done.
KEYWORDS
Divine Grace, Divine Anger, Wrath, Anger, Judgment, Achan, Godly Sorrow, Worldly Sorrow, Achan’s Sin, Sin, Trouble, Cover, Uncover, Israel’s Failure, Devoted things, Judgment, Mercy, Repentance, Holiness, Justice, Joshua, Leaven, Jesus Christ, Redemption, Salvation, God, Gospel, Grayson County Church, Churches In Grayson County, Bible Church, Church In Sherman Texas, Sherman Texas Churches
Speaker
Jeff Wideman