Indictment of God

Introduction: The Context of Achan's Sin and God's Purpose

0:06 We return again this morning to the 7th chapter of the book of Joshua, Joshua chapter 7.

0:26 Since we do have a number of folk with us this morning who have not been with us in our previous expositions, I think that they might be familiar with at least the basic content of the particular portion that we are presently considering that I shall read, beginning with verse 1 of chapter 7 through to the 13th verse of that same chapter. Remember the setting that the people of God and the unfolding of God's purposes were brought to the border of Canaan. The first city to meet them was Jericho, symbol of the might and strength of the Canaanites, the most imposing of all the cities of that land. And God has given directives. As to how Jericho shall fall before the might and power of the God of Israel, but he has also given some very specific words concerning what they are to do in their conquest. They are to destroy everything in the city, but the silver and the gold and precious metals which are to be brought back to God and the family of Rahab the harlot, everything else is utterly to be destroyed. But the children of Israel committed a trespass.

1:43 In the devoted thing, for aching, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdiah, the son of Zerah, the tribe of Judah took of the devoted thing. The anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Avon on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and spy out the land. And the men went up and spied out Ai.

2:12 And they returned to Joshua. And said unto him, Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai. Make not all the people to toil thither, for there but few. So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men, and they fled before the men of Ai.

2:33 And the men of Ai smote them, about thirty and six men. And they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became as water. And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, until the evening he and all the elders of Israel, they put dust upon their heads.

3:02 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to die, to cause us to perish? Would that we had been content, and dwelt beyond the Jordan. O Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel hath turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land, will hear of it, and will compass us round, and cut off our name from the earth.

3:35 And what wilt thou do for thy great name? And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up. Wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face? Israel hath sinned.

3:50 Yea, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have even put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies.

4:13 Because they are become accursed. Thy will not be with you any more, except ye destroy the devoted thing from among you. Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, There is a devoted thing in the midst of thee, O Israel.

4:34 Thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the devoted thing from among you. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 11, the Apostle Paul gives us a very instructive word for the understanding of the passage which is before us. Having recorded an incident from the history of the nation of Israel, he says, These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age are come, and are given to us for an example. And he says, In other words, the apostolic authority stands behind the use we are making of this passage. Namely, understanding this history not only as factual description of what transpired there near Jericho and Ai, but rather a record which is to be a constant warning and basis of instruction and exhortation to the people of God. And I say, particularly for some of you young men in seminary who will hear the accusation that this kind of preaching is moralistic, take that accusation and hurl it into the teeth of those who make it with 1 Corinthians 10-11. And if this is moralistic preaching,

6:01 Paul has given us warrant for the same. And any moralistic preaching that is apostolic, bless God for it, and may we engage in it. These things are written for an example to the entire world. These things are written for an example to the entire world.

6:14 To the extent that we should not do as they have done. And then Paul bases an explicit exhortation upon that incident in the life history of the nation of Israel. And so for the past few Lord's Day mornings, we've been studying this record of the sin of Achan, seeking to discern its particular application to us as God's people in general, but its special application to us at this particular point, at this particular point in our life history as a congregation. I have suggested that the entire narrative of the sin of Achan breaks down into three divisions.

6:56 You have the setting of the sin of Achan, chapter 5, verse 13, through the end of chapter 6. Then you have the substance of the sin of Achan in chapter 7, and then the sequel of the sin of Achan, chapter 8, verses 1-29. The setting of the sin of Achan, the sin of Achan is significant because it teaches us that God was concerned with laying two lessons before His people. The lessons were these.

7:24 Everything in the conquest of Canaan would come by the putting forth of divine power, and secondly, everything would be accomplished by the putting forth of an obedient faith on the part of God's people. If you read the sin of Achan, apart from that understanding, you will derive little benefit from the record. God was concerned to teach His people that conquest comes by the putting forth of His power and by the obedient faith of His people. And so there was a directive given for the conquest of Jericho that would demand faith on the part of God's people.

8:08 It would demand explicit and careful obedience. Namely, they were not to take anything of the spoils of the land. All was to be destroyed except the gold, the silver, and the precious metals which were to be brought back to the house of God. Then in chapter 7, we began to consider the substance of the sin of Achan.

8:31 We saw its commission in verse 1. We saw its fruition in verses 2-5. All Israel is rendered guilty. All Israel is rendered impotent, and now we are studying together the sin of Achan, its purgation, verse 6, to the end of the chapter.

Preparation for Purging: Joshua's Prayer

8:51 Now, last Lord's Day, we looked at the prayer of Joshua and the elders. This prayer was preparation for purging. When Joshua became aware of the defeat of Ai, he and the elders fell upon their faces before God.

9:10 Jehovah, the God of the ark, the God of the covenant, seeking with the righteous, with the right attitude, humility, grief, and true importunity. And the essence of the prayer was a mixed thing. There was the objectionable element of Joshua's unbelief. Lord, would that we had dwelt the other side of Jordan.

9:32 But then there was the commendable element of this question of bewilderment. What shall I say? And then this plea for the vindication of God's name. So much, I'll review.

9:43 We've covered in several minutes, what has taken us three hours to expound. And if you're really interested in getting the full fleshing out of it, see Roger Philbrook for the tapes, and he'll be able to help you. But we must move on this morning. And under the general heading of the purgation of the sin of Achan, having considered preparation for purging, the prayer of Joshua and the elders, now let us consider in the second place, the pronouncement of God, directions for purging.

The Pronouncement of God: Directions for Purging

10:15 There was due preparation in the prayer of Joshua and the elders. But we find that that prayer was immediately followed in verse 10 by a pronouncement from God, a pronouncement which contained directions for the purging of the sin of Achan. Out of the context of true prayer, prayer marked by brokenness, prayer marked by earnestness, prayer marked by true humility, prayer marked by unflagging earnestness and persistence. Out of that context comes the word of the living God.

10:55 Verse 10. And the Lord said unto Joshua. Tie it in with verse 7. And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord.

11:07 And the Lord said unto Joshua, When the man of God cries upon his God, it is not long before that God, will speak to the man of God that word necessary in the circumstance in which he calls upon him. And there is a very vital principle at the outset before we even break down the exposition of the paragraph. And the principle is this, that though God may occasionally send his Nathans to us, when we least expect a word from heaven, though God may occasionally surprise us by thundering a word from heaven, when we have been in our lowest level of spiritual dullness and stupidity, it is not his normal pattern. God's most pointed words most frequently come to us in the context of our fervent seeking of his face. Draw nigh to me, and I will draw nigh to you, is the word of the living God. Ye have not, because ye ask, ask not, ask, and it shall be given you.

12:21 And so it is not an accident that the narrative tells us, beginning with the conjunction and, that there is a close relationship between the pleading of the man of God and the pronouncement of the living God. It is in the context of Joshua's pleading that God's pronouncement comes with authority and with pointedness. To the people of God. And by way of application, let me say that we as God's people need desperately to learn that every crisis in our lives, every crisis in the life of our congregation is to be a summons from heaven to seek the face of the living God. Now there's no indication but that Joshua was a man of prayer as the general pattern of his life. No man prayed, as the way Joshua prayed in verses 6 through 9, who is not frequenting the throne of grace. No, we must all maintain the discipline and the habit of prayer day by day.

13:31 But when crises develop, this is a call to special prayer. This is a call to concerted prayer. This is a call to importunate prayer. This is a call, if necessary, even to fasting and to public humiliation.

13:47 Special prayer is that with which we must meet special crises in our life history individually and corporately. And it's in that setting that the paragraph is now before us. And there are five divisions of thought in this paragraph. We'll cover three of them this morning and, God willing, the next two next Lord's Day morning.

14:12 You have, first of all, the command of God in verse 10. You have, secondly, in that same verse, the rebuke of God. Then you have in verse 11 the indictment of God. And then you have in verses 12 to 13 the ultimatum of God.

The Command of God: 'Get Thee Up!'

14:28 And in verses 14 and 15 you have the directives of God. Five lines of thought. Let us consider the first three this morning. First of all, you have in this matter of God's pronouncement a command of the living God directed to Joshua, Joshua in these very simple and blunt words.

14:50 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up. Very simple. Words that a little child could understand. Joshua is upon his face.

15:05 Dust has been thrown upon his head. He and the elders of Israel are groveling, as it were, in the sense of shame and humiliation. Joshua's prayer is a mixed thing. There is some of the complaints, some of the complaints of unbelief.

15:20 Yet he rises to a pinnacle of faith when he pleads with God to vindicate his own name. And then in the midst of that, in that virtuous activity of humble, persistent, earnest prayer, God says in essence, Shut up! Stop your praying! Get on your feet!

15:39 What a strange command. What a strange command. Get thee up! Cease your praying!

15:47 The time has come when prayer must merge into God-directed activity. And this command of God confronts us with a vital principle. And I want to underscore it this morning. And the principle is this.

16:04 There is no conflict in the complex of duties that God lays upon us. The duties that are laid upon us as the people of God are complex. They are many. They are varied.

16:19 But there is no conflict in the complex of duties which God lays upon us. One duty must never be performed as a substitute for another. That's just a form of fancy sinning. To make one biblical duty the substitute for obedience to another.

16:40 Now you notice the command did not come before verse 6. Don't go down on your face. But it was after he was upon his face, and upon his face for a lengthy period of time had prevailed in his prayer. Notice that last petition, as it were, unlocked God's activity and God's voice, if I may say it reverently.

17:04 When Joshua's plea rose to this level, what will thou be? It's as though God said, all right, it's the sensitive part of my nature. You're pleading the vindication of my name. This is how it will come, Joshua.

17:21 Up off your face, upon your face, upon your feet, you're going to get some marching orders.

17:28 Now you see, our perpetual danger is to stay upon our feet and never fall upon our faces when we ought to. We love to demonstrate the stiff upper lip, spiritually speaking. And though God hedges up our way with ones, we simply take the simple attitude, well, and so you take the bitter with the good, and you win some, you lose some, and we take an attitude, to the disciplines of God that are hedging us up to seek the face of God. If we were Joshua, no doubt our response would have been when we heard about the soldiers turning their backs upon the men of Ai.

18:14 We'd have first of all gathered the soldiers for a military analysis of this defeat. And then we would have called them together and rebuked them for their cowardice in turning their backs and we would have asked the captains and the rest, what, not Joshua. The moment defeat was in the horizon, he fell upon his face. And we must learn with Joshua to have as our reflex spiritual response a crisis is a summons to humiliation and a brokenness before the living God.

18:45 But, a time comes when we must come off from our faces and from the engagement in true prayer and move to sanctified action. And I want to give you two little maxims that grow out of this great principle. The first one is this. Beware of all activity which is not rooted in fervent, persistent, believing prayer.

19:13 Beware, be fearful of all activity that relates to the advancement of the kingdom of God that is not rooted in fervent, persistent, believing prayer. For remember, the incident of Ai was not just something in the history of a nation stuck off in the Palestinian wilderness. No, no. This is the history of redemption.

19:40 Your salvation and mine bound up in what happens on that hunk of real estate over there called Canaan. And at this point, God's purpose is in forming a nation and establishing that nation in the land that through it Messiah might come. The purposes of redemption are in the balances just as much as they are in the life history of this assembly. What God does with us and through us in the coming weeks and months and years and its reference to properties and buildings and growth and development, this is something that is in the mainstream of God's redemptive purposes.

20:20 And therefore, we learn from this incident in the life of Joshua that we are to beware of that are not persistent, believing prayer. But there is a second maxim. Beware of all which does not prepare and spontaneously lead to obedience to the revealed will of God.

20:57 Beware of all which does not prepare us for and spontaneous obedience to the revealed will of God.

21:10 Just as our danger is to act having not prayed and to move out and in carnal wisdom. So there are times when we are so corrupt in the deception of our hearts that we'll use prayer as a substitute for obedience to some nasty task that God lays upon us.

21:33 Joshua had a nasty task laid upon him. Go out and get one of your families and kill the whole shoot and match. That's nasty business. But he got up early in the morning to perform it and what prepared him for it?

21:47 Fervent, earnest, humble prayer in the presence of God. For you cannot long gaze upon the greatness and majesty of the God of the ark, the God of Israel, the blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ without having your heart inflamed to obey him. And so I give you those two little maxims that grow out of the principle established in verse 10. Beware of all activity that is not rooted in fervent, persistent, believing prayer.

22:19 Beware of all prayer which does not prepare for and spontaneously lead to obedience to the revealed will of God. And so at this critical time, dear ones, there's a sense in which we must still be upon our faces. We must still be in the dust. We must be crying to our God.

22:41 Lord, look upon us in our need. Look upon us in our dilemma. Look upon us in our boast of your name. Look upon us, O God of the Jordan, who has brought us out and we trace his past hand of dealing with us.

22:58 God, in a sense, has been saying to some of us, shut up. Get on your feet. There's some sanctified activity that must flow out of the fervent prayer. So much then for the command of God.

The Rebuke of God: 'Wherefore Art Thou Thus Fallen?'

23:12 Now notice in the second place the rebuke of God in this response of the Lord to Joshua's prayer. Get thee up the command, now the rebuke. Wherefore art thou thus fallen, upon thy face? And the emphasis is upon the word thus.

23:34 And you'll notice I read it that way.

23:38 It is not wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face.

23:43 God knows why he was on his face because grace was operative in his heart. That's what makes a man of God respond to the chastisements of God and sends him down on his face before God. Wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face? But the question is wherefore art thou thus fallen upon thy face?

24:06 And the thus you see has reference to this mingled prayer of Joshua. Joshua's prayer as we saw last week was a mixture of corruption and virtue. It was an expression of nature and of grace, of unbelief and of faith. Therefore God's response to Joshua is also a mixture of judgment and of mercy.

24:31 Sternness and kindness, fatherly discipline and fatherly comfort. There's a sense in which God's responses to our prayers reflect the content of our prayers. Notice the gracious element in this rebuke of God. The fact that God should answer and speak to Joshua is a revelation of grace and of mercy.

24:58 The very fact that God would answer and say to him, wherefore art thou fallen? It was the voice of God speaking and even though it contained an element of judgment and rebuke, it was the voice of God. He was not silent to the cry of his servant. The ears of the Lord were open to the cry of this righteous man.

25:19 And my friends, nowhere in the scripture is that fact ever viewed in any other light than one of amazement. We get so accustomed to lifting our hearts up in prayer, spontaneously through the day, formally when we bow to pray, that we often lose the sense of amazement. Think of it. The God who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, who governs the mighty galaxies that he's created, who holds all things in its proper place.

25:56 Never needed me. Cherubim and cherubim who've never known sin.

26:05 Here's the whimpering cries that I utter, mixed with unbelief and sin and a little bit of the reflection of his grace worked in my heart. Oh, the amazement that God should hear the cry of his children. And so the very fact that the Lord speaks, that's a revelation of mercy and of grace. And though the prayer was stained with the petulance of unbelief, the posture of grief and humility show that it was true prayer.

26:37 And because it was offered in the place where sacrifice was made, it was before the ark. And upon that ark was the mercy seat. And it was there that God pledged to meet with sinners, indicating that Joshua came in the appointed way by the appointed means. And oh, dear child of God, take comfort from this.

26:59 The fact that God should hear us when we cry, even though his answer be appointed rebuke, it's an answer of mercy. And even though our prayers are shot through with the sin of unbelief and creaturely petulance and impatience, he hears, for he knows our frame and he remembers that we are dust and our prayers are made sweet because they come through the mediation of his own beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ. But now look at the merciful element in the prayer. I mean the judgment element.

27:34 Here's the merciful, the gracious, but the judgment element is here. Wherefore liest thou, thou thus upon thy face? Why do you lie in this manner, questioning my goodness and my wisdom in bringing you out of Egypt and over Jordan? Notice that, the latter part of verse 7.

27:52 Would that we had been content and dwelt beyond the Jordan. Well, wait a minute. Who told them, up, sanctify the people. Three days you're going over Jordan.

28:01 That wasn't Joshua's notion. That was God's command, God's promise. It was God who told them time to go through Jordan. It was God, God who parted the waters.

28:11 It was God who brought them safely through. Joshua's prayer reflects a deep question mark over the wisdom of God. A deep question mark over the faithfulness of God. A deep question mark over the love of God.

28:26 A deep question mark over the power of God. And God rebukes him. He says, Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? How do you grovel?

28:36 Is this attitude of questioning my faithfulness, my love, my wisdom, my power? No, no, Joshua.

28:46 It is not right for you to grovel in your unbelief. You pray as though the fall is with me.

28:55 Oh, dear child of God, there is a vital word of application to us. When we are dead in earnest about seeking God's face, that earnestness will find its expression in true prayer. But because that prayer is always a mixed thing, God's answer will be a mingled answer. God's answer to us may contain not only evidence of graciousness on His part, but evidences of His anger because of the elements of sinful, creaturely petulance.

29:30 I don't know a better word to use. I'm using it much this morning, but it describes best, I think, what we find in the prayer of Joshua. There's a sense in which the defeat of Ai was a means of grace. To draw the attention of Joshua to the sin that was involved in the conquest of Ai.

29:50 Now, get this principle.

29:53 Joshua did not know that the victory of Ai was a victory. As far as he knew, it was a victory unmixed with sin and the part of his people. And the conquest of Ai was ordered out of the darkness and into the light where it could be dealt with. And I wonder, as I've been meditating and as I've been praying, as elders we've been thinking and praying for light and direction at this critical time, could it be that in the conquest of our Jerichos and God has given us our Jerichos, some of us who've been in this work from the beginning, we know what those Jerichos have been. When God has done things that to us have been just as amazing as the leveling of physical walls to bring us together as a people, to establish us in this plague, and in this building, and all of the ways that he's shown his faithfulness. But oh dear ones, listen. Could it be that in the midst of our conquest of our Jerichos, there has been sin that we've not been aware of?

31:10 And God has allowed this present apparent defeat of our Ai, the obtaining of land and property in order to construct a building in which to further the worship of God. Could it be that this is God's means of grace to ferret out the sins of Jericho into Ai? And I've already had a number of you come to me and say, Pastor God has laid his finger on specific things in my heart in these past days that I was not aware were there. Thank God for the defeats of Ai to become a means of grace to expose the sins of the conquest of Jericho. And the rebuke of God was a reminder to Joshua, that the fault did not lie with Jehovah. His word was true. He was faithful.

32:06 And dear ones, whatever else we think in this period of seeking the face of God, earnest searching of heart, whenever we find us prompted to put a question mark over the love, the faithfulness, the wisdom, the power of treat that like you treat the devil himself. For God only has rebukes for those who would, in any way, ascribe the failure of his people to their God. Well then, we move from the command of God, get thee up, the rebuke of God, wherefore liest thou upon thy face? In verse 11, we come now to the indictment of God.

The Indictment of God: 'Israel Hath Sinned'

32:51 Now the word indict is much in the news these days. Certain national leaders about to be indicted. And what is the proper meaning of the word indict? Well, I quote from the dictionary, to charge with the commission of a crime, especially to make a formal accusation on the basis of positive legal evidence.

33:14 That's the precise word for what God did right here. God indicts Israel for her sin. He charges with the commission of a crime. He makes a formal accusation on the basis of positive legal evidence.

33:32 Now look at the indictment. It comes, first of all, in a general statement. Then there are the specific elements broken down into five categories. First of all, the general statement, again, masterful in its simplicity, Israel hath sinned.

33:52 Joshua, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face, questioning me as though the fade at my face, that thou shalt not meet? No, no, Joshua. Israel's God hath not failed, hath sinned against her God. What you need to know, Joshua, is that the reason for this present impasse lies not with your God, but with your people.

34:28 Question no more my faithfulness, my love, my power, but begin to search your own hearts and the hearts of your people. Oh, the simplicity of it. Oh, the simplicity of it. The simplicity of the indictment, Israel hath sinned.

34:45 Look for no more reasons, Joshua. Don't look to your men for military reasons. Don't look to the people for psychological reasons. Look for nothing more, nothing more basic, nothing more profound than this simple statement, Israel hath sinned.

35:06 And in that general indictment, there is a vital lesson for us as the people of God, and it's this. In the majority of cases, not always, but in the majority of cases, all of the impasses, all of the frustrations, all of the defeats of any given local assembly, all of the church at large can be traced to this simple indictment, Israel hath sinned. My people, my people have disobeyed me. You want the New Testament commentary on this?

35:41 Just read the book of the Revelation, chapter 2. Just read the book of the Revelation, chapter 2. Verse 2 and 3. Verse 2 and 3.

35:47 Here our Lord, almost arbitrarily, to show the comprehensiveness of his message to the seven churches, delineates seven churches in Asia Minor, and they're given to us in the geographical order in which they are found if you draw a rough circle. All of the artificial interpretation of those messages, notwithstanding that they're meant to represent the seven church ages, and the rest is ridiculous. The lampstands were seen in Christ in the midst. The lampstands were seen in Christ in the midst.

36:17 The lampstands were seen in Christ in the midst. The lampstands were seen in Christ in the midst. The lampstands were seen in Christ in the midst. Then the seven churches are listed, as they would be found generally geographically located in a circle to carry out the vision of Christ in the midst.

36:26 And when our Lord gives the threat, I will remove thy lampstand, what's the cause? Sin. Either deflection of life from the norms of Scripture, or deflection of thought from the absolute truth of Scripture. It was either heresy of life, or of doctrine, or uncleanness of life, or both together, and our Lord threatens and says, I will come with judgment, I'll remove the candlestick, except ye repent.

36:57 The history of the church is the history of this indictment going unheeded. Whole denominations as well as individual churches have begun to see themselves impotent to accomplish the purposes of their Joshua the Lord Jesus, who has commanded us to take the message to every creature, to plant churches in every land, who has commanded us in his name to see disciples made amongst all the nations. And when the church is impotent, and she lacks power even to have any genuine enthusiasm of reality, of evangelistic aggressiveness, what happens? Well, the denominations establish committees to examine the problem. And the committee then comes with a report to its denominational gathering, and then the report is voted upon and piled away in the...

37:56 And no one... It was not so in a bygone day.

38:06 You want your heart thoroughly humbled and plowed, you read the little book by Horatius Bonar called Words to Winners of Souls, and contained in that masterful little treatise, particularly directed to preachers, is the account of what happened when the ministers of the Church of Scotland came together on a given occasion, looking over and surveying the entire impact, the impact of the Church. They saw that they had known better days. That there was not the power attending the preaching. There was not the aggressiveness attending their evangelism.

38:39 There was not the glory of God resting upon their public worship. And they came together, not to form a committee to analyze the problem, but they came together for several days of fasting and prayer, and they drew up a corporate confession of their ministerial sins. They went down on their faces before God. But we're smarter than that now, you see.

39:02 We know better now. We can take all our denominational statistics, feed them into an IBM computer, and get a readout in Uplemiz, and he that sitteth in the heavens laughs. He laughs, and he mocks us as we go on in our impotence. And beloved, it can happen to Trinity Baptist Church.

39:24 It can happen to Trinity Baptist Church! And it'll happen when we begin to get too big for our britches. It was a blessed thing when we were a despised little bunch of, quote, break-offs from a church splint. Ah, that'll put some hooks in your flesh.

39:44 When you carry around with you the onus, oh, what is the name of your church? Oh, such and such. And where do you meet? Ah, we meet in the school building.

39:51 Oh, oh, very interesting. And how come you meet? When thou wast little in thine own eyes, and thy heart was tender, God said. Do you remember what we did every time we faced God?

40:03 Do you remember what we did every time we faced God? Do you remember what we did every time we faced God? Do you remember what we did every time we faced Christ? We'd go on our faces.

40:07 Lord, we have no might, we have no strength. The day we get beyond that, beloved, Ichabod's over this place, and we've had it. We've had it! It's a gift of God's, that God has done this.

40:15 We've had it! It's a gift of God's, that God has done this. Israel hath sinned. Am I saying that the present impasse with regard to land and property means that we have Achins amongst us?

40:44 No, I'd have to be God to say that. I am saying it could be. That's all I can say. And to say that it is so is the prerogative of you and the Holy Ghost in the light of the Word with judgment day honesty.

41:04 I can't be the Holy Ghost.

41:08 But I can say that every impasse is a call from God to seek His face. And in the majority of cases, the impasses, the people of God's faith, are to be resolved in this simple indictment. Israel has sinned. So the cry is, search us, O God, and try us.

Specific Elements of the Indictment: Transgressing the Covenant

41:31 Now look carefully at the specific elements of that indictment. The command of God, up upon your feet.

41:41 The rebuke of God, wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? The indictment of God, Israel hath sinned. There's the general statement. Now notice the five specific things with which Israel is charged.

41:55 Joshua chapter 7. And verse 11. Israel hath sinned, yea, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yea, they have even taken of the devoted thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

42:22 This is a five-pronged indictment. All of which...

42:28 All of which focuses on this rather insignificant act of one man called Achan. Notice these elements as they come before us. First of all, God says, You've transgressed my covenant which I commanded. Now, to what is God referring when he mentions the covenant?

42:48 Well, the possibility is two-fold. God could be referring to the general tenor and arrangement of the covenant into which he entered with Israel at Mount Sinai. When having laid his law before them, God, speaking to the people, elicited this response. All that the Lord saith, we will do.

43:11 And one element of that covenant is delineated in Deuteronomy, in which God said, Deuteronomy 13, 17, that they should never take of a devoted thing. The other possibility is God could be referring to a specific expression of his covenant, a significant relationship to his people. That mentioned in chapter 6, verses 18 and 19. But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when you have devoted it and take of the devoted thing, you make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it.

43:46 But in either case, this much is clear.

43:50 When Achan took of the Babylonish garment, and the wedge of gold and the shekels of silver, he was violent, and he was violating covenant responsibility and trampling underfoot covenant privileges. Whether we're thinking of the covenant in its broader sense, of the general arrangement in which God laid hold of his people, made them his own, and promised to do certain things for them upon condition of their obedience, or whether we think of this specific expression of that covenant relationship when God said, I've given you Jericho, but do this and this, and my blessing will be with you. If not, I will turn it to a curse. In either case, the taking of this accursed thing, the withholding of the silver and gold, meant that this covenantal relationship was violated and prostituted. Now the emphasis is upon these two words. You have broken my covenant, which I commanded you. Here is the, God of grace, the God before whom Joshua is prostrated, the God who chose Israel.

45:08 Why? He says, not because you were stronger or mightier, but because I loved you. I set my love upon you. You were as an unwashed babe, and I cleansed you and took you to myself and entered into a marriage covenant.

45:23 You see, the covenant of God with Israel is a gracious covenant. It was grace that laid hold of that, that people. It was grace that married Jehovah to them. It was grace that set the standard of life that would bring blessing to them and glory to God.

45:42 And our Lord indicts them with the realization that their sin has not been a sin against some abstract rules, some abstract regulations, some abstract commandments. Their willful, deliberate, calculated sin has violated the very terms of their covenant, the covenant relationship. It has been in Old Testament language spiritual adultery.

46:08 And oh, dear ones, the gospel application of this is not difficult to make. When God graciously came to you in His sovereign mercy and opened your eyes to your sin and wedded you to His beloved Son, the mediator of the new covenant, God graciously inclined your heart to His law. In fact, He took out the heart of stone and gave you, gave you a heart of flesh as one of the provisions of that covenant. And He wrote His law upon your heart so that the first conscious words that came from that renewed heart were these, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

46:45 All you, Lord Jesus, having loved me so, hear, Lord, I give myself to you. It is all that I can do.

46:57 And the Lord Jesus says, if that's so, then here are the terms of my covenant. Having broken the dominion of sin by my grace, put to death therefore all of your members upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, covetousness, which is idolatry, crucify all manifestations of the flesh, anger, wrath, malice, filthy communication. These are the terms of the covenant. Put them to death because I have graciously bound you to myself in love and in power.

47:30 The positive term of the covenant is give your body to me a living, sacrifice. The gold and the silver of time and energy and talent are mine to be invested in the work of the sanctuary. The sins that adhere are to be put to death. The Babylonish garments are to be destroyed.

47:50 The wedges of gold and the shekels of silver are to be mine. You know what our problem is, dear ones, if we have some Babylonish garments in our tents this morning?

48:02 We have learned to detach our sinning from this concept that it is a breach of our covenant relationship to the Lord Jesus.

48:14 And the moment you can view a sin in isolation from that gracious mediator of the new covenant, Jehovah Jesus, who is to us in mercy, the horror, the shyness of sin is gone. And we start talking about it's just a little sin. It's just an inconsequential sin. Well, it's a sin that everybody indulges in.

48:43 Well, it's just something in my flesh. My friend, look, I'm talking to some people who as early as this morning and yesterday have been guilty of nothing but plain, unadulterated, carnal, fleshly anger. Angry words that come out of your lips and angry attitudes that boil within your breast. You've not been ashamed before God.

49:07 Oh, you may have thrown off some cute, sweet little, Lord, forgive me, I'm sorry, amen. But you haven't really been humbled. That Babylonish garment has not felt the fire of the humiliation of true repentance. It's not felt the fire of true mortification because you did the same thing throughout the week.

49:29 And angry words between you and your wife and you and your husband are the order of the day in your home.

49:37 Though you may be a child of God, you're not really warring with that Babylonish garment. Why? Because you do not look upon it in this light. They have transgressed my covenant.

49:47 When you came to the Lord Jesus by the gracious drawing of God, for what purpose did you come to Him? Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people not in, but from them. And you first, you Greek students, when you get working on your prepositions, I don't know if they do then like they did when I was learning Greek. And we had to take the prepositions and have them on a chart with arrows.

50:13 To show the relationship upon, in, through. And when you come to that preposition, He shall save His people away their sin.

50:28 And you came to Him saying, Lord, take me in hand. Break my chains. Start to scour me and cleanse me. And Lord, don't stop until I'm just like you.

50:39 And every time you've tolerated a Babylonish garment, you've violated the covenant of grace. My friends, I have answered. The covenant of grace.

50:53 When you've withheld that precious gold, that body that should be a living sacrifice for holy service has been withheld to indulge in carnal selfish interest. You've violated the covenant for you're not your own. You're purchased with a price. And the Savior bought you to possess you.

51:19 Oh, may the indictment of God to Israel on behalf of Achan's sin come home to my heart and to your heart this morning. We must begin to view our sins in this light. They are a violation of new covenant privileges and new covenant obligations. How horrible is the slightest sin willfully indulged in when viewed in the light of the wounds of the Son of God.

Specific Elements of the Indictment: Taking, Stealing, Dissembling

51:51 When viewed in the light of His grace and His mercy to us. Now we hurry on. The second line of the indictment is this. They have taken of the devoted thing.

52:07 Notice the graphic language used. They have taken. It didn't attach itself to them. Take is a conscious, deliberate, volitional act.

52:16 They have laid hold upon that Babylonish garment, the symbol of all that was devoted to destruction. The application is very obvious. Is it not? In the violation of covenant responsibilities has your hand laid hold of the devoted thing.

52:38 Whether it's the hand of the mind, of the affections. And there is that Babylonish garment that has been taken. Not talking about the sin that surprises us and as it were seizes upon us unawares and we are overtaken in a fault. Galatians 6.

52:56 This is the man who goes out after his sin. And takes it to himself. Thirdly he says they have also stolen. They have taken that which was rightfully mine.

53:09 The gold, the silver. They violated the eighth commandment. Thou shalt not steal. If not from one another certainly not from your God.

53:17 And God said the gold and the silver and the precious metals of Jericho are to be mine. Dear child of God you have stolen.

53:28 You have withheld from God that which is his purchased possession.

53:33 Some of you spending your time in idle idle cursed self-pity. Sitting around stewing in the acidy juice of self-pity. Time that should be invested in ministering to others praying almost breath of self-pity.

54:14 Taking the gold of tiling it instead of investing it in the sanctuary of God.

54:23 Taking the gold of energy and of talent and of gift squatting thundering it upon carnal ends. We have stolen some of us. And then God adds to it this fourth line of indictment and have dissembled also. What does this word dissemble mean?

54:41 We no longer use it. Well it means literally to be untrue to lie to deceive in a willful and deliberate manner to conceal under false appearance. It's used in Zechariah 13 four of the false prophets who dress themselves up to look like real prophets. They willfully in a calculated manner seek to deceive.

55:02 God says Israel was guilty of this sin and I think it opens up an element that's not listed in the narrative. If Israel was to be guilty of deliberate deception the inference is this that after the conquest of Jericho Joshua called his army before him and he said to his army Jehovah's directions were nothing was to be spared but Rehob and her family. Is Rehob and her family here? Yes Joshua here she is and they bring them forth.

55:36 Second question has everything devoted to destruction been burned? One of the captains speaks and says yes Joshua all the men under my charge yes the torches have struck everything in Jericho all is burned and all is burned and they came to the group in which Achan was and he joined in the chorus all is burned all is burned all is burned all is burned there was opportunity for Achan to come clean but he dissembled willful calculated deliberate bald face deception dissembled there's a liar in the is what God is saying and you see Achan was spiritually the great grandfather of Ananias and Sapphira who appeared amongst God's people as though everything were given to God while they sought to lie to the Holy Ghost oh my friends do you see the application to us this morning we gather here this morning as a body of God's people and what do we say we say I'm here because as a Christian my hand my heart is against all that is sinful and I come to race in the preaching of the word in the praying and singing I come to receive strength that's what you're saying by your presence here this morning my friend you're guilty of bald face lying

57:06 if you have some darling Babylonish garment that you're tolerating in the tent flap of your heart by your presence here this morning you're saying with all my heart I want to be a holy man a holy woman at any cost but you're dissembling you're lying where are you all parts of mortification applied to them and though the garment may I turn away I'm crying but that's not your case you've neatly folded it you've tucked it away like Ananias and Sapphira you say no one knows my friend the holy God of Israel and some of you are guilty of dissembling this morning bald face lying your Babylonish garment is there and your conscience is screaming at you as I preach and even now you're trying as it were to take your hand and muzzle the voice of conscience my friend listen if you can come through the general rebukes as did Achan God will have some severe dealings with you

Specific Elements of the Indictment: Hiding Among Their Own Stuff

58:32 Achan had his opportunity when the armies lined up to declare their obedience if he had stepped forward and said Joshua the vengeance of Babylonish garment who knows what might have been in the way of mercy but when he resisted the general overtures to come clean God zeroed in and nailed him for this cause many are weak and sickly among you in some sleep for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged of the Lord that's New Testament teaching are you dissembling this morning and then last of all God says and with this we close our study this morning the fifth line of the indictment is this and added to all of this they have even put it among the people their own stuff this aspect shows that it was no sin of ignorance a surprise attack of some lust but willful heart and determination to go on in this course until driven out of it in other words this element of the indictment tells us that Achan thought he could fool God

60:02 added to all of this they have put it among their own stuff in the name of God Israel the people who are to be marked in every element of life as holiness unto the Lord that's why God gave them all the trappings of that ceremonial law to make a distinction between the clean and the unclean that everywhere in Israel I turn need real relationship to God even things innocent in themselves if God has pronounced them unrighteous I must not touch them though in Christ we are delivered from the trappings of the ceremonial law the demands of internal holiness go far away from us the demands of internal holiness go far away from us the demands of internal holiness go far away from us the demands of internal holiness go far away from us are beyond any external demands of external holiness we are to walk as men and women who know that in every area of thought, word, motive, attitude there is to be the recognition I am the property of the God of Israel I am the property of the Lord Jesus bought with a price to glorify Him in thought, in word, in deed, in action I am His possession everything is to be stamped holiness to the Lord whether I eat or drink even eat or drink all is to be done to His glory can it be that amongst the stuff of such a people is the Babylonish garment

61:31 all the awful contradiction among their stuff Israel with the devoted thing the accursed thing among the stuff of the people of Israel what a contradiction if amongst us as the true Israel of God there should be that devoted to destruction that which is the property of God as I close our study this morning my friend I want you to get this final principle the reason God gave such an extensive detailed indictment was this if you've missed this you've missed much of the whole message this morning gird up the loins of your mind to get it here it is the reason God went into such detail was this until Joshua and the people of Israel viewed the sin in the midst as seriously as God viewed it they'd never be prepared to deal with it God's way that's it the first penance is when I use that sin that's why David could say against thee and thee only have I sinned that thou mayest be clear when thou judgest what is he saying he's saying Lord Lord you're pronouncement upon these sins

62:59 right along and blunt extenuated the guilt shifted responsibility but oh God I now view my sin as you do my friend your Babylonish garments some of which have found a very special place in the tent flaps of your heart are never going to go until you start viewing them as God does covenant breaking taking the accursed stealing lying lying and hiding it amongst the stuff of your own heart no doctor can ever take the leg off a patient willingly till first of all he's convinced the patient that amputation is necessary for his physical well-being no man ever went in with a little pain in his knee to the doctor's office and walked out signing the slip you have permission to sever that leg at the knee cap until the doctor were first of all convinced that he had something so bad as to need so drastic an operation my friend you're not going to deal some of you with Babylonish garments that you've been clinging to for years because we've learned to give polite names to them it's my volatile temperament

64:28 no it's your fleshly carnal anger well it's my metabolism no it's your gluttony it's your gluttony it produces your rolls of blubber stop calling it your blubber it's your metabolism you're breaking covenant with that God who came to deliver you from gluttony and your lustful thoughts oh it's just my just my genes just my hormones no it's your lasciviousness it's a Babylonish garment that's got to be consumed by mortification oh we're clever at giving polite names to our Babylonish garments aren't we my friend you better start calling them what God does or you're never going to live to know the purging of that sin and if not we have enough Achan's God may just let us see a succession of Achan's and far better that we should see them and know that Achan's amongst us than that we should go on and conquer Achan's only to discover that we did so without the presence of the God of Israel we'll come to that thought Lord willing next week in the ultimatum of God that we shall have to leave it at that may God speak to us

Call to Prayer and Confession

65:57 from his word let us pray I want us to just pause quietly in the presence of the God whose eye runs to and fro throughout the whole earth who sees us who knows us who's found many of us this morning oh beloved remember he's found us not in judgment but in mercy though that word to Joshua contained rebukes that God has not contained but in mercy that God has not contained God should speak with sheer mercy you have dealings with God right now right there in that place where you sit downstairs in the overflow room there in the balcony you have dealings with God right now yeah I know your conscience speaking but you're trying to rationalize it's just Pastor Martin's way he just knows how to drive you in the corner and my friend God has found you you have dealings with him

67:14 oh God we do earnestly pray that by the Holy Spirit you will not allow us quickly to forget what you've said to us this morning we confess with shame our covenant breaking we have violated the gracious terms of that gracious covenant and grieved him who is its mediator and by whose blood we have been brought into its benefits we confess that we have stolen we have dissembled we have hidden amongst the stuff of our own hearts Lord may your indictment come home to us that we may know the blessedness of your forgiving grace we pray for those amongst us who've never taken their stance as guilty rebels and fled to Christ crucified as their only hope of mercy Lord use the word in them today give them no rest until they seek forgiveness from that one who alone can grant it hear us seal the word to us

68:43 and be glorified in its fruit we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen