Charge of Joshua, Part 1

Introduction to Achan's Sin and Its Purgation

0:06 Now, if you will please, follow as I read from Joshua, chapter 7, verses 16 through 21. For those of you who are visiting with us this morning, we have been conducting a series of studies in this seventh chapter of Joshua, which is the narrative concerning the sin of this man, Achan, its effect upon the people of God, its exposure. And we've been doing so under the general title of the sin of Achan, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

0:44 The first verse records the sin of Achan in its commission, verses 2 to 5, the sin of Achan in its fruition, and verses 6 to the end of the chapter, the sin of Achan in its purgation from the camp of Israel. The prayer of Joshua and the elders was the preparation for purging, verses 16. To 9, out of that prayer came God's directives for purging, verses 10 to 15. And now, beginning with verse 16, we have the actual obedience of Joshua in the discovery, the arraigning of Achan, and in the judgment of God upon him and all that he possessed.

Reading of Joshua's Charge and Achan's Confession

1:26 Verse 16. So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. And the tribes...

1:35 The tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought near the family of Judah. And he took the family of the Zerahites. And he brought near the family of the Zerahites, man by man, and Zabdi was taken.

1:48 And he brought near his household, man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, the tribe of Judah, was taken. And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Of a truth I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.

2:24 When I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonish mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I... I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

Review of Previous Studies: Joshua's Obedience and Principles of Sin's Exposure

2:46 In the previous two studies we have sought to lay out before you the significance of those words describing the obedience of Joshua in this most distasteful of tasks laid upon him by the living God. And we tried to penetrate into...

3:06 We tried to penetrate into... We tried to penetrate into...

3:06 We tried to penetrate into... into the mind and soul of Joshua, and ask and answer the question, what is it that moved him to such resolute and thorough obedience?

3:17 And then in our last study, we tried to extract the principles that God is setting before all of Israel and before us, his people, in the manner in which Achan is actually discovered, as recorded in verses 17 and 18. And we saw that the great lessons are...

3:37 We see that no measure of external privilege can keep a man from the worst of sins. It was Achan of the tribe of Judah, that privileged position in Israel, amongst that privileged nation of all the peoples of the earth, and yet this man, surrounded by such privileges, commits such vile and wicked sin that cripples an entire nation, teaching us that no measure of external privilege can keep a man from the worst of sins. Secondly, God is teaching his people and us that no amount of calculated secrecy can keep sin from the knowledge of God. The way in which God disclosed Achan was God's eloquent declaration,

4:21 that my eyes are in every place beholding the evil and the good. And thirdly, God is teaching his people and teaching us that no amount of human cunning can cover sin when God chooses to expose it. And God...

4:37 He used the law of gravity, operating upon some broken pieces of an old pot, an old earthen vessel, in order to discover this man in the casting of the lots, showing us that when God is determined to expose a man's sin in time or in the judgment, nothing can hinder God from the accomplishment of his purpose. Today we proceed to an exposition of verses 19 to 21, in which we have basically two things. The charge of Joshua and the confession of Achan. The charge of Joshua, verse 19.

Outline of Today's Study: Joshua's Charge and Achan's Confession

5:14 The confession of Achan in verses 20 and 21. The charge of Joshua, we will attempt to expound this morning. The confession of Achan in our study together this evening. The charge of Joshua, verse 19.

5:30 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done. Hide it not from me. And there are two things that we shall see in our study of this charge of Joshua. First of all, we will consider the manner of this charge, and then secondly the matter or the substance of this charge.

The Manner of Joshua's Charge: Gracious Restraint and Compassionate Tenderness

6:01 In what manner did Joshua charge Achan? Achan. This man...

6:06 Who had been sovereignly disclosed and discovered by the living God, by means of this process of elimination, by means of the casting of locks, Achan was taken, is the word of Scripture, and now Joshua is solemnly to charge him with his responsibility. What is the manner in which Joshua does indeed charge him? And the key to understanding the manner of his charge, is to be found in these words, My son, give, I pray thee. My son, and the words, I pray thee.

6:50 Now what did Joshua mean when he addressed Achan with these words, My son? Certainly he was not a well-trained priest who had been taught to do this when people come for confession. For any of you with a background in Romanism will know that these words sound like this. They sound like this.

7:06 They sound like this. They sound very familiar. For you come to the priest and you address him as father, and he addresses you as my son. But rather these words are to be regarded in one of two senses.

7:19 They could on the one hand be an expression of a genuine paternal regard and affection. Joshua, as the appointed leader of Israel, looks upon the entire nation as his spiritual responsibility and his spiritual children. And therefore it would be perfectly proper for him to say in that sense of spiritual paternalism, My son. Or it could be, as we find indications elsewhere in scripture, an address used to indicate Joshua's recognition of his position as a superior in the presence of an inferior,

7:59 but a phrase or an address nonetheless reflecting respect. You find this in 2 Samuel 18 and in verse 22. I'm simply giving you now the reasons for my assertion of what these words, my son, may mean. 2 Samuel 18 and in verse 22.

8:24 Then said Ahimehaz, the physical son of Zadok, the son of Zadok after the flesh, he said yet again to Joab, But come what may, let me, I pray thee, also run after the Cushite. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son? Well, it's obvious he wasn't Joab's son after the flesh, but in terms of Joab's position as a military superior, it was proper for him to address him with the term, my son. You find a similar use in 1 Samuel 18 and in verse 22.

9:06 1 Samuel 18. 1 Samuel 18 and in verse 22. And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee. Now, therefore, be the king's...

9:22 I'm sorry, that should be 2 Samuel. That's the wrong reference. 2 Samuel 18 and verse...

9:32 That's the one we did. I'm sorry. It's 2 Kings 5.13 is the other reference.

9:37 I'm terribly sorry. I've copied the wrong reference. 2 Kings 5 and verse 13. And his servants came near and spake unto him, that is, to the prophet Elisha, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great things, wouldest thou not have done it?

9:56 How much rather, then, he said to thee, Wash and be clean. Here is the address of the servant to Naaman, and he addresses him as my father. Now, we've only looked at the references to establish that, but in the scripture, the term my son can be used as an expression of paternal regard and affection, or it can be used as an expression of recognizing due rank and the honor inherent in that relationship. But in either case, remember the situation.

10:28 And what Joshua might have said, and what might have been, as far as the record is concerned, a very excusable expression, of heated passion. This was the man who had crippled the entire nation of Israel. Down in verse 25, Joshua says, You have troubled Israel. He was fully conscious of the significance of Achan's sin.

10:54 This was the man who had brought pain and grief to Joshua and the elders. They had prostrated themselves for hours in the presence of God, with their garments rent and dust cast upon their heads, pleading with God, for the rolling away of the reproach that is coming. Here was the man who had caused the death of 36 Israelites. Here was the man who had brought such shame and reproach and pain to the entire nation.

11:22 If ever harsh words would be considered justifiable, it would be here. And had the scriptures read something like this, and Joshua said unto Achan, Thou betrayer, I charge thee, thou rebel, I command thee, thou troubler, I lay upon you this charge. I think none of us would have thought that Joshua was guilty of sinful passion. And yet the scripture says that when Achan is taken, that Joshua said unto him, My son.

11:57 Addressing him in the least sense, with a term of respect between a superior and an inferior, and at the highest, an expression of genuine filiation, and paternal regard and affection. And then the second term which shows the manner of Joshua's charge is this little phrase, I pray thee. These are the words of common entreaty and appeal. Not I adjure you, I command you, but I pray thee, I plead, I entreat.

12:31 These are words of gentleness. And therefore we conclude from the use of these words, My son, I pray thee, that the manner of Joshua's charge is one of gracious restraint and compassionate tenderness. Now it was not a fawning indulgence. The very act in which Joshua is engaged is one of exposing a man unto death.

13:00 So we must not mistake compassionate tenderness and gracious restraint for unprincipled sentiment. This is no, no fawning sentimentalist who says, My son, I pray thee. It is a man committed to obey the word of God, even to the exposing of a man and his family and all he possesses to a cruel and an immediate death. For God has said, He that is taken shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath.

Joshua as a Pattern for Civil Magistrates and Spiritual Leaders

13:32 Yet in the midst of that, God having already pronounced the sentence, discovered the man, there is a beautiful absence of any personal rancor or the mixture of carnal anger in Joshua's dealings with Achan. Now this says much to us. For in acting in this manner in giving his charge, Joshua is both a pattern to us and a picture. Now in what sense is he a pattern?

14:04 Joshua is first of all a pattern for the conduct, of the civil magistrate. He is also a pattern for the spiritual magistrate or the spiritual leaders in the church of God. Joshua is not acting as a private person. In the exposure of Achan, Joshua is acting as God's instrument to vindicate God's own honor and to execute God's vengeance upon his wickedness.

14:36 Joshua is not acting. He is acting not as an individual but as God's representative. And in that sense Joshua is a pattern of the civil magistrate. For according to Romans 13, a passage which was introduced in the Bible class earlier this morning, God says that the human governor, the government is instituted by God to bear the sword of God's vengeance against evildoers.

15:04 He is the minister of God to avenge evil. And in the words of Peter, he beareth not the sword in vain. Now when the civil magistrate is responsible to administer the vengeance of God, how is he to do it? Well he is never to do it with the mixture of his own carnal passion.

15:27 He is to do it showing respect and restraint to the very object upon whom the sword will fall. And here we see, a classic example of a godly civil magistrate mixing the administration of his distasteful task with compassion and with tenderness. And may I interject something that I feel is desperately needed? We as a people often speak and I cry out from this pulpit against the lawlessness of our age, the failure of the civil magistrate to punish evildoers.

16:06 But I'm greatly distressed, disturbed by an attitude I detect amongst Christians. And it's an attitude that says like this, Those dirty, stinking rebels against society, get a machine gun and shoot them down! And they're all out of here! Put them in a brick chair!

16:26 I see that attitude amongst so-called Christians.

16:32 God doesn't need the mixture of your carnal vengeance. Thank God you're not the judge. For you wouldn't be a Joshua. Joshua, as the appointed judge, did not serve God.

16:47 Thank God you're not the judge. For you wouldn't be a Joshua. Joshua, as the appointed judge, did not serve God. Thank God you're not the judge.

16:48 Thank God you're not the judge. Say, thou rebel! You traitor!

16:53 My son, I pray thee.

17:00 Remember what Jesus said to some of his disciples? Lord, that crowd won't listen to us. Shall we call down fire? He says, you know not what spirit you are of.

17:10 I came not to judge, but to save.

17:15 What is your first reaction when you see evidences of lawlessness? Is it first of all one that says, Oh God, somehow may such be, reached with the gospel, and for your sake, I would be willing to die, that they might know the Savior?

17:34 Or is it, Lawmakers! Kill them! Throw them in the prison!

17:40 My friend, if that's your spirit, it's as unchristian as the devil himself.

17:46 You better get on your face before almighty God and ask the Holy Ghost to take that spirit from you.

17:55 When our Lord beheld the city, that he had already given up to judgment, what did he do? About time you old, Christ-haters, got it? Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, but ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate, and he has set it with a broken heart.

18:25 Joshua is a great pattern of the attitude of the civil magistrate and what the attitude of a Christian should be as he longs for the civil magistrate to do his task. One of gracious restraint and of compassion.

18:43 And then he's a great pattern for the spiritual leaders of the people of God, for Joshua was called upon to assume the place of spiritual headship of the nation that previously was resting upon the shoulders of Moses. And all whom God places in an office of spiritual headship have a similar position as that of Joshua. Often, they must reprove, they must admonish, they must initiate corporate discipline, they must initiate the exposure of sin. But what should characterize their dealings with the guilty?

19:21 The spirit of Joshua. Even though the individual has caused deep grief to the elders, deep grief to the congregation, reproach to God's name, no other spirit but the spirit of Galatians 6, 1 is ever proper. If a brother be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. The spirit of 1 Corinthians 5, 2.

19:56 Ye did not rather mourn that he that hath done this deed might be taken away. That's the spirit. And that must not only be evident in the spiritual leaders, but in those who join them in the acts of discipline that are necessary in the life of the congregation. Quaint old Matthew Henry says, and I quote, This act of Joshua, these words of Joshua, are an example to all, not to insult over those who fall in misery, though they brought themselves into it by their own wickedness, but to treat even offenders with the spirit of meekness, not knowing what we ourselves

20:40 should have been and done if God had put us in the hands of our own counsels.

20:50 If I had not been reared in a Christian home, if I had not been reared with perspectives that gave me meaning and direction in life, I'd be at the front of some rebel group way of life in which things are all that matters.

21:11 Not I.

21:14 Social injustice, racial injustice, class materialism, preoccupation with things. I'd be out breaking every law in the book, too, if I know anything about my own heart. Therefore, when I see someone else, though if they violate laws, I pray that God will give us men of principle like Joshua who will execute God's vengeance. My friend, it must never be with a spirit that is anything other than like the spirit of Joshua.

21:45 Compassion. Passion and tenderness. Why? Because but for the grace of God, there go I.

21:53 My friend, if you find that difficult, even though I preached this morning, you dig your heels and you know what your problem is? You've never been broken before God over your own sin. You've never seen the infinite depths of potential for wickedness within your own bosom. Any form of executing God's wrath against sin, whether in the civil magistrate or the discipline of God, or the disciplinary anger of God in church discipline, will cause the deepest pain to the man, to the woman, to the congregation who have anything of the spirit of Christ and the sense of their own potential for evil.

Joshua as a Picture of the Greater Joshua (Christ)

22:36 And that's precisely what Matthew Henry is saying. But not only is Joshua in the manner of his charge a pattern for the civil magistrate, a pattern for the spiritual leaders of the people of God, he's a picture. A picture of what? Well, the question is better, a picture of whom?

22:56 For the only reason why Joshua could act this way was because the spirit of the greater Joshua indwelt his heart and prompted his actions. Here we see him who would later say of himself, come unto me for I am meek and lowly in heart. And the apostle Paul gives us the best commentary on this principle. In 2 Corinthians 10, 1 when he says, I beseech you by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ.

23:27 Now his meekness and gentleness are not again an unprincipled sentiment. No, no. But in the administration even of his threats there is the meekness and the gentleness. When he was reviled, he reviled not again.

23:43 And when Judas his betrayer stood before him, what did he say? Thou foul son of hell, demon incarnate, doeth no. Betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? Still appealing to Judas' conscience that he might feel the weight of his sin and seek mercy.

24:05 Oh, dear ones, when I read a passage like this and I see Joshua not only as a pattern but as a picture of the greater Joshua, I must fall upon my face and say, Oh God, I'm so unlike the one whose name I bear. The Scripture says, But we all with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed by the Spirit of God into that image from one stage of glory to another. And if you find that by temperament and by influence and external pressures that this Spirit is foreign to you, oh, I plead with you, see the picture of the greater Joshua. Behold him in his midst,

24:49 in his meekness and his gentleness, and gaze upon him and pray that the Spirit of God as you gaze upon him will transform you by degrees into the likeness and image of the Lord Jesus. Well then, having considered the manner in which Joshua gave the charge, now move secondly to consider the matter or the substance of the charge. You will notice that there are four elements in Joshua's charge. Two that are vertical and two that are horizontal.

The Matter of Joshua's Charge: Vertical Directives to God

25:21 Look at them. My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Those are the two verticals. Give glory to God, make confession to God.

25:36 Now two horizontals, the positive and the negative. And tell me what thou hast done, positive, hide it not from me, negative. Now then, let's look at the substance of Joshua's charge. First of all, the two vertical directives.

25:52 Give glory to Jehovah, the God of Israel. Now the precise meaning of these words is difficult to pin down. For sometimes this phrase seems to be a solemn adjuration. That is, someone is adjured.

26:10 They are charged, as in John 9 and verse 24. And the commentators who take this place and position all without exception, those that I have checked, give this reference in seeking to expound this phrase. John 9, 24. So they called a second time the man that was blind and said unto him, Give glory to God.

26:36 We know that this man is a sinner. In other words, they are charging him, answer us as before the face of the living God. And the term, give glory to God, then becomes a form of a solemn adjuration. Now if that's what Joshua is saying, then this is what he meant.

26:56 Achan, all that you are is before the face of God. All that you have done is before the face of God. The God who is truth, the God who knows all. Therefore, Achan, speak as in the presence of that God.

27:18 However, the words give glory to God may mean exactly what they mean where they are used elsewhere in Scripture. That is, render to God the praise and the honor due to him in terms of what he is. The glory of God is the outshining of the sum total of God's perfections. As the rays of the sun are the outshining of the perfection of all that constitutes the sun, the sun, so the glory of God is the outshining of all that constitutes God, God.

27:55 In which case, this charge meant nothing less than this to Achan. Achan, the God of Israel, Jehovah, is the God who is perfect in his omniscience. You have denied this in a very practical way. By sneaking the Babylonians in a Babylonian garment, the wedge of gold and the shekels of silver, by hiding them in the tent as a member of the covenant community of Israel, you have been saying in essence whatever glory the God of Israel has, omniscience is no part of his glory.

28:34 Now, Achan, give back to God the glory you've taken from him. You've said God is not omniscient. Achan, God has declared his omniscience to you and to this entire nation. At your expense, now give him glory.

28:48 Say that he knew precisely what you had done. Acknowledge it now before that God and before all of his people. Achan, the God of Israel, is the God whose glory consists in the perfection of his justice. And perhaps the nation wonders this is a terribly serious thing.

29:07 Thirty-six lives taken because of the defeat of Ai. The threat of judgment upon a man and his entire family. Achan, as long as you're silent, there are those who will question the justice of the God of Israel. But he is just.

29:23 He exacts no more than is right. Now, Achan, you own up to your sin and in so doing give glory to God. Acknowledge the perfection of his justice that you've tried to avoid and escape. Acknowledge the perfection of his holiness, the perfection of his majesty in which you regarded him unworthy of obedience.

29:44 Your sin has robbed God of the glory that is due him. Now render it back to him in the confession of your sin. Then the second vertical directive is not only is he to give glory to God, but he says make confession unto him. And again, this is a difficult phrase to pin down its precise meaning because there are other places in Scripture where this verb means literally give praise to God.

30:16 So if you have an ASV, you will notice the marginal reading is give praise to God. That's the word used in Psalm 50, 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me. Jeremiah 17, 26.

30:32 It's translated as praise or as thanksgiving. But here and in Ezra 10, 11, this Hebrew word is translated in our English Bible's confession. So either it means and I'm not settled and it's a terrible thing to preach but when you're not settled as to what it means but when you've tracked down the best Hebrew scholars and they both come up on different sides of the fence and you're not settled you must be honest. But in either case nothing is lost.

31:01 The drift is the same. Either Joshua is saying give praise as well as glory to God by confessing to me as God's representative the precise nature of your sin or glorify God as you openly acknowledge your sin. For the root meaning or the derivation of this word comes from the concept of opening the hand in honest acknowledgement of what you are or what you have done. So then Joshua lays upon the conscience of Achan at the outset the God centeredness of true confession.

True Confession is God-Centered and Vindicates God's Character

31:44 His charge causes Achan to realize or makes him realize that if he's to deal with his sin he must look beyond Joshua look beyond all the faces of his relatives and friends and the whole nation of Israel all of which are now focused upon him he must see above and beyond Joshua above and beyond the elders above and beyond the high priest above and beyond the nation Achan your sin has been in the eye of God Achan your sin has been against God Achan I charge you have dealings with God as you now own your sin and confess that sin. Far more important Achan

32:28 than the relief of your own conscience than the possibility of any forgiveness far more vital is the vindication of the character of the God of Israel Achan you've trampled on God's honor by your sin now render praise to God by your confession and so it is with you and with me we must come to the place where we realize that the glory of God is to be uppermost even in the acknowledgement of our sin we confess our sin not primarily for the restoration of our peace for the restoration of our joy for the cleansing of our own conscience

33:09 sin has been practical atheism true confession is the return to full blown theism in our sin what do we do? we say God is not God who is glorious in his majesty and therefore worthy of the most careful obedience we say my lusts are more majestic and more worthy of obedience therefore we turn and we glorify the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever God says in your confession give glory to me give praise to me acknowledge me to be the God who is glorious in his majesty who ought to be obeyed

33:54 who is worthy of obedience and love and homage tell me the truth that when you sinned you robbed me of the glory of my majesty when we sin there is a rejection of the glory of his authority the God who is worthy of the obedience of all moral creatures cherubim, seraphim, angels and men and yet we've said he is not worthy of obedience at this point the word of some other creature or the words coming from the devil as he incites me to evil or the thunderings of my own corrupt passions they have been worthy of obedience and though the infinitely glorious God glorious in his authority has said thou shalt not

34:38 I've robbed him of that glory now he says in confession give it back to me he is the God who is glory glorious in the perfection of all of his person worthy of our love and our homage and by our sin we've shown a weariness of his person an indifference to his omniscience an abuse of his goodness and gifts you see how sin robs God of glory when a man sins when a fellow sins when a boy sins when a girl sins God is robbed of the glory that he should be receiving from the creature and therefore confession begins with this vertical perspective

35:23 give glory to the God of Israel and make confession unto him David understood this for he says in Psalm 51 in verse 4 those classic words upon the acknowledgement of his sin through the ministry of the prophet Nathan David pleads that God will have mercy to him that God will wash him and then he says in verse 4 of Psalm 51 against thee and thee only have I sinned and done that which is evil in thy sight that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest you see what he is saying

36:07 Lord I own my sin to the vindication of your character you have said that adultery is a vicious rejection of your authority Lord I now say that it is so I vindicate the glory and the rightness of the demands of your holy law and if on the other hand this is a solemn adjuration give glory to God that is Achan speak as in the presence of the God of Israel the God who knows you the God to whom you are accountable the God before whom all things are naked and open Achan it is the present realization

36:51 of the character of the God of Israel that will cause you to speak truth you see what is behind the practice of our courts of law of asking people to lay their hands upon the Bible and to say I swear to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth so help me God you see what is behind that it was a recognition of two things that the God of the Bible existed and the Bible existed because of that God that this book spoke truth and the God who gave that book of truth lived and I was accountable to him therefore this book that said every idle word that men shall speak they will give an account thereof was valid this book that said

37:36 thou shalt not bear false witness was the book of God that is the significance behind it the significance behind this matter of swearing upon the Bible the recognition that the only basis of truthfulness in human relationships was true biblical theism and acknowledgement of the doctrine of God as revealed in Holy Scripture and it is as much as saying if that won't secure a man's honesty nothing will that is the highest court if he jumps over that one there is nothing left now do you see why we are in the mess we are in? you see why we are in the mess we are in? liberal theologians denied the authority of that word so if you swear upon a Bible

38:20 it doesn't speak truth why should I speak truth? godless scientists twisted evidence coming out of the rocks and the stones and out of the strata of the various strata of earth twisted the evidence imposed upon it their own interpretation and they said the Bible is not trustworthy man is not accountable to God since he didn't come from God came from the pool of slime came from the monkey and then page of pagan educators said that through this whole matter of your conscience feeling right and wrong that's all been imposed upon you that's not inherent in you you come as a blank sheet is it no wonder when we come to Watergate hearings everybody's talking out of both sides of the mouth

39:04 and at the middle at the same time are you surprised? I'm not we've sown the wind and we're reaping the whirlwind God said it would be that way

39:16 you see God has so structured his world that man can't exist in it apart from the acknowledgement of the God who is and that principle is laid before us in this solemn charge that Joshua gives to Achan Achan! give glory to God speak as before his face as in his presence the God who knows you the God to whom you're accountable can you imagine what would happen if for one day that sense came home with power to the hearts of the leaders in government before Sam Irwin could ask another question he'd have a lot of confessing to do probably before Mr. Nixon made another speech

39:59 to explain everything he'd have a lot of confessing to do and before any one of those men probably without exception could ever open his mouth to bring an accusing finger to anyone else he'd be found beating his own breast crying out God be merciful to me the sinner and all the smooth talking educators and psychologists and so called theologians and philosophers who said man can make it without the God of this book God is saying alright do it if you can but don't say I didn't tell you the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations

40:43 that forget God they make their own hell and then God turns them into it oh how relevant is the word of God if you and I are to have honest dealings with God those dealings must begin in the vertical relationship the recognition that we are to give glory to God and make confession unto Him you know there's a form of Protestant Romanism if I may mix the terms the poor deluded Roman Catholic who goes to the Mass goes to confession Saturday nights as all my buddies used to do when I grew up they always behaved themselves

41:28 about four o'clock Saturday afternoon and all the foul language stopped and all the rest for one hour they went off to confession Saturday night and then they stayed in late Sunday morning because they knew if they got out playing with the guys and the rest the language would come out again went to Mass and then everything was alright till next Saturday at four o'clock do as you please talk as you please think as you please but it felt so good to go to the Father and tell Him Father I've sinned I did this this this and this alright you do this this and this and all this well again and that's in the heart of every one of us and there's a form and there's a form of self catharsis that comes when under the pain of a conscience condemning us for this sin or that sin we slip into the presence of God very carelessly and say oh God I've done this

42:12 I've done that and you've promised us if we confess our sins He's faithful and just and we slip out again feeling a little better and we've never given glory to God and made confession to Him we've never faced what our sin has done in robbing God of the glory of His omniscience the glory of His glory His majesty the glory of all His perfections that's not true confession that's a form of self absolution and God's not impressed with it though we may feel a little better the subsequent barrenness of our lives proves we haven't really met God we've gone to the motions of Roman Catholic confession

Conclusion: The Vertical Perspective of Confession and Its Relevance

42:56 instead of having the priests behind the black veil say my sins be forgiven me we've said it to ourselves the Holy Ghost never bears witness to God's gracious work of forgiveness and cleansing until the sinner's been brought to the place where he says with David in some degree of personal awareness against thee and thee only have I sinned and done that which is evil in thy sight now our time is gone so that I cannot treat the horizontal directives I'll just mention them and God willing we'll pick up the thought there tonight not only was Achan to give glory to God

43:39 and make confession to Him but there were two horizontal directives a positive tell me now what you have done and the negative hide it not from me the demand on the one hand for an immediate confession tell me now and the full confession hide it not from me and we shall attempt to answer why was this necessary and the answer will be to vindicate the dealings of God with His people and to demonstrate that the enormity of sin consists not in the thing committed but against in terms of the God against whom it has been committed but I want to close this morning on the sobering note of this charge to Achan

44:23 in terms of the vertical elements of it give glory to God and make confession to Him may I press a question upon every conscience here this morning have you ever ever in the whole history of your spiritual experience have you ever seen your sin as that which has robbed God of the glory due to Him from you as a creature made in His image now I know you viewed your sin as that which would ultimately land you in hell you viewed your sin as that which would ultimately be self-destructive but have you ever viewed it in such a light that you have been able to say

45:07 against the and the only have I sinned if not my friend it's doubtful it's doubtful that you've ever truly repented for repentance is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a due sense of his sin with grief and hatred thereof turns from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience due sense of sin dare we exclude as one of the irreducible ingredients

45:52 of that due sense the awareness that I've robbed God of glory my friend a day of judgment will be a manifestation of this very principle we hope to open that up tonight let me ask you a question if you are a Christian you say yes God has I know that I was brought to see my sin is not the transgression of some standards of my conscience or the mores of society but as violent rebellion against God have you maintained the sense of that in your walk with God or have you lost it you see the genuine grief of your sin

46:35 will be in due proportion as you keep up the sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin as robbing God of glory that's why you don't talk about little sins is it a little thing that says God though he is inherently glorious in his majesty in his perfections of love and justice that God I will not obey him but it's just a little point no you see we don't talk about little sins and every deflection from his holy law that is revealed to our hearts by the word and the spirit causes us to say against thee and thee only

47:20 have I sinned may God help us as his people to learn from Joshua's charge the nature of true confession in its vertical perspective it is a front and a front to the majesty of God and true confession alone restores to God from the heart of the sinner that glory which is due to his name that's why the gospel is everywhere in the scriptures the only basis upon which we can hope that God would be glorified in him in hearing and receiving our confession and grant mercy is that the Lord Jesus

48:04 has died to procure such for all who come unto God by him we can say God you're still glorious in your justice and yet glorious in your mercy by forgiving a sinner such as I because of what your son has done when we come to the thorny question of whether Achan's repentance was sincere I shall take the position it was not and one of the reasons we know it wasn't is no promise of mercy was attached to Joshua's charge and there was no evidence of a disposition of mercy in God's dealings with him but thank God I can give a charge that not only says give glory to God by owning your sin but give glory to God

48:49 by embracing the sin bearer give glory to God by confessing you will look nowhere else for pardon but to the one means means of pardon almighty God has extended in the person and work of his own beloved son let us pray oh God we confess this morning that it is a great part of our sin that we think so lightly of our sin we think so little

49:33 and so seldom of your glory your majesty the infinite perfections of your being oh God forgive us for our low thoughts of yourself which in turn have given birth to our low thoughts of sin may the charge that came from Joshua's lips to the ears of Achan come to us right now by the Holy Spirit as though you were speaking it through the lips of a Joshua to us Father we pray also that you will give us the spirit of the greater Joshua as we've seen it in Joshua

50:15 that compassion and tenderness even when dealing with a man who had caused so much grief and pain and shame to the nation Lord purge from our midst any of the spirit of carnal anger for you've said vengeance is mine I will repay the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God Lord take that spirit from our ranks we pray oh forgive us whenever we've looked upon those who justly deserve the sword of vengeance in the hands of the civil governor when we have looked upon them with personal rancor and have not been willing for Christ's sake to give our lives for their salvation

51:00 Lord pity us in our carnal and fleshly attitudes make us more like your son we pray and in our dealings one with another in the elders dealings with the flock of God when discipline must be executed and administered oh may the spirit of Joshua and the greater Joshua be evident in all of us we ask you now to seal the word that we've studied together that it may bring eternal profit to each one gathered here in this place today dismiss us now with your blessing and benediction resting upon us we plead through Jesus Christ

51:43 our Lord Amen