Joshua 7.1-26 – A Desire for Purity
1. The Need of Prayer
a. Joshua went to Ai and lost 36 men. This could have been prevented if they would have gone to God. I believe that God would have showed them the transgression prior to losing these warriors.
2Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
b. Could we say that not praying for something to contempt against God?
i. Contempt means “The act of despising; the act of viewing or considering and treating as mean, vile and worthless; disdain; hatred of what is mean or deemed vile. This word is one of the strongest expressions of a mean opinion which the language affords.”
c. When we don’t pray, what is that saying to God. (No action is an action)
d. The worst thing that could happen to us is that we look at our success and drive our life off that.
Familiarity breeds contempt – and children. –Mark Twain
2. Proper view of sin
a. In this chapter, we see a man that has disobeyed the command that was given to him.
Joshua 6:17-18 “And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.”
b. Do we say “I don’t smoke, drink, or chew or go with girls that do!” and justifying ourselves into thinking that we are “good”.
i. Better, we say, “I go to church 3 times a week and door knocking Saturday, I must be good.”
c. The problem is that we do not look at sin that way that we should and hence we do not get the blessings that God would want for us in our lives.
i. v12 “…could not stand before their enemies…”
ii. v13 “…canst not stand before thine enemies…”
d. Achan stole from God. Jericho was to be the firstfruits of their increase and Achan stole from God. (Exodus 33.39, 23.19, 34.26; Deuteronomy 26.2)
Proverbs 3:9 “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:”
e. The message in Acts with Ananias and Sapphira – struck dead because of lying.
3. Repentance when confronted
Joshua 7:20 “And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:”
a. How do you handle when someone is pointing out sin in your life…that you know is right? Achan should have know that death would become of this sin.
b. Do we focus more on the person delivering the message, or that God is trying to show us that your sin needs to be made right?
c. Numbers 32:23 “But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”
4. Sequence of Temptation
a. “I saw” – The lust of the eyes
b. “I coveted” – Gave his heart to something other than to God
c. “I took” – Something that was not his
James 1:14 “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”
James 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
In our lives, I do believe that we fail to realize the magnitude of our sin. I believe that we forget the weight that it puts on our lives.
We must remember that our sins will affect us physically and spiritually. They will affect our families, our business, and our Church.
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