Which of God’s red lights are you most likely to run? Certainly, His top ten red lights are found in the Old Testament book of Exodus, chapter 20 – the Ten Commandments.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” When you consider not just the surface understanding of the command but the richer meaning of it, this red light exists to stop us from making a god out of our career or our family or our church or our athletics or our reputation or anything else.
God’s red light.
“You shall not steal.” When you consider not just a shallow reading of this standard but the deeper approach to it, this red light is designed to keep us from failing to give the Lord what is due Him – our tithes and offerings, from wasting money on frivolous pursuits, from padding our expense accounts, and from cheating on our taxes.
God’s red light.
“You shall not commit adultery.” When you consider not just the letter of the law but the spirit of it, this red light also forbids viewing pornography, developing an emotional attachment to someone of the opposite sex other than your spouse, and having sex before marriage.
God’s red light.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” When you consider not just a simplistic interpretation of the demand but the fuller intent of it, this red light prohibits spreading gossip, passing along rumors, and having a critical spirit toward others.
God’s red lights. Which of God’s red lights are you most tempted to run?
Last summer and fall we studied the book of Daniel. In chapter 9, we learned that Daniel used seven different Hebrew words for sin. We defined each word and then asked you to call out the sins of our church that came to your mind as you thought about each of those seven definitions of sin.
We recorded your answers. And that has become the basis for this new series: Hunger for Holiness. Some one summed up our problem well by saying, “As a church, we are not pursuing holiness.” Another person said that as a church we are “ ‘dumbing down’ sin and pretending that our sin isn’t as bad as it really is.”
For the next few weeks, we are going to see what God’s Word has to say about how we can overcome these sins you’ve identified as problems in our church. Last fall…
We asked: “How have we missed the way?”
You said: “We have turned to worldly pleasures to meet our needs.”
We asked: “How have we behaved in a bent/distorted/crooked way?”
You said: “We are guilty of worldliness and compromise.”
We asked: “How have we failed to live righteously?”
You said: “We are too conformed to the world.”
We asked: “How have we “gotten off track” and failed to follow God?
You said: “We compromise God with worldly priorities.”
We asked: “How have we passed beyond the line God has drawn?
You said: “We compromise His commands.”
Is there any doubt that worldliness and compromise are problems for us? There’s a lot of red light running going on! In the pages of the Old Testament in the book of Joshua we find a story – a rather frightening story – about how worldliness and compromise really hurt the people of God and brought on God’s judgement.
Let me set the stage. Then we’ll pray and begin our study.
God’s people were entering into the Promised Land after the Exodus from Egypt. But first they had to fight for the land. The first battle west of the Jordan River was at Jericho. To display His power, God asked the people not to fight, but to march around the city walls and watch God win the battle.
So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.
Joshua 6:20
Now God had given them very strict instructions to leave the possessions of the conquered people alone. He set up a red light.
The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD… Keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD."
Joshua 6:17-20
Don’t take anything. That was clear. But worldliness and compromise caused one man to run God’s red light.
But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the LORD burned against the sons of Israel.
Joshua 7:1
Today, I want you to learn three lessons from his sin that ought to burn a healthy fear of God into our souls. Next week we’ll finish our study with 4 more lessons.
(Prayer)
Running God’s red light…
1. … can happen after a win.
The people of God had just experienced a great victory. The walls of Jericho had come tumbling down. God had done the miraculous for them. You would think that all God’s people would have been motivated to be extra obedient to keep the blessings coming.
But one man, as a direct result of the victory, compromised. Maybe Achan thought, “God is really on our side. Look how good He is to us. He won’t mind too much if I disobey just a little.” Perhaps his fatal mistake was presuming on God’s grace.
Listen. Never is the believer in greater danger of a fall than after a victory. We are so prone to drop our guard. We can start thinking that God owes us success. And we cut corners in our spiritual lives. Someone said, “Every time you win a victory, it is an invitation for a full-scaled attack from the enemy of our souls.”
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
I Corinthians 10:12
A.W. Tozer once said, “An unguarded strength is a double weakness.”
You are flying high. Good things are happening in your life. And you get arrogant and comfortable and careless. Pretty soon, you’ve run God’s red light.
We must remember that one victory never guarantees the next. Victories aid us only they build our confidence in the Lord and develop our wisdom in appropriating God’s Word.
When we experience victory in our spiritual lives, that should be a time for humility, prayer, and renewed commitment to Christ.
Running God’s red light…
… can happen after a win. v. 1
2. … puts others in great danger. vv. 2-9
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 They returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few."
4 So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai.
5 The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Notice what’s happening here. The spies are saying, “We don’t need a full army to win this battle. Just send a few thousand men over there. This should be easy.” But it wasn’t. Not only did they lose the battle, but 36 soldiers lost their lives. What should have been an easy victory turned into defeat.
Joshua can’t figure it out. A few days ago, we just defeated a fortified city. And now a rag-tag army from Ai whipped us.
6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
7 Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord GOD, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan!
8 "O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?
9 "For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?"
Joshua doesn’t know what to do. So, he does what all good men and women of God ought to do when they don’t know what to do. He gathered his leaders and they all humbled themselves and prayed, “Your reputation is at stake here, Lord! What are you going to do?”
10 So the LORD said to Joshua, "Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?
11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.
12 Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. Rise up!
God says, “Get up. This is not complicated, Joshua. Israel ran My red light. That’s why you lost a battle you should have won. Get up.”
Don’t miss this. God held the whole nation responsible. The Lord viewed the nation as a unit. The sin of Achan affected the whole community of God.
Alan Redpath, a British Bible teacher, says this:
Now mark well a lesson here for all time. What actually had happened? One man had stolen property which belonged to God, had taken of the spoils of victory that were to be set apart for the Lord. One individual in the camp had betrayed God’s trust, and the verdict from heaven was not, "Achan has sinned," but "Israel has sinned." One man had failed, and the whole army was defeated. You see, the children of Israel were a nation-they were brought to redemption ground as one…
Now, this is not just true for Israel in the Old Testament. This is also true for the church today. That’s the point Paul is makes in I Corinthians 5. He’s talking about the effect of one man’s immorality upon the entire church.
Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened.
I Corinthians 5:6, 7
One believer who is living in sin or two believers who are out of fellowship with God or a few believers who are pursuing personal agendas can cause defeat for a whole congregation. And it’s not a defeat that has come from the devil, but from God Himself.
How you live your life in secret affects this church. Why? The church is a body and what happens in one part of the body affects the rest of the body. Could it be that we aren’t moving forward as rapidly as we dreamed we would because there is sin in the camp? Could your secret sin be limiting God’s blessing? The sin of one member affects the blessings and fellowship of the whole body.
I do not want to face the Lord on Judgement Day and hear Him say, “I had many more blessings that I wanted to pour out upon My church but I could not do so because of your sin.”
Listen carefully. It’s not just our sinful actions that can bring God’s judgement on a church body. Our sinful attitudes can, too.
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled, that there be no immoral or godless person…
Hebrews 12:15-16
We might be hurt by a decision. We might be disappointed in a person. We might disagree with a direction. If we aren’t careful, the hurt and the disappointment and the disagreement can turn into bitterness. And when that root springs up, it causes trouble. It’s an infection that spreads throughout the whole body defiling many others in the body. I can’t quite see the connection yet. But according to the verse, this type of bitterness is related to immorality and godlessness. God says, “See to it that you do not come short of the grace of God in this way! See to it!”
I repeat. I do not want to face the Lord on Judgement Day and hear Him say, “I had many more blessings that I wanted to pour out upon My church but I could not do so because of your sin.”
No one sins alone. Whatever I do has an effect on the people around me even if they don’t know that I’m doing it. A church family can be defeated by the malignancy of one person’s un-dealt-with sin. There can be no true success in our Christian life as long as sin is tolerated. Sin in our lives must be dealt with.
Running God’s red light…
… puts others in great danger.
3. … will not go unnoticed. vv. 13-18
One verse I remember learning in my childhood was this one: “Be sure your sins will find you out.” It’s in Numbers 32:23. This story bears out that truth – big time!
Consecrate the people and say, ’Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, "There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst." In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the LORD takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which the LORD takes shall come near by households, and the household which the LORD takes shall come near man by man. It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’"
God is saying, “The reason for the defeat is not because I am no longer faithful. I’m not the problem. There’s unconfessed sin in the camp.” Then the Lord gives Joshua a plan to find out who has sinned.
So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. He brought his household near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken.
“Be sure your sins will find you out.” Because God had decided it was time to expose the sin, it only took a few minutes. Achan’s sin wasn’t secret any more.
How long is it going to be before God decides that it’s time to expose your sin? The Bible teaches that one day the secret sins of life are going to be brought to light at the final judgment. But it does not always take that long for sin to be exposed.
"There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”
Luke 12:2-3
Running God’s red light…
… will not go unnoticed. vv. 10-18
Why did God want this story recorded in the Bible? He wanted us to see the bankruptcy of seeking to find delight in anything other then in Him. Achan’s problem was not that he wanted happiness and pleasure. His problem was that He sought happiness and pleasure in the wrong things.
God is not a cosmic killjoy! He is not pleased when we are miserable. He wants us to pursue pleasure in life. He doesn’t want to withhold happiness from us.
Achan must not have really believed that. He was not convinced that waiting on God to meet his needs was the best way to find true and lasting joy. Achan’s sin was not trusting that God would provide for his future. So, he took things into his own hands.
This story is in the Bible to teach us not to compromise, not to look to this world to find our supreme joy. It is recorded to teach us to seek, with all our might, the greatest possible satisfaction in God.
We are foolish people. We don’t pursue pleasure hard enough. We settle for the cheap trinkets of this world thinking that they will give us joy. They won’t. They can’t. God is crying out to us: “Don’t’ run My red lights. Instead, pursue a joy superior to anything that this world can offer.” It is impossible to pursue happiness with too much passion. We run red lights when we pursue happiness where it cannot be lastingly found or when we pursue it in the right direction with compromising hearts.
What stops us from running God’s red light is our faith in the true promise that the pleasures of sin are passing and poisonous, but at God’s right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Let’s be very practical.
• I must believe that honoring God by staying faithful to my spouse will give me more lasting joy than the temporary excitement of adultery.
• I must believe that honoring God by spending my time in Christian fellowship will give me more enduring satisfaction than the fleeting thrill of partying with the ungodly.
• I must believe that honoring God by reading the Word and kneeling in prayer will give me more persistent delight than the momentary titillation from pornography.
• I must believe that honoring God by being content with my status in life give me more continuing gladness than the short-lived elation that comes from my career accomplishments.
Listen carefully. I quote from John Piper. “The problem with our love for happiness is never that it is too great. The main problem is that it flows in the wrong channels toward the wrong objects, because our nature is corrupt and in desperate need of regeneration by the Holy Spirit.”
This simply means that if you are having a problem loving God more than loving sin, then you need to be born again.
***
4. … steals God’s glory. v. 19
What comes next was very interesting to me this week. We learn that there is a connection between confession and the glory of God.
Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me."
Joshua 7:19
Every Christian ought to passionate about giving God glory. We exist to honor God. Because of the way we as individuals live our lives and because of the way we operate as a church, we want God Himself to be known and honored by those inside and outside our church. That’s why we depend on God to accomplish things that would be impossible apart from His supernatural intervention. We care about honoring God.
God’s glory was important to the people in Joshua’s day, too. God’s fame had spread throughout the land because of the victory at Jericho. But now the people had experienced a shameful defeat. God was dishonored in that defeat. The reputation of God was at stake.
Now, think with me. God could have given His people victory in spite of the sin. Why didn’t He? To do that would have required Him to violate His own character and holiness. How could He give victory to a flagrantly disobedient people? Never forget this: God it too holy to bless our sin. You can’t get the good stuff from the Lord while holding on to the bad stuff from the world.
Therefore, the people of God were defeated and God was not glorified in the defeat. So, Joshua calls on Achan to confess his sin – to come clean – so God would be freed to display His grace in giving victory once again to His people. And when God’s people win, then God gets the glory.
Hiding our sin always steals from the glory of God.
• It minimizes His holiness.
• It disguises the reason for His display of justice.
• It conceals why He has withheld a demonstration of His power.
• It depreciates the value of his moral standards.
• It confirms that our agenda is more important that His.
Hiding our sin always steals from the glory of God.
Stated positively, confessing our sin always honors Him.
• It exalts His holiness.
• It explains the reason for His display of justice.
• It shows why He has withheld a demonstration of His power.
• It proclaims that we are submitting to His moral standards.
• It proves that his agenda is more important than our own.
Confessing our sin always honors God.
God has charged me to say to you today, “My brothers and sisters, I beg you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and confess now what you have done. Do not hide it!”
Running God’s red light…
… steals God’s glory. v. 19
5. … happens when a look lingers. vv. 20, 21
So Achan answered Joshua and said, "Truly, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of
Israel, and this is what I did…
Joshua 7:20
What follows are…
The 4 fatal steps to compromise and worldliness v. 21
• I look
When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight…
We fail to commit ahead of time to do the right thing. We underestimate the power of evil and flirt with dangerous temptations. And then we are exposed to far more powerful evils. We fail to recognize the numerous forms of compromise that lurk at every corner of life.
• I want
… then I coveted them…
We neglect to recognize the smooth flatteries and enticing fantasies of temptations. We succumb to slick rationalizations.
• I take
… and took them…
We make a sudden, deliberate choice to give in to sin.
• I hide
… and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.
We underestimate the costly consequences of sin.
God could do as He chose with the spoils. If Achan had waited, only a few days he could have had God’s very best, instead of suffering the wages of sin.
You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves.
Joshua 8:2
You see, the key to battle our tendency to run God’s red lights is battle unbelief and to keep the fire of faith in God’s promises hot. The power of sin is the false promise that it will bring more happiness than holiness will bring. Not so!
Do you have some things under ban?
In I John 2:15-16 John uses cosmos to describe all forces antagonistic to our spiritual lives.
"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world."
A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, The naive proceed and pay the penalty.
Proverbs 27:12
It pictures human society organized on wrong principles and characterized by base desires, false values and egoism. We live in a pagan society with its false values and false gods. It describes our human nature apart from and in opposition to the LORD God. It is all too easy for us to have things under "ban" because of the temptations from our society.
Running God’s red light…
… happens when a look lingers.
6. … will cause you to pay a price. vv. 22-25
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it.
23 They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the LORD.
24 Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.
25 Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
Now, that is a harsh story. Personally, I do not believe that the children were stoned in this episode. If you have a New American Standard Bible, you will notice that a literal reading of the Hebrew is "they stoned him," and "they burned them", i.e., the various stolen items, and the things that belonged to Achan--his cattle, household goods, etc. But we have a statement in the law, in the book of Deuteronomy, that the children were not to be slain for the sins of their fathers. I cannot believe that God would command this in one instance, and then abrogate the command in another, unless the children somehow are implicated in the crime. We do not know for certain, but it appears that Achan himself was the only one who was stoned. Still, this is a very difficult thing to understand, unless we see God’s attitude toward sin. The alternative was that Achan would live a life of defeat, and that God’s people would be destroyed. This is why they had to act so decisively, so completely.
There is a sin unto death according to 1 John 5:16. There is a sin that has death as its consequence (1 Cor 11:30; 5:5). I seriously think it has to do with sinning against the body of Christ. God will not tolerate it any longer in the body so He removes the person. "The sin which is going towards death," the sin whose end is death; the sin which if continued in, must finish in death. How tragic when a Christian will not deal with sin in their lives and God removes them prematurely. Now I am not saying that if someone dies prematurely, or suddenly or tragically that it is the sin unto death. Only God knows when that happens. If I die suddenly today, don’t run out of here saying Pounds committed the sin unto death! Yes, there is a sin unto death. It is serious business. All sin in the believer’s life is serious. It is tragic when we don’t take it seriously.
There is a sin leading to death.
I John 5:16
Many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
I Corinthians 11:30
I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh.
I Corinthians 5:5
Probably the most glaring example in the history of the church is the sin of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). Their pride provoked the lie against the Holy Spirit. They acted as though they had given all. They played the part of the hypocrite, lied, pretended, sham, phony. The judgment pictured here is exactly what happens in a believer’s life when he indulges in pretense. The moment we pretend we are something we immediately cut off the Spirit–controlled life. We become dead, unresponsive to the Spirit. We put on a veil and death takes over. God wants us to be honest, open and transparent in our relationship with Him. The only solution is to confess it to God and repent. In the church at Jerusalem, "A great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things" (v. 11). "The sin of one member of a community had an effect upon the whole community and especially upon that person’s family" (Richard Hess).
Things would have been different if Achan had dealt with the sin properly. He was deceitful. He hid his sin. For the past eighteen months, we have had a glaring example in our nation of how not to deal with sin. Let’s not let it be a model for us as individuals. There is only one way to deal with sin in our lives. Acknowledge it, confess it to God, claim the blood of Jesus to remove it and receive His forgiveness.
Running God’s red light…
… will cause you to pay a price.
7. … leaves a lousy legacy. v. 26
26 They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day.
A pile of stones was placed over Achan. These stones served as a monument so everyone would remember why he was executed and buried.
Running God’s red light…
… leaves a lousy legacy.
Eventually we have to deal with sin in our lives. Sin must be judged. Sin must be dealt with either by 1 John 1:9 or 2 Corinthians 5:10. As long as willful rebellion against God is tolerated in our personal lives, there can be no success in our Christian life. We have to eradicate sin in order to grow in our relationship with God. We can not receive His full blessing unless we radically deal with sin in our lives. I am not saying we will be perfect in this life, but I am saying we have to deal with it in our personal lives. We have to confront it and confess it and receive God’s forgiveness and renew our fellowship with Him. It is essential for our Spirit–controlled walk. Only after sin has been dealt with do we have the power to win (Eph. 6:13).
This is one of those cases when God acts in harsh judgement. Don’t hate this God in Joshua 7. He is the same God here as He is when He healed the blind… Most of the time, we see a display of the patience and grace of God as He views our sin. But we can never take it for granted.
God is watching in love and seeking to correct us where we need it. We need to make room for failures, and discover God’s grace in time of need.
Are you going through some valley of Achor? Are you going through a valley of trouble? What is God trying to teach you? Is there an Achan concealed somewhere? Then there is grace for you today.
There is no reason for anyone reading this message going away feeling condemned and unclean. There is forgiveness for you today. You can claim it right now this very moment. Jesus is ready to forgive you of whatever sin you have committed. Assume your responsibility, and confess it to Him.
The door of hope
The place where the execution took place, the Valley of Achor, shows up again later on in the life of the nation, in the writings of the prophet Hosea. Hosea is a book about troubled relationships. In it God is totally estranged from the nation. And Hosea’s relationship with his wife Gomer is broken because she is unfaithful to him. Hosea goes after her to bring her home, to win her again, to set right that troubled relationship. Eventually, Hosea is forced to use very strong measures, as God does with us to discipline us, to confront us with issues in our lives. But listen to what God says through the prophet. This is the Lord speaking to his people Israel (2:14-15):
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness [where the relationship began, at Mount Sinai],
and speak tenderly to her [speak to her heart].
And there I will give her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt."
The Valley of Achor in the memory of the nation Israel became a proverbial expression for the good results of discipline in the life of the people.
Israel went on from the Valley of Achor to conquer Ai. We’ll see that in chapter 8. And then it took only seven short years to complete the conquest of Canaan. Continuing victory grew out of the difficult experience they had at Ai and then at Achor. What appeared to be a great disaster was a learning experience for the whole nation. In Hosea’s words, it became a door of hope, a door of expectation. They entered into a renewed relationship with God.
The good news today is that we can experience the same thing if we’re willing to let God put his finger on those areas of our life where we are consciously resisting his will; and bring them out into the light, put them to death, repent of them, receive full forgiveness, and then go on in his power with hope for the future.
