Sin Blocks Revival

July 8, 2012

Morning Worship

Text: Joshua 8:1-26

Subject: Sin

Title: Sin Blocks Revival

As this church moves into the promise that God has given us I want to continue to teach about things that are beneficial to us if we want to see the revival He has promised. I believe that the season that God is leading us into is a season of pronounced holiness where the Holy Spirit will minister to each one about the weaknesses in our lives and show us things that we need to change – and that not in our own power but with His power. What I am talking about is sin in your life. You know we try to sugar – coat sin by calling it a mistake or weaknesses. We try to blame sin on the devil or other people. The truth is the only person responsible for sin in your life is you. The early church father Augustine wrote this, Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him.

The ultimate root of sin is pride. Sin tells God, “I think I know what is better for me in this area.” Now I am saying this not only for your benefit, but also for the benefit of the whole church, because sin in an individual can keep the whole church from receiving what God has promised.

I want to preface what I am going to say today by giving some background to our text. Moses has died. Joshua has miraculously brought Israel into the Promised Land and has supernaturally captured the city of Jericho. God’s plan was to dedicate everything in the city as a sacrifice. Every living thing in Jericho was to be destroyed as a reminder of that supernatural power that was at work for them. Joshua 6:24, Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’S house. Do you see that? The valuables were supposed to be dedicated to God. That was the whole plan.

The purpose for the sermon today is to bring you to the understanding that sin does not only affect the sinner, but others will be touched by your sin as well. I want you to listen carefully today and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you as we share these scriptural principles with you.

Read Joshua 7:1-26

I believe this is God’s word…

I believe it is for me…

I accept it as mine…

And I appropriate it to my life today…

1. The sin of one man… 1But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel. How does sin happen? Did Achan just go into Jericho and start picking stuff up and carrying it away? No, according to James 1:13-15, 13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. It was premeditated. It was greed. I can imagine that Achan couldn’t wait for Jericho to fall so he could help himself to the goods. But, you see, it wasn’t just that he took the things. It was what he took that was important. He took the things that were supposed to go into the sanctuary treasury. It was devoted to God. Now, here is the really important thing I want you to get. God did not look at this as just the sin of one man. 1But the Israelites acted unfaithfully… So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel. Achan’s sin was held against the nation. You can look at sin and call it what you want. Sin is disobedience. Sin encompasses many things. As I said before, maybe it is greed. It really is a lack of faith. God promised that He would give everything into Israel’s hands but Achan wanted to make sure he got his share. OK. Let’s stop a minute and evaluate what I’m talking about. The sin of one man was held against a nation. How does that apply to the church? God has told us that His intention is to bring the greatest revival we have ever seen in this church. 1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Is your praise of God contrary to your life? If you have sin in your life how can you praise Him? If there is unrepentant sin in the church, how can we expect God to take us into the holy land? If there is, how can we expect God to heal? If there is sin (rebellion) how can we call ourselves a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…?