The sermon discusses the story of Achan from Joshua chapter 7, where Achan's sin of taking accursed items leads to God's anger against Israel, resulting in military defeat and loss of life. The speaker emphasizes that sin affects not only the individual but the community, urging believers to recognize the far-reaching consequences of sin. The sermon calls for waging a war on wishful thinking, understanding the defiling nature of sin, and being vigilant against presumptuous or defiant sins. It highlights the need for accountability within the family, government, and church, emphasizing that sin earns a curse, and God's anger must be satisfied. The sermon contrasts Achan's story with that of Rahab, illustrating God's grace and the opportunity for redemption through repentance and faith. It underscores the importance of understanding God's justice and mercy, warning against complacency in sin and urging continuous repentance and belief in the gospel.

Joshua chapter 7. But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things for Achan the son of Carmi the son of Zabdi the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah took of the accursed things. So the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-Avon, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the country. So the men went up and spied out Ai, and they returned to Joshua and said to him, Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai.

Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few. So about 3, 000 men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai struck down about 36 men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebram, and struck them down on the descent. Therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.

And Joshua said, Alas, Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all? To deliver us into the hand of the Amorites? To destroy us? Oh, that we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies?

For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will you do for your great name?' So the Lord said to Joshua, Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, for they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived, and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies because they have become doomed to destruction.

Neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the accursed things from among you. Get up, sanctify the people, and say, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel, there is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes shall come according to families, and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.

So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the clan of Judah and he took the family of the Zarehites and he brought the family of the Zarehites man by man and Zabdi was taken. Then he brought the household, man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, the tribe of Judah, was taken. Now Joshua said to Achan, My son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to him and tell me now what you have done Do not hide it from me and Achan answered Joshua and said indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and this is what I have done When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth, in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord. Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zarah the silver the garment the wedge of gold his sons his daughters His oxen his donkeys his sheep his tent and all that he had and they brought them to the valley of Acre and Joshua said why have you troubled us The Lord will trouble you this day. So all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day.

So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Acre to this day." title of the sermon this morning is, What Should We Do With The Sin of Achan? I spent two weeks here completing a section by section explanation of the text. I'm not going to spend any time at all on explaining the text. We already did that.

Surely God wants us to do something with this text. Not just study it as if we were in a math class and move on. We're taking a Sunday now to consider what should we do with the truths in the text. How should our thinking be shaped by what God has set before us here. How should our actions be shaped, both individually and corporately.

There's individual application here and there's corporate application here as certainly as there was corporate application for all of Israel in the text. Of course we've been doing some of that talking about application in the last couple of weeks and I don't intend to try to re-say all of that. I'm really trying to get at things that didn't naturally come out of the things I was already saying over the last couple of weeks. So I just want to just continue to develop the observations and implications and applications of the truths in the text. And I'm really going to work hard to convince you that though the exact words I might be saying aren't in the text, that what is in the text makes these things true.

And we just can't wiggle out of them being implications that flow from the truths in the text. So that's my job. You'll do the judging on that. That's what I'm going to try to do today, is to convince you that we can't wiggle out of any of these implications from the truths in the text. Let's ask God to help us.

God, we do want to be shaped, to be reshaped from images that are warped and disfigured in certain ways to certain extents. And to be shaped into the perfect image that is before us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know texts like Joshua chapter 7 can help reshape away from the disfigurement that we have in our own nature be more like Jesus. Oh, please shape our thinking, please shape our lives with these truths. I pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, Observations, implications, and applications from Joshua chapter 7. I'm going to give you 11, I hate long lists. I think this is probably a violation of that principle. I think the reason why I hate long lists is my own need for simplicity makes me just revolt against long lists because I get lost if they're too long. But this it is what it is.

11 observations implications and applications number one. Our sense of who our sins might hurt doesn't count for anything. Our sense of who our sins might hurt or who might be spared from the result of our sins is worth nothing. We don't determine that. And we might not even have a good guess.

Do you think Aiken had a good guess? God will not allow us to have that level of control. God decides who and how. God decides who will be affected by my sins and how they will be affected. And I'm not even in a particularly good place to predict it.

So I shouldn't act like I am or think like I am. Question, and the answer is so obvious that it's really rhetorical. Would Aiken have taken the accursed things if he'd have known what would happen to himself? If he'd have known that he would be stoned, put with all his possessions, and burned? The answer, of course, is no, he wouldn't have.

Would Achan have taken the accursed things if he didn't know what would have happened to his sons and daughters? No, of course not. Would Achan have taken the accursed things if he'd have known what would have happened to his sons and daughters. No, of course not. Would Achan have taken the accursed things if he had known that 36 men would die in combat because he took the accursed things?

No, of course he wouldn't have. But listen, God warned Achan. Where? In Deuteronomy 28 and other places that have already been written in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, he had them and God said if you won't obey me your armies will come out against your enemies one way and be put to flight seven ways. God told Achan and his brethren that.

By extension, God warned us. Achan just didn't believe God. Achan thought he would chance it. Will we believe God? He has told me that my sin doesn't just affect me.

He told you that your sin doesn't just affect you. Why won't you believe him? Will you accuse him of injustice when your sins affect others in your life that you love in ways that you never anticipated after God told you? Friends, this was the sin that wouldn't hurt anyone else. The owners of the Babylonian garment and the gold and the silver are dead.

God judged the inhabitants of Jericho. He wiped them out and there's no one to complain that Achan took the garment, that Achan took the gold, that Achan took the silver. There's no one to complain. We should settle it in our minds that if this sin isn't the sin that doesn't hurt anyone else, that there is no such thing. Satisfy yourself.

If there's a sin that won't hurt anyone else, this is the one. This should be the poster child for a sin that won't hurt anyone else. The owners will never breathe another breath. We shouldn't think that this is all or nothing, or in this case death or nothing. Our sins affect others in ways that we may never detect.

Is it possible that my sins that my family doesn't know about still affects my families in ways that they can't detect? Of course it's possible. Of course that's true! My pride, my selfishness, my coldness of heart affects them in ways that they can't quantify or even detect, But it affects them. It affects you.

You affect me. That's number one. Our sense of who our sins might hurt doesn't count for anything. It has no value. You are not in position to judge those things.

You are not in control of those things. There are not sins that don't affect others. It only seems that way to us. Number two. Wage war against all wishful thinking.

Wage a holy war, a jihad against all wishful thinking. There is no such thing as secrecy. You cannot control sin. And you are unable to know in advance the exact results of your sin. When I think that my sin is secret, that's wishful thinking.

God knows it, and God can reveal it at any time and in a thousand ways. When I think that I can control my sin, play with sin, manage sin. That is wishful thinking. It's not true. It starts that way, but sin isn't a servant, it's a master.

You will serve that master that you thought you could play with and manage and control. It will control and manage and play with you. When I think that I am able to know and advance the exact results of my sin, I've forgotten all about Joshua chapter 7. It just doesn't fit the Bible data. Death to wishful thinking.

Let that be your motto. Death to wishful thinking. Because your wishful thinking will destroy you. Identify it and kill it. Learn to detect it.

Learn to detect those whispers of wishful thinking which will lead you into destruction and put them to death. What about this one? What about this one? I'll forsake this sin tomorrow. J.C.

Ryle says tomorrow is the devil's day. The devil loves tomorrow. He'll have you serve God tomorrow. He'll have you forsake your sins tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes you'll promise that you'll do it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

Jesus said, amputate today. Take radical action today. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away. Because we will never kill sin until we are convinced it can't wait till tomorrow. It can't wait.

It's too urgent to wait until tomorrow. That's number two. Wage war against all wishful thinking. Identify it and kill it. Number three, never forget this teaching of Scripture, sin is defiling.

The Genesis to Revelation testimony of scripture, every book of the Bible in between, is that sin is defiling. It does not stay isolated. It defiles everything it comes into contact with. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 1533, Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good character. Good habits.

Evil company corrupts good habits. I was quoting a different translation. Oh wait, I thought good habits reformed evil character. That's not what the Bible says. That's not what Paul says.

You might think that's true, but that's contrary to what's in the text. Listen to Haggai 2 11-14. I'm just going to read it because it would take you several minutes to find Haggai because you don't know where it is either. Haggai 2, 11-14. Thus says the Lord of hosts.

Now ask the priest concerning the law saying if one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and with the edge he touches bread or stew wine or oil or any food will it become holy?" And the priest answered and said, no. So God through the prophet says, ask the priest this question about the law. So they're carrying holy meat, meat that was sacrificed, and that the priest, but only the priest, are allowed to eat because it is consecrated to God, and it is to be provision for the priest. So if the holy meat comes into contact with something that's common, does it magically make the common things holy? And the priests answer from the law correctly, nope, that's not how it works.

It doesn't make those common things holy. Then we continue. And Haggai said, if one who was unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?" So the priest answered and said, it shall be unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, so is this people and so is this nation before me, says the Lord, and so is every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean. He goes back he gives them a second question from the law.

If someone touches a dead body they become ceremonially unclean, ceremonially defiled. It says okay. So now someone who's in that condition touches one of those common things. Does it defile it? And the answer according to the law is yes, it defiles it.

So the holy things coming in contact with a common thing doesn't make it holy, but a defiled thing coming into contact with a common thing defiles it. God says to Israel, you're just like that. You come, you do these holy things with your defiled hands. Everything you touch is defiled. All of your worship is defiled.

Their religious worship didn't purify sin. In other words, I'm sinful, I'm persisting in my sin, I'm gonna go do religious things. Does it purify you? No! Your defilement defiles the worship.

Why doesn't God seem Why doesn't God seem to be present in so much of the American church? Why is there so much talk and so little power? Because our clear and persistent disobedience defiles our worship and God has withdrawn. He's not with us when we persist in clear disobedience and we won't repent. He'll leave you with the talk and without the power.

Joshua chapter 7 verse 12, neither will I be with you anymore unless you destroy the cursed from among you. I won't be with you. I won't go with you against your enemies. That was number three. Never forget this teaching of scripture.

Sin is defiled. Sin is defiling. Sin is defiling. Number four. Guard against all sin and be extra vigilant against presumptuous sin.

So all sin is to be guarded against, but we have a need to be extra vigilant to identify and root out presumptuous sin. Many of the old dead guys that we love and read called it, sinning with a high hand. And They got that from Numbers 15. Listen to Numbers 15 verses 30 and 31. Presumptuous sin.

Presuming that it doesn't matter. Presuming that God doesn't know or doesn't care. Presuming that God won't react against that sin. Presumptuous sin. The old dead guys that we love called it sinning with a high hand because of numbers 15, listen to verses 30 and 31.

Numbers 15, 30 and 31. And this is in the midst of a section about sacrifice for sin, blood sacrifice for sin, sin offerings and burnt offerings and trespass offerings and peace offerings to turn away the anger of God against sin and then this in Numbers 15, 30, and 31. But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment. That person shall be completely cut off, his guilt shall be upon him.

So, there's sacrifice for sin, but when you sin with a high hand, presumptuously, presuming that God doesn't see or doesn't care, presuming that God won't act, there's no sacrifice for that. The NASB here translates it instead of presumptuously, defiantly. It literally means with a raised hand. Sending over here, don't care. Don't care that you know.

Don't care that you see. Joshua said, Do not touch the accursed things, or you'll become accursed. And Achan dared God to do it. That is presumptuous sin. He didn't raise his hand among his neighbors, just to God.

Taking of the accursed things over here. Don't think you'll see it, or if you see it, don't think you'll care. Don't think you'll do anything about it. Achan, dare God. Even though nobody around him knew, what had he done?

Friends, If you have a sin like that, get clear of it today. Do not let the day end without getting clear of it. Oh fear God, I beg you to fear God. You cannot raise your hand and say, God I don't think you see it or if you do see it I don't think you care or if you care I don't think you'll do anything about this. For your own sake get clear.

It's number four guard against all sin and be extra vigilant against presumptuous sin or defiant sin. It's a good way to translate that, defiant. With a raised hand, high-handed sin against God. Number five, Mark and reject the voice that says that God is stingy. Mark it.

I know what that is. And reject. I'm not listening to that voice. The voice that says that God is Stingy. That is the voice from the garden.

That is the voice from Genesis chapter 3. God indeed say, you can't have that good looking fruit. You will not surely die. God knows you'll become like Him. He just doesn't want you to become like Him.

He wants to Keep these good things to himself. He's depriving you. Be really happy if you have that fruit. Learn to identify that voice and to know whose voice it is, and to reject it when you hear it. God is not keeping us from anything good.

You have to learn to believe that. Our natural inclinations are saying something different. God's keeping you back from something good. You should sneak it on the side. He's keeping us for something good.

He's keeping us for the things that are best. And you will not have them if you indulge in these cheap thrills. You'll never taste of the best things if you can't hold back from the cheap thrills. He's not keeping you from the good things Because He's stingy. He's keeping you for the best things.

Because He's good. That's true. That's what the Bible teaches. That's number five. Mark and reject the voice that says that God is stingy.

He is not stingy. He's the furthest thing from stingy. He's so open handed. He gave His Son that you could have all the best things. Number six.

Let this exception give you a right understanding of the rule. Let this exception, Joshua chapter 7, and God's dealings with Achan, let that give you a right understanding of the rule. Here's my question for you. Is Achan the exception or the rule? Here's how you answer that question.

Have I ever seen and then coveted and then taken and then hidden? Ever done that? Right? That's the progression that we see in the text. He saw, he coveted, He took, He hid.

Just like Adam and Eve. Saw, coveted, took, hid. Just like David. Saw, coveted, took, hid. It's the age-old recipe for disaster.

Have I ever done that? Yes. Has God ever treated me like that? Meaning that resulted, I'm stoned, burned with all my stuff, my family? No.

Then Achan's the exception and not the rule. God gives us the exception so We don't draw the wrong conclusions from the rule. If God didn't ever make an exception and just give the wages of sin on the spot, You would draw all the wrong conclusions from that. God doesn't see. God doesn't care.

God won't act. Listen to 2 Peter. This is exactly the argument that Peter makes in 2 Peter 2 verses 4 through 9. Listen as I read 2 Peter 2 verses 4 through 9. Peter says, For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment, and did not spare the ancient world but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly, and turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemning them to destruction, making them an example of those who afterward would live ungodly, and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked.

For that righteous man dwelling among them tormented his righteous soul from day to day, seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. Peter lists it. He lists exceptions. Learn from the angels.

They sinned against God, rebelled against God, and were cast out of heaven. They are reserved from the day of judgment. He cast them into hell to be reserved for the Day of Judgment. How many times do you know that among the angels? Just once.

Learn from the flood. How many global floods do you know about? You know about one. Learn from Sodom and Gomorrah. How many cities do you know that were wiped off of the face of the earth with fire and brimstone?

You know about Sodom and Gomorrah. The reason you know about it is it's the exception and not the rule. Learn from them. They're the example to teach the ungodly that these things, these exceptions are just a little taste of what is coming in the Great Judgment when all the wrongs will be righted. God is patient.

Yes, God is long-suffering. Yes, God is merciful. Yes, God is gracious. Yes, God is loving. Yes, don't you dare draw the wrong conclusions from those true things.

All that is so true and you can draw the wrong conclusion. Nothing's ever going to happen to me. Another exception, Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira. They sell the land. It was theirs before they sold it.

The money was theirs after they sold it. They could have done anything with that money. They could have given some or all or none of that money. But they lied about it. They said they had given all of it when they held back a portion for themselves.

God judged them. Have you ever lied about anything? Did God kill you on the spot? So that's an exception, not the rule. Here's what we read at the end of that account.

Acts chapter 5 verse 11, so great fear came upon all the church And upon all who heard these things, and I'll bet it did, I'll bet the ears of the people in Jerusalem were tingling when they heard that. Praise God that God caused His church to fear Him. These exceptions teach us that the patience of God doesn't mean there's a double standard. God's mad at those people out there, but He doesn't care about sin in here. Listen to 1 Peter 4, 17.

1 Peter 4, verse 17. Peter says, For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? It begins with us, and it's serious with us. If it's serious with us, What will become of gospel rejecters?

Thank God that occasionally He makes exceptions so you don't draw all the wrong conclusions from the rule, which is that He is long-suffering. Patient, gracious. That's number six. Let this exception give you a right understanding of the rule. If you draw the conclusion that God will never pay the wages of sin on the spot.

You've drawn the wrong conclusion. That's not true. The exception should set you straight on that matter. Number seven. It helps to trace out some of the tentacles.

What do I mean by that? Think about an octopus. You have the core of the octopus is this middle part, but then off of him you have you have tentacles kind of going out to the outer reaches. Well, okay, so We have this story. We know about Aiken, and we know about what happens to him, and we know about why it happened to him.

But there are these tentacles that the text doesn't trace out. There are these other parts of the story that are never commented on and if you don't think it through you'll just end up with sort of a cloud over your thinking on the text not having thought through biblically the different areas that aren't commented on and you can end up thinking the wrong thing because of that. Tracing out some of the tentacles can help us with our that's not fair impulse. So we all got it. We all come to Joshua chapter 7 and we read the contents and it's some part of us says, that's not fair.

It's not fair to those 36 men who died in combat and probably had never met Achan. That's not fair to his sons and daughters, or even his livestock that were stoned to death and then burned to death. That's not fair. One of the undeniable facts of Joshua 7 is that many parties who are not personally guilty of taking accursed things are directly caught up in the consequences there's no way to get away from that I would say this is like the second commandment listen to the second commandment from Exodus 20 verses 4 through 6 Exodus 20 4 through 6 You shall not make for yourself a carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.

For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. Showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. First I'd just like to say there's a ratio here. It's three or four generations have the sins visited upon them from those who hate God. And it's a thousand generations for those who love God.

So this tells us God's disposition is bent towards loving kindness and not towards judgment. We get it from the ratio. Four to a thousand is the ratio. But it does say that people who hate God, God visits his iniquity to their third and fourth generations, to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It doesn't say they're guilty of their parents' sins.

They're affected by their parents' sin to the third and fourth generations. They can't get away of the effects maybe even of their great grandfather or great grandmother. Now we could see that the Bible teaches that and draw fatalistic conclusions. Since I could get caught up in the effects of my great grandfather's sins, what is the point? What does it matter?

Not only could I be affected by my own sins, I could be affected by my father's sins, my grandfather's sins, maybe my great grandfather's sins. But Tracing out the tentacles helps us not to draw the wrong conclusions from the truth that God does visit the iniquity He causes to be impacted by the sins of future generations. And helps us to draw the right conclusion. So let's trace them out. 36 men died in combat.

I'm guessing none of them had ever met Aiken. There's Too many people there. Who are these people? We don't know anything about them. Well, this much we know.

They are either believers or unbelievers. There's nothing else to be. You're either a believer in God's kingdom, born again, or you're an unbeliever out of God's kingdom in outer darkness, slave to your old nature. Of those 36 men, if they were as many as believers, went instantly into the presence of God. Save your pity.

Save your pity. They ought to pity you. You're still here in this sin-sick world. They're in the presence of God for eternity. Or they were unbelievers.

They had their own rebellion against God. They had their own sins to die for. And God chose to pay them their wages that day for their sins. Who could say He was unrighteous for that? Well yeah, but they had families.

There were probably widows created. There were probably fatherless children created from these combat deaths. Yes, and the same God that chose to work in this way is able to take care of them. With great sufficiency, great tenderness. He's actually able to use this tragedy in their lives for redemptive purposes to all the extent that he desires to.

Trace it out. What does the Bible teach us? Do we believe it? If we do, we don't have to panic at these things. His sons and daughters, Achan's sons and daughters, died with him.

They were either believers or unbelievers. Step and repeat. Cut and paste. Last week I said this, God is always in perfect position to judge everything about us. True?

God is always in a perfect position to judge everything about us. That's true, if you believe the Bible. And we are never in perfect position to judge anything about God. We just don't see enough. So don't worry about God.

In the end, He'll be completely vindicated and everyone will say everything you did was good and perfectly wise. The wrong conclusion to draw is, what's the point of trying at all? I could get caught up in my great grandfather's, the effects of my great grandfather's sins. No, the right conclusion is, I should deal with my sins. Once my sins are dealt with, all of this becomes secondary.

However God deals with me, even if I die I go into His presence instantly for an eternity of joy. That was number seven. It helps to trace out some of the tentacles. Trace them out. Use the Bible as your grid through which to see the outcome of these things.

Number eight. Train your mind that this account and all such accounts are perfectly fair. Train your mind by the Word of God. Calibrate your thoughts to the words of God. So that you say this account, everything that happens in Joshua chapter 7, and everything that happens in all the other accounts of scripture are perfectly fair.

No innocent people were harmed in the making of this text. No innocent people were harmed in the making of any other text in scripture. Because the scripture doesn't know about innocent people. The scripture knows about Ephesians 2. It speaks of all human beings in their natural condition as objects of God's wrath.

Children, by nature, children of wrath. Scripture knows about that. Listen to Romans 9. Romans 9, to make peace with Romans 9, you don't know the God of the Bible. I'll just say that.

To you make peace with Romans 9, you don't know the God of the Bible, and you've tamed him. Untame your God, go make peace with Romans chapter 9. Here's a few select verses. Romans 9 verses 14 through 16. What shall we say then?

Is there any unrighteousness with God? That's what we're talking about, right? Certainly not. For he says to Moses, God says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.

So then, it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who shows mercy. God I demand that you show mercy to this person. No you can't. But by definition, mercy is bestowed or withheld by the person bestowing it or withholding it. It cannot be required or it is not mercy.

God owes no one mercy and He gives mercy to some and he won't explain himself to you. There's the God of Romans 9 not interested in explaining. Okay God you made me, you know everything I know almost nothing, I trust you. That's where Romans 9 is trying to spit us out at that spot, at that place. Romans 9 verse 29, is the Lord of hosts.

Unless the head of the army of heaven had left us a seed or had left us a remnant, we would have become like Sodom and we would have been made like Gomorrah. What is Sodom and Gomorrah? The total annihilation of rebels. God says, I'm at the head of the army of heaven unless I had left you a remnant I would have just annihilated all the rebels. Death to rebels.

Now you know what fair is. The total annihilation of rebels. Do you want fair? Romans 3 verse 19. Romans 3, 19.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. That's number eight. Train your mind that this account and all such accounts are perfectly fair. Number nine. Understand the three main jurisdictions instituted by God and the application.

God has created three main jurisdictions, spheres of authority, and this has application to all of them. One, the family. God has given the family the rod of correction. It's for coming against sin to drive out sin, to align with God. To the civil government.

It's really what we have in our text. God has given the civil government the sword. Even including capital punishment. The putting to death of evildoers for certain types of evil doing. That's to contradict and drive out sin.

To make people fear God and restrain sin. It's actually a great mercy. If you have a government that won't come against the doing of evil, all you get is an explosion of evil. So you shouldn't defund the police. It's a terrible idea.

Number three, the church. God has given His church the keys to come against sin, to side with God against sin. So that If someone won't part from their sin, you put them out. Last week I quoted 1 Corinthians 5 where Paul says, purge out the leaven. If you don't purge it out, it will just spread.

It's like gangrene, if you don't cut it off, it will kill the whole body. Friends, if Jesus tarries and doesn't return before it happens, the day will come again where we have to put somebody out of the church. Because they saw and they coveted and they took and they hid. And that won't be a bad thing. It'll be a good thing.

It will be our duty to side with God however much we love the person. It will be our duty to side with Jesus Christ. That's number nine. Understand the three main jurisdictions instituted by God in the application number ten. The Bible is perfectly clear about the curse of sin.

Sin earns a curse. Sin earns a curse. Sin earns a curse. The wages of sin is death. In Joshua chapter 7 verse 12, our chapter, Achan is called the accursed.

He touched the accursed thing, he took of the accursed things, and so he became accursed. He is called the accursed in Joshua 7 verse 12. And as such his destruction is demanded. God demands that he be destroyed. And after his destruction at the very end of the chapter, in the last verse of the chapter, Joshua 7, 26, we read, So the Lord's turned from the fierceness of His anger.

So At the beginning of the chapter, God says, My anger is burning against the whole people. My anger burns against Israel because of the sin of this man. And at the end, they destroy the accursed, They stone and burn this man, and we get God's response. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. God's good and right anger burns against sin and must be satisfied.

That's taught everywhere in the Bible. God's good and right anger, you should be glad that God is angry against sin. You don't want a world made by a God who doesn't care about sin. What a hell that would be. It is a good right anger, good and right anger and it burns against sin and it must be satisfied.

It will be satisfied. The perfection of His character demands it. Galatians 3, turn to Galatians 3, will end in Galatians 3. Galatians 3, 10-14. Galatians 3, verses 10-14.

Relations chapter 3 verses 10 through 14. Paul writes, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So here's righteousness by law keeping. Perfect law keeping is required.

That is how that scheme works. Not I do more good than I do bad, but perfect law keeping is required. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Verse 11, But that no one is justified by the law and the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith, by believing, by trusting. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The message of the cross is the same message as Hang on that tree. Bear your sin. Bear your sin. So the Gospel takes us to Joshua chapter 7 and the death of the cursed.

But it doesn't leave us in Joshua chapter 7. Praise God. It tells us that there is a mighty curse bearer, a mighty willing curse bearer who will take God's good and right anger that burns against your sin and will satisfy it. We should be good at bringing people there because the gospel brings people there. Death to the accursed.

If you have a gospel that didn't bring you there, I fear for you. But the gospel doesn't leave people there. And we need to be as good or better at saying, Oh, there's a curse bearer run to him. You can be free in an instant. In the snap of a finger.

You can be clean before this perfectly righteous God. That's number 10. The Bible is perfectly clear about the curse of sin. God has provided a mighty, willing curse bearer. Number 11, finally, remember Rahab, remember Akin.

Don't ever forget Rahab and don't ever forget Achan. You need them both. Who was Rahab? She was a pagan gentile prostitute. Who repented and believed and was grafted into the people of God.

God placed her in the midst of Jesus' genealogy. It's marvelous. Who was Achan? He was an Israelite who bore the name of God in vain. God put him out of his people.

The Gospel is deliciously scandalous. It is irksome to every legalist who wants to think that he or she has earned a place of favor through law keeping. It's deliciously scandalous. It is an irritant to legalists who think they can earn a spot of favor with God because of law keeping. Oh, Let them be earned.

It promises the hope of pardon to Gentile, pagan, prostitutes, to the worst of sinners, to murderers in prisons. But the Gospel is no comfort to those who are sinning with a high hand. It's both. It's both deliciously scandalous to put to shame workspace righteousness. And it is no comfort to people who sin with the high hand.

Don't even think you see me over here. I dare you. Friends, To be like Rahab and to be grafted into the people of God is to repent and believe. And then what? Keep repenting and keep believing.

Every day for the rest of your life. And if you ever find yourself sinning with a high hand, oh, don't let the day end before you repent and run to God. Father, I thank you for the gift of the book of Joshua, giving us Rahab, a pagan, gentile prostitute who turns and throws herself onto you for your mercy, and is grafted into your people and made glorious in your kingdom. Thank you for Achan, this exception, to your patience, graciousness, that helps us to understand the rule, not draw the wrong conclusions from it. God, don't let us go away from Rahab and Achan of forgetting.

Help our thoughts to always be dwelling on these great truths. Pray in Jesus name, Amen.