Joshua 7
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 13 viewsKeeping of God's Will & Consequences for doing so.
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Where We are up to now
Where We are up to now
Joshua has been commissioned to led the nation of Israel,
The mourning time for Moses death has ended,
We saw the differences in the names of Moses (Draw Forth) and Joshua (Yahweh Saves).
Israel prepares to cross the Jordan
Two spies are sent to Jericho and are hidden by Rahab.
Israel crosses the Jordan and builds the memorial stones
We are shown the importance of past teachings
Israel renews covenant with God through circumcision/ Passover.
Joshua meets the Commander of the Army of God
They follow God’s commands and defeat Jericho.
What Do We Learn about God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)?
What Do We Learn about God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)?
God Requires Obedience v1
God Requires Obedience v1
God does not take our sin lightly.
God is strict on His insistence on remaining Holy,
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Gen
Regretted - to be sorry for; felt sorrow for - grieved.
.The consequences for sin is great.
God grieves when we do wrong or when we disobey His commandments. When we sin it doesn’t make Him happy. We are His dwelling place. Scripture tells us that we are His temple and should treat our bodies in that fashion. And when we don’t, when we sin. The consequences for that sin is great.
But they rebelled
and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
and himself fought against them.
Isaiah
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
The consequences for sin is great.
Why would He take Himself away from us? Because God cannot be around sin. He hates sin and when we do things that goes against His will, He can’t be around us. A punishment or price has to be paid. The Bible gives us a knowledge of God. Another thing that it does, it gives us a look at the characteristics of God. Basically know as the moral attributes of God. One of these attributes is the goodness of God.
The goodness of God should not be confused with kindness. His goodness is similar to common grace in the way it is towards all of His creation. But remember that no one is good except God. Jesus said this in when addressed by the rich ruler as Good Teacher; No one is good except God alone. Because of His goodness, He loves us. This loves goes to all of his creation also.
BUT His love cannot find complete satisfaction in anything that falls short of absolute perfection.
Because of His moral attributes, God has many jobs, one job is Judge and His judgement is righteous and just. Why should we be surprised by these actions when it is His very nature.
In a sense you can see here through His attributes that God feels and has a connection to us. We are His people which leads me to my next point.
God has a personal relationship with His people
God has a personal relationship with His people
The Bible tells us that He knew us before we were made in the womb. We are made in His image and He takes personal strides in our lives. So yes He has a personal relationship with each of us. For this reason, it grieves Him when we do wrong.
The fact that our actions grieves God shows the relationship. Especially when you consider His attribute of goodness. We just talked about His love for His creation, but notice that He does not withhold or withdraw His love from the sinner in the present state of sin. That is the reason for the grieving, He loves us. Look to ; and
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
He sent his Son to build the bridge and He claims us as His sons. I don’t think you can get more personal than that.
God does not put up with Whining v10
God does not put up with Whining v10
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Joshua and the elders of Israel tore their clothes and began putting dust on their heads. In a sense you can get the notion that Joshua is saying why have you brought us here to be destroyed. I think we heard this from others earlier in Exodus, Numbers & Deuteronomy. When the people take their eyes off of God, He can seem so far away.
Even though Israel is the one that was disobedient they were asking God where He was as if they had not done anything wrong. If Joshua had conferred with God before sending men to Ai he would have found out about this grievance.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 4:30). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
God Requires Payment for Disobedience
God Requires Payment for Disobedience
When you take from God, there will be a payment due. The price for our sin is great but so was the price Jesus paid on the cross on that good Friday.
The accursed things were to be destroyed, Achan has taken these things and now is contaminated himself. You may consider this rather rough but look at This is a sin against God, stealing from God. It all belongs to Him, He allows us to manage what He gives us but sometimes people think they are owed more, or covet what belongs to others. Remember these verses ; ; and
God’s character requires this payment.
The holiness of God is manifested in moral law, implanted on man’s heart and in his conscience.
We know when we do something that is wrong. We have that gut feeling that we should not do certain things but plow ahead anyway. That’s the holiness of God that each of us have implanted in us. We are made in His image.
Because of God’s holiness and through His righteousness, He gives every man his due. You could say his just desert. Because this is God’s justice.
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
Isaiah
He will render to each one according to his works:
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,
1 Peter 1
God is faithful to forgive
God is faithful to forgive
Most have heard the verses that anyone who confesses his sin, He is faithful to forgive 1 John 1:9 or confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
But why is He faithful to forgive. Why would He do this? The mercy of God.
This is an important aspect of the goodness of God. God’s mercy is shown all over His work
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
We see His mercy every morning with the rising of the sun starting a new day. God’s love abounds in all He created but there is a special love that He brought to us in Jesus Christ.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
John
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Romans 5:8-9
You can be spared the wrath of God by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It is by the blood of Christ that we are cleansed and justified. God sent Him to do the atoning work.
“It should be emphasized first of all that the atonement effected no change in the inner being of God, which is unchangeable. The only change that was brought about was a change in the relation of God to the objects of His atoning love. He was reconciled to those who were the objects of His judicial wrath.”
Berkhof, Systematic Theology page 433 The Purpose of the Atonement
Nothing in God changed, it was us through Christ that was changed and made holy. It is through Christ righteousness that we are able to be in the presence of God. Through the work of Christ on the cross and the grave we are reconciled to God.
What Do We Learn About Man (Who is in the story, what did they do)?
What Do We Learn About Man (Who is in the story, what did they do)?
Israel Sin v1
Israel Sin v1
The chapter begins with the information that Israel broke faith - sinned. Achan took things that God had specifically said not to touch. That all things were His and were to be destroyed .
The people of Israel did not consult God,
The people of Israel did not consult God,
They set their own battle plan. They just had a crushing victory, and now they sent spies out again, but this time they came up that only a few thousand would need to go out because there is only a few of them.
Now if Joshua had consulted with God, he would have found out about Achan actions before sending men to Ai to die.
Some of the People of Israel forgot past lessons
Some of the People of Israel forgot past lessons
Back in Chapter 4 and 5 we talked about the nation of Israel setting the memorial stones and the importance of learning from the past. The people of Israel was to consecrate themselves and re-institute the covenant with God.
Tried to Hide their sin from God and others
Tried to Hide their sin from God and others
Achan knew what he did was wrong. Not only did he steal, he tried to hide the items among their possessions.
Is There Any Sin That We Must Avoid? A Promise To Claim?
Is There Any Sin That We Must Avoid? A Promise To Claim?
Disobedience to God’s commandments v11
Disobedience to God’s commandments v11
Hebrew has several words for sin. Sinned means mis the mark set by God, transgressed is crossing a boundary. In one verse we see the severity of Achan actions. 1) sinned; 2) transgressed; 3) taken; 4) stolen; 5) lied or deceived; 6) put among their own (claimed as their own).
You shall not covet v21
You shall not covet v21
is a clear commandment.
We are not to want what we do not have. We can look at it this way, God gives us what we can handle to manage. When we master what he has given, He may bless us with more. But we should be content with what He has give us.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
We have the promise that God will not leave or forsake you, you are the adopted child of God. You have the inheritance of the King of Kings what else could you want or need. Another verse to consider is
And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Our life may be measured by material things by man, but not God. He looks at our heart, at how we did carrying on His business.
Do not Deceive Others
Do not Deceive Others
When we try to hide our sin, or we involve others in our deceitful actions,
we harm them also. It is not just our actions and sin we have to answer for. But we cause others to sin or stumble, they are held accountable as well as us.
Are There Any Commands To Obey or Examples To Follow?
Are There Any Commands To Obey or Examples To Follow?
When We sin, all is tainted
When We sin, all is tainted
It was not only Achan but his family.
They knew these things were wrong but they hid them under their tents any way. If we sin we don’t want our sins (which will not stay hidden) to burden them.
Sin builds on itself.
One sin leads to another and then another. It’s like the snowball effect. First we see something, then want it, desire it, lust over it, then take it, then hide it. If we don’t control it or allow God to, then it builds up. Jesus warned us in the sermon on the mount that it begins in our heart, which is just as bad, but will manifest itself outwardly.
2 Samuel chapter 11 through chapter 12:25 we see the snowball effect on David and his life. David the king had everything. He lack nothing when you think about it. Except in his own mind. He saw Bathsheba bathing. Coveted her and then lusted after her. Even knowing that she was married did not matter. His lust had control over him. He had to have her. So he made he commit adultery and she became pregnant (sin has consequences). Now he has to try and hide it, so he tries to get Uriah, her husband to lie with her because he has been off in battle and could not have gotten her pregnant. Now Uriah’s loyalties were with David but also to the ark and the people guarding it so he would not go home. So david had to come up with another plan, have Uriah killed. So he set it up that during the battle, the rest of the troops would withdraw and leave him to die which happened.
David’s sin grew from coveting, to lust, to adultery, to coverup to conspiracy to murder. But God is faithful to forgive. God sent Nathan to show David his errors. God does that for us today.
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Matthew
We May Sin - Repent
We May Sin - Repent
We discussed that God is faithful to forgive.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In Romans , as if we have to be told, that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. That is a given, but God is faithful to forgive. We are warned in Deuteronomy about turning away from God.
But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.
God knows we are going to sin, even if we believe. We are not perfect as He is. If you love God, you can find true life. God is the source of life; He sent Jesus to give eternal life, the word of life. Peter even told Jesus that He had the words of eternal life in . In the next verses in Moses is making the case to choose life.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
Just before this Moses foretold of Christ and Paul brings it home in Romans.
But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Calling you into repentance and saving yourself from the wrath of God.