Disclaimer: Please forgive any typographical, grammatical, and/or content errors in the following notes. They are not meant to be an exact transcription, but rather a helpful guide for those who appreciate the written word along with the spoken word. If you have any questions on what was taught, feel free to reach out on our ‘Contact Us’ page.
Joshua 7:1
But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.
There’s a major shift here from the first six chapters of Joshua. God has been giving clear direction, Israel has been obedient, and great things happen: Joshua is commissioned as the new leader, the people cross the Jordan, there is a ceremonial remembrance of God’s promise, they circumcised themselves, and celebrated Passover.
The first word in chapter 7 is “but.” Usually in the New Testament this word signifies a fulcrum point, especially when connected to the Lord as in “But God.” However, here we see that chapter 7 is an outlier.
There are 4 actions that are displayed by Israel collectively, by Joshua, and Achan. The first three actions are passive because no one pre-meditated these actions but they occurred because they were not prioritizing the Lord. They culminate in the 4th action which is active sin and leads to a major halt in the progress in Canaan:
- Self-confidence (presumption)
- Prayerlessness
- Forgetting God’s promises (not being in His Word)
- Disobedience
The title of this sermon is “An Instrument in God’s Hand.” These 4 steps will lead to being an ineffective instrument in God’s hand. My intention today is not for you to leave with your head held low and feeling guilty or questioning your salvation. The intent is to evaluate and realize when we are not prioritizing the Father and many times the effects are detrimental.
Joshua 7:2-5
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.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” 4 So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, 5 and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
- Self-confidence
Disobedience started with presumption. A presumption is an assumption, often not fully established, that is taken for granted in some piece of reasoning. Simply put, a presumption is an assumption without adequate information. This is exactly what Israel did here. They didn’t consult the Lord. On the heels of the victory of Jericho, they saw Ai as small in comparison, and got puffed up. We can’t make the same mistake that Israel did. As we walk this life faithfully and humbly in service before our God, we need to remember this—there’s nothing too great that God’s power can’t overcome, but there’s nothing too small that we can overcome without God’s power. Think of the idea that we wouldn’t exist without God. There is nothing too great that God’s power can’t overcome and there is nothing too small that we can overcome without God’s power.
Israel fell into the presumption that “We got this!” And Joshua went right along in one of the few foolish acts that Scripture records. Thankfully, we see him promptly repent at the first rebuke. What can self-confidence lead us to? A very dangerous position to get into in life is complacency. I believe complacency might just be the most dangerous thing for a Christian, especially in the American culture because we can be blind. Our perceptions can really be polluted. It’s very important to remove ourselves from those perspectives. We want God’s perspective on life, every aspect of it.
What is complacency? It’s this whimsical approach to life. It says, “I got it! No big deal!” You don’t want to talk about anything too serious or heavy, you want to keep it light and airy—happy. And in that you end up finding your confidence in the things of the world. I want to ask you, is this your mentality? The psalmist writes in Psalm 94:17, “If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.” The psalmist is expressing an utter dependence on the Lord. Of course this is in the context of salvation, but we can take this reflection and utter dependence to the Lord in every single thing we approach in life. I can do nothing without You, God. I could not stand before you. I was trembling with fear. I get very nervous before preaching and thank God He keeps me humble in dependence upon Him when I do this. I take another step, another breath because God said it was so and because of His grace and His purpose for my life and your lives. We can’t overlook the little things. When we do start to overlook the little things and just flowing through life, whether you’re a Christian here or not today, we become absorbed in complacency, the false confidence in the things of this life—riches, status, people we know, success, education, expertise, or professionalism. It’s a misplaced confidence. All of these things are from God! Every single thing. Nothing that we have in our bank account, our bodies, the talents we have, nothing is from our own merit— something the world doesn’t know. Everything has been graciously given to you by God for His purposes.
- Prayerlessness
Israel—and more surprisingly, Joshua—doesn’t consider the Lord in prayer. What are you doing, man? Come on, you’re the leader of faith for this nation! Obviously having a lapse of weakness in a bout of self-confidence. We see no confederation of the Lord. He’s not sought for counsel or asked. They don’t communicate with Him. He would have told them, “There’s sin in the camp!” God has been incredibly detailed up until this point. He has a plan for every little thing, but apparently they thought Ai wasn’t important enough; they were too small to go to the Lord.
I’m a union carpenter by trade (by God’s grace soon to be a private business owner contractor). Back in 2016 my wife and I bought a home and we thought, “We’re going to remodel this whole place, it’s going to be great!” And here we are almost 8 years later and we’re still working on it. And I think all homeowners know that that’s just life; once you’re done the list is going to start all over again, it’s never ending. So in my remodeling experience, I’ve come to recognize that the bane of my existence are ceiling fans. I can do electrical work, but ceiling fans are a struggle. I’ve done 3 fans in my house and on the fourth one there were sparks. I called another electrician I worked with and sent a video, I read the manual, and I’m going up and down the stairs, breaker on, breaker off, on, off, and so it goes and I finally thought, “I didn’t even pray!” I didn’t ask the Lord to help me and I didn’t trust Him to do so no matter the outcome. It’s such a small thing in my life. But that’s the point. The big things are easy to go to God with. A ceiling fan is a silly, little thing, or so you would think, with my training I could figure it out. It’s not like I need this supernatural filling of the Holy Spirit to install my ceiling fan (maybe I do!) but the point is I’m not calling upon this heavenly power, I’m going to God in communication so that something that has frustrated me in the past will not draw me to sin. Something as little as that —people that do construction, you gotta hear me—physical work and failure happens and is angering. I’m not praying for the end result of going home and—boom!—my ceiling fan is miraculously running. I’m praying that I’m not being tempted to fall into sin, even the little sins of frustrations and impatience and having them come off onto my wife and sons. Prayer helps me be content with the half-finished ceiling fan hanging in the room.
Why don’t we go to Him with the little things? Is the Lord your utmost? Is He your greatest treasure, your priority in life? When He is, we come to Him in prayer. That’s what Paul was talking about when he was talking about praying without ceasing. He wasn’t talking about this idea of 100% of the time Paul was always praying. If he did that, he wouldn’t have had any time to have written the letters he did. He’s expressing his constant heart towards the Lord.
What is the purpose of prayer? It’s (1) communion – communication, fellowship, and asking (2) worship (3) an act of trust – God doesn’t need to know the information. He’s omniscient. He knows what’s going to happen and what has happened. What was the cost of Israel’s failure to pray? 36 lives are destroyed ultimately because of disobedience, but they could have been saved if they had just inquired of the Lord. I wish I could say this was the last time, but prayerlessness plagued Israel throughout the Scripture. If we jump ahead to Zephaniah, when Israel has split into the northern and southern kingdoms, and he says of Judah, “She listens to no voice, she accepts no correction, she does not trust in the Lord, she does not draw near to her God.” Prayerlessness affects much more than just your communication stream with the Lord. prayerlessness can result in a lack of fellowship with God, and when you’re not praying or fellowshiping with Him, you are possibly not heeding correction. You’re not absorbed with God’s will. You’re absorbed with your own will. This is what happens in the ebbs and flows of Israel’s history. They worship other gods, worship themselves, then they come back to the Lord, and then they do it all over again because they aren’t prioritizing the Lord. Is He your utmost? I think all of our answers would be ‘yes’ in our heart, but does our time, talent, and treasure in life reflect that answer?
Joshua 7:6-9
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. 7 And Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”
- Forgetting God’s Word
Many times when we are in a state of complacency, of self-confidence and prayerlessness, God allows something to happen to us, maybe a job loss or illness, or something that will jolt us. This is what happened to Joshua and Israel. We see it immediately after the defeat of Ai. Joshua forgot the promise that was recently made to him about conquering the Promised Land, and the promise made to Abraham back in Genesis 12, and the promise made to his mentor Moses in Exodus 6. He’s losing thought in the Word of God. And not only is he forgetting the promises, but he’s coming to God as a complainer and an accuser that this is God who did this. Almost like this idea that God had no idea what had just happened. Thankfully, Joshua acts very promptly and God lets him off the hook. Joshua is completely acting in his flesh and prioritizing the things within his power and has forgotten everything just for a moment. It says in Proverbs 16:20, “Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”
What is God’s Word? It is the revelation of His very nature and where we truly discover the will of God for our lives personally and where we discover God’s will overall for the Christian life. We have to be in His word in conjunction with prayer in conjunction with humility before God—it is a recipe for new life. It’s essential.
What does the study of God’s Word look like?
- It’s first of all a process. It’s a sacrifice that takes time, sacrifice of your own will
- It’s a practice. It’s something we must pursue and seek. In intimate times one-on-one with the Word open and being submissive to the Spirit, but also pursuing others to teach each other.
- It’s a discipline. This is a common area where we fail. Remember it’s the heart God’s concerned with, not the end result, which is why discipline is so important. When we are disciplined in the Word, He’s going to take care of the process and the practice.
Why is it necessary to be in God’s Word? Because otherwise we’re just going on feeling and emotion. We can get an attitude that says, “I’ve heard that one scripture before so I think this is what God wants me to do. Yeah, I’m going to take that job and buy this house. I got this. I haven’t read it in about 6 years, but I think this is what God says in His Scripture.” Going off of feeling is a dangerous place to be and there’s grace for it but we have to be so diligent in being in the Word. If it is a struggle, we need to find some accountability. Surround yourselves with the Word of God and be spiritually disciplined!
Joshua 7:10-13
The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”
- Disobedience
God lets Joshua know that this is not a time for mourning. It’s a time for action and that action has been halted because of your disobedience. The author of the book of Joshua is pretty simply, Joshua. I love how he doesn’t leave this part, his failure, out of the story. It shows humility. He was faithful to God’s Word even though he had a period where he lapsed judgment – which we all do. God is so loving and patient. The “devoted things” are a representation of the disobedience of one man, Achan. Matthew will dive in and dissect Achan next week. But the fact is, because of one man’s sin, all of Israel has been considered disobedient.
The three passive actions have led to disobedience. In the Christian life, I promise you, that self-confidence, prayerlessness, and forgetting God’s promises will lead to disobedience. The key is repentance and being in Christ and we’ll conclude with that; but if this pattern is a continuous thing then we need to be in a continuous pattern of forgiveness and repentance. Come to the Lord! Accept in our disobedience, whether it’s an entire season or just in one moment, if we’re not coming to the Lord we’ll be ineffective and lacking fellowship with Him. We will be unfit for service as Israel was. Thank God that we have Jesus now to never leave us or forsake us. And God did not leave Israel. They were the instrument in His hand. He’s not going to let that get messed with. He knows his plan and will use Israel to accomplish it. Graciously, when they’re finished they’re going to have this beautiful promised land full of fruitful soil. It will be an incredible place where He will establish them as a nation in spite of their failure and then He’s going to have His root of salvation come up from it. This is God’s entire purpose through Israel. They are His instrument. And we are an instrument in God’s hand.
What are the detrimental consequences of sin? [God’s not just this bully in the sky who leaves us when we’re disobedient because He knows the consequences of sin. He knew the one sin of Achan would be contagious to the camp as they defile the covenant as they transgress God’s commandment. God had to deal with it harshly and is doing something very historic, new, and symbolic to the entire faith.]
- Death. Eternal separation from God. Those who are in Christ will never have to worry about this. You are sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit; when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection, that your sins have been absolved and put away in his flesh. Your salvation can never be removed.
- Disunity. Gossiping, comparison, jealousy, unholiness all within the body of Christ. This can happen here, we have to be so careful. If we have a sin that we have tucked away, don’t think it’s not affecting someone around you. We want to build one another up. Sin is the great separator between God and man and also man and man. It will destroy everything in its path. It is the opposite of everything God is.
Hebrews 12:13 says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;” We each have a responsibility to each other. We can’t look past the little things. We have to remember how unbelievably holy God is. Working in construction I have to be careful in what I say and do or laugh at in order to fit in. I think of the Lord saying to me, “Isaac, that’s not my will for your life.”
Praise God that He has a perfect solution in Christ. We as Christians can always approach his throne with confidence. You can’t Fail when you go to God in repentance and humility. He will never turn away a humble heart! When we look at Achan’s disobedience, Romans 5:19 says, “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” This follows earlier in Romans where we learn how all humankind must experience death for one man’s sin (Adam) which we see as harsh, but is perfectly just and shows how seriously God takes sin. Here’s the beautiful part. His grace covered every single sin that would ever be committed in history. He dies for all the sins of the world. Now, did you receive him or not? That’s the difference. The Word says he so loved the world that he died for every single sin. His grace abounds to you, Christian! So maybe you feel beaten down today a little bit. Let’s not stay there. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We can’t abuse God’s grace. We have to understand there’s still a call to holiness. God’s grace and His power will carry you through. We just have to be submissive to His will and not our own. Psalm 103:17 says, “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children.” I love that. Who is the one who fears him? It’s the christian. Fear here is the awe, reverence, and respect of the almighty God. This same approach will always lead you to salvation in Jesus Christ, if you are revering God for who he truly is. The Lord will always be near that humility and intricately weave your life through the Holy Spirit to bring you to Christ. “From everlasting to everlasting”—it seems a little too much—like “everlasting” would be enough, but, no, from no end in time to no end in time, my love will always be with you and it’s on you. We have to hold on to this because we don’t want to be beaten down by guilt. Guilt and shame dies on the cross with Jesus Christ, but conviction is in the new life. That’s what we want to feel today. It can be heavy at times, but we have a loving Father who has open arms. His arms are open right now if you are struggling. He just wants you to talk to him.
Ephesians 4:23-24 says, “and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” What does putting on the new self look like? First of all, like I’ve said, it’s the opposite of everything we’ve talked about today. It’s being confident in the Lord; it’s being prayerful; it’s saturating yourself in his word; it’s new life. This new life is what the promised land represents. When we are living the new life, continuously putting it on, there’s some responsibility that we have. We can’t just lay back and let the Lord do all the work. We have to actively submit to him—put on that new self. Walk in confidence, walk in prayer, and walk in the Word and you will be that instrument in His hands, for His purposes, not your own achievement, but for His glory. You’ll be a vessel fit for service.
I don’t want us to be Christians that are acceptable to the world because we’re prioritizing the things of the world. I want us to be Christians that live a life acceptable to Christ. We do that by putting on the new life. This very short verse sums up everything said. Psalm 105:4 says, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” Let’s do it all for God’s glory as an instrument in His hands!