Today we continue our series: "The Journey of a Faith Walker". We are using the book of Joshua to help us see how a believer’s life is continually challenged to live by faith and to live faithfully. Today we are going to talk about how the sin in our life has devastating consequences that can only be resolved by confession and the forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ.

It was a crime that would fit well on the TV show "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" except this one was real. This past April four men in Lawrence, Massachusetts, made headlines and talk shows with the amazing story of finding $125,000 worth of antique money while digging in one of the men’s back yard. The money included 1,800 bank notes and bills dating from 1899 to 1928. The problem was that the more they told their story the more the story changed. Like Detectives Goren and Eames on Law and Order: Criminal Intent, the police smelled something fishy. Then they said they found the money while digging under a tree in the backyard of a house which was rented by one of the men. They said they were trying to plant a tree. Then they said they were digging up a tree. Then they said they were digging up the roots of a shrub. Finally, the police got a call that said the men were lying.

After being brought in for questioning the truth came out. They found the money stuffed in tin cans in an old barn they were working on. They were all charged with receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit a crime. What’s amazing is that Police Chief Joe Solomon said, "Had they kept quiet…they probably could have sold the money and no one would have ever known…It just got away from them. Sort of like the snowball rolls down the hill and it keeps going and crushes you." (Associated Press)

That is the way sin is in our life. We think we have it under control but then it "snowballs" on us and it keeps going until it crushes us. We think that no one knows what is really going on inside of us. The truth is someone does know what is going on inside the places of our lives that are hidden from the view of others. Someone does know that I don't have my act together. Someone has known about my sinful secrets and all that I have tried to hide. That someone is God himself. He has always known about the things I think that no one knows. He knows that within my heart there lies the reality of criminal intent.

As much as we try to ignore or deny the existence of the problem called sin in our lives, it does exist. As much as society wants us to believe that our problem doesn’t matter, it does. As much as we think that through our human efforts we can function healthily and normally in spite of our problem, we can't. And as much as we would like to hide our problem from others, the one that it matters to the most already knows. We have been found out.

The story found in our text for today shows how serious sin is, how it affects us and others as well as the determined consequences of sin. We have discovered in the Book of Joshua that God provided for the Hebrews, protected them from their enemies, laid out a plan for the taking of the Promised Land, empowered the Hebrews with his strength, and accompanied them with his presence constantly. Nowhere were these benefits more evident than when the Hebrews did battle at Jericho described in Joshua 6:1-27. It was a decisive victory. It showed the hand of God was with these people. If ever a people would want to do what God said and would seek to please him, surely it would be this group of folks. Their very existence depended on him.

The battle at Jericho was a miraculous victory. Without firing a single shot or raising a single weapon, only a stroll around the city, a shout like madmen, the walls of the mighty fortress tumbled down. The Hebrews went in with the instructions: "The city and everything in it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies. Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on all Israel. Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury." (Josh. 6:17-19) The victory of Jericho isn’t even a memory before a problem comes. The problem is summarized in verse 1 of chapter 7, "But Israel was unfaithful concerning the things set apart for the Lord. A man named Achan had stolen some of these things, so the Lord was very angry with the Israelites."

The next battle in the campaign was to destroy the town of Ai. If Jericho was a fortress, then Ai was a dusty crossroads in comparison. Perhaps overconfident from the success of Jericho, Joshua uses the plan that had worked so well before and sent spies to Ai to investigate. They reported that it would not be necessary to send the entire army to the battle; two or three thousand troops should be sufficient. Without consulting with God, Joshua allows his men to travel to Ai and they were soundly defeated. The troops had to run for their lives. Thirty-six men were lost in this battle. This may not seem like a significant loss in an army of 3,000, but the defeat described here was the first and only defeat recorded in the book of Joshua and the only report of Hebrews slain in battle (Joshua 7:2-5).

Joshua somewhat blames God for the defeat in Joshua 7:6-9. But as the story unfolded, it was discovered that God's presence, power, protection, and provision were not with the Hebrew army because someone had violated the ban regarding the devoted things that the Lord had specifically instructed the people to put in the Lord's treasury. God was blunt with Joshua, "Israel has sinned and broken my covenant! They have stolen the things that I commanded to be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen them; they have also lied about it and hidden the things among their belongings. That is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat. For now Israel has been set apart for destruction. I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction." (Josh. 7:11-12)

In order to identify the one who had disobeyed Joshua had every tribe come before him to give an account (Joshua 7:16-21). Each man, woman, boy, and girl was questioned to see if they were the culprits. Finally, a man by the name of Achan confessed, "I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. For I saw a beautiful robe imported from Babylon, two hundred silver coins, and a bar of gold weighing more than a pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. They are hidden in the ground beneath my tent, with the silver buried deeper than the rest." (Josh.7:20-21) Achan’s criminal intent was found out. His sin was out in the open.

Achan had stolen a beautiful robe, about five pounds of silver, and one and quarter pounds of gold. He even admits to the control that his sin had over him: First he saw them, then he coveted them, then he took them, and then he hid them. All sin seems to follow that pattern. Once we start to cover up, we can't stop ourselves. The repercussions of his sin led to the deaths of 36 soldiers and defeat at Ai. Sin entered Achan's life because he let his wants get ahead of his needs, and he sold his soul at the expense of his relationship with God and his family and countrymen. One thing that I believe is obvious was that Achan would not have confessed had problems not come and had he not been confronted.

Like life, stories in the Bible do not always have fairy-tale endings. Achan, along with his entire family, was stoned to death. In ancient times, the family was treated as a whole. The crime would not have been possible without the cooperation of his family. The punishment fit the crime: Achan had disobeyed God's command to destroy everything in Jericho; therefore everything that belonged to Achan would be destroyed. If you ever think that sin is not serious business to God, if you ever think that sin does not have serious repercussions, then read the story of Achan and the defeat of the Israelite army at Ai. The lessons God wants to teach us are too important to be trivialized; and often, a tragedy is the best way to get our attention.

Why does God want the criminal intent of sin our life to be confronted? Why does God not just blow it off and sweep it under the rug? I believe this story teaches us some very clear realities about the criminal intent of sin in our life. The realities this story reveals are these:

Reality #1: Sin contaminates completely. We all are like Achan. We share the same criminal intent. Every person alive is infected with it. This condition, this nature, this defect, is a part of each one of us. Sin works throughout our life and infects every part of our life. It contaminates our relationships with God, those we love, and our inner harmony and peace. Tony Campolo states, "Each of us comes into the world with a predisposition to live in such a way as to inflict pain on those who love us most, and to offend the God who cares for us infinitely." (Campolo, Seven Deadly Sins, p. 9.)

Pastor and author John Ortberg shares a humorous story that conveys the truth about how sin has contaminated all of us. He says that early in his marriage, he and his wife, Nancy, sold their Volkswagen Beetle to buy their first really nice piece of furniture. It was a sofa. It was a pink sofa, but for that kind of money, it was called a mauve sofa. The man at the sofa store told them all about how to take care of it, and so they took it home. They had very small children in those days, and the Number One Rule in their house from that day on was "Don't sit on the mauve sofa! Don't play near the mauve sofa! Don't eat around the mauve sofa! Don't touch the mauve sofa! Don't breathe on the mauve sofa! Don't think about the mauve sofa! On every other chair in the house, you may freely sit, but on this sofa—the mauve sofa—you may not sit, for on the day you sit thereon, you will surely die!"

And then one day came the "Fall." There appeared on the mauve sofa a stain…a red stain…a red jelly stain. His wife called the man at the sofa factory, and he told her how bad that was. So she assembled our three children to look at the stain on the sofa: Laura, who was 4, and Mallory, who was 2½, and Johnny, who was maybe 6 months. She said, "Children, do you see that? That's a stain. That's a red stain. That's a red jelly stain. And the man at the sofa store says it's not coming out, not for all eternity. Do you know how long eternity is, children? Eternity is how long we're all going to sit here until one of you tells me which one of you put the red jelly stain on the mauve sofa."

For a long time they all just sat there until finally Mallory cracked. She said, "Laura did it." Laura said, "No, I didn't." Then it was dead silence for the longest time. John Ortberg says, "I knew that none of them would confess putting the stain on the sofa, because they had never seen their mom that mad in their lives. I knew none of them was going to confess putting the stain on the sofa, because they knew if they did, they would spend all of eternity in the ‘Time Out Chair.’ I knew that none of them would confess putting the stain on the sofa, because in fact, I was the one who put the stain on the sofa, and I wasn't sayin' nuthin'!" (The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching, Zondervan, 2005)

Here's the truth about us: We've all stained the sofa. We all have failed in someway to live up to the standards God has set for us or that we have set for ourselves. Every one of us has a criminal intent staining our life. The stain just doesn’t ruin part of our life it ruins it all.

Reality #2 is: Sin is a choice that has ultimate consequences. The story of Achan illustrates the fatal contamination of sin. But the contaminating nature of sin hinges on two diabolical characteristics and consequences: disobedience and death. All sin starts with the choice of disobedience. "But Israel was unfaithful concerning the things set apart for the Lord."(Josh.7:1) Sin first and foremost is disobedience against the will, commands, and nature of God. It is knowing the right thing to do and choosing to do the wrong thing. These attitudes and actions were found in Achan—he stole the devoted things. He did what was forbidden. He sinned. He missed the standard that God had established for every Hebrew.

Sin may start with disobedience but it finally leads to death. It did for Achan and his family and it does for us. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death…" Sin is a fatal disease. It sentences us to a slow and painful death. Each Sunday there are fresh flowers that are placed here in front of the pulpit. They are given in memory of someone very important in the life of the person who gives them. The florist who designs and delivers the arrangement normally doesn’t grow the flowers. They are shipped in from somewhere else. Yet as beautiful as they are the minute they are cut they start to die. Sin does to our life what shears do to a flower. A cut of the stem separates a flower from the source of life. The flower may look attractive, colorful, and strong. But watch the flower over a period of time, the leaves will wilt and the petals will drop. No matter what you do, the flower will never live again. The consequence of sin is not a bad day or a bad mood but a dead soul. Try as we might to look alive, we are dead in our sins.

Sin contaminates every human being and contaminates the being of every human. It is not fatal to be a sinner; but denying that you are a sinner is fatal. If unrecognized and not dealt with, our sins will destroy us. We are robbed of meaning, prevented from being healthy and whole persons, estranged from a loving relationship with God, and destined for an eternity in hell.

What do we do? Well that brings us to Reality #3: Sin is only removed by the Cross of Jesus Christ. Listen to what Paul says, "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross." (Col. 2:13-14) The only way that sin can be removed from your life and mine is through the forgiveness that is offered to us through the cross of Jesus Christ.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis tells of how a young boy named Eustace becomes a dragon—a very unhappy dragon at that. Eustace steals a gold armband and puts it on, only to find that his greed turns him into a dragon. And the armband is excruciatingly tight on his dragon foot.

One night, in the midst of his pain and frustration, Eustace encounters a huge lion who tells the boy to follow it to a high mountain well. Eustace longs to bathe his aching foot in the cool water, but the lion tells him he must undress first. It seems silly to Eustace because dragons don't wear clothes, but then he remembers that dragons, like snakes, cast their skins. So Eustace scratches his skin, and the scales begin falling off—and soon his whole skin peels away. But when he puts his foot in the water, he sees that it is just as rough and scaly as before. He continues scratching at the second dragon skin and realizes there is yet another underneath. Finally the lion says, "You will have to let me undress you."

Eustace is afraid of the lion's claws but desperate to get in the water. The first tear is painfully deep as the lion begins to peel away the skin. Surely death will follow, Eustace believes. With the gnarled mess of dragon skin now cut away, the lion holds Eustace and throws him into the water. Initially, the water stings, but soon it is perfectly delicious. Eustace swims without pain, for he's a boy again.

Just like the boy in the story sin must be recognized for the pain it causes and how it keeps us from being the person that God desires for us. Yet even though we recognize the pain we also have to admit that we can’t remove the sin our selves. This must be done for us. It starts by our releasing our sin through the action of confession. Confession does for the soul what the lion did for the boy-it begins to peel away the layers of sin that have built up over time. Confession is the act of allowing God to remove the scales of our lives. Confession is not begging God to forgive you, but agreeing with God about the sin and criminal intent of our lives. Confession means saying that somewhere in the mix of our lives was a choice, and the choice was made by us, and it does not need to be excused, explained, or even understood. The choice needs to be forgiven. And it is forgiven when we admit to our dishonesty of trying to live on our terms instead of God's. That's where the release comes in.

In the same way that the boy could only become a boy again by having the dragon skin removed by the lion so sin must be removed by the power of the Cross. It may be painful at first but it is the only way to have the scales removed. Why do we want sin removed from our lives? The primary reason is to restore our relationship with our Heavenly Father. As long as unconfessed sin exists our relationship with God remains broken. Then how do we remove sin from our lives? Honestly, we can't. We have neither the strength nor the moral completeness to accomplish such a monumental task. For that we have to rely on another. That other is none other than Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. He is the one who sacrificed himself on the cross, bearing the sins of all humans, so that our sins would be permanently removed from our record. The penalty for sin is death. Someone has to die for our sins, either a substitute or us. That's our option: for us to continue to sin, allowing sin to take its course, leading ultimately to death or, trusting in Jesus, who died for our sins. What's it going to be?

What’s the danger if we don’t confess our own criminal intent? As humans, we often wish that the pain of our choices was something that would go away. Yet it is our pain that saves us from the dangerous results of our sin. What if we had no pain? Five-year-old Ashlyn Blocker of Patterson, Georgia, lives without pain. Ashlyn has a rare genetic disorder called congenital insensitivity to pain with Anhidrosis or CIPA—that makes her unable to feel pain. Ashlyn doesn’t know when food is hot, when she is cut, when she is hot or cold, when her teeth hurt—she feels no pain. Ashlyn says, "I can’t feel my boo-boos." Tara, Ashlyn’s mom, said, "Some people would say that’s a good thing, but it’s not. Pain is there for a reason. It lets your body know something’s wrong and it needs to be fixed. I’d give anything for her to feel pain." (Associated Press, Oct. 31, 2004) As bad as it hurts to allow the criminal intent of our lives to be exposed to the cross of Christ denying the pain is the worst mistake we can make. Today may you choose to release what God already knows and let him remove the criminal intent of your life!

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org