Joshua and Judges: Effect upon others; living sanctified unto God; Joshua's failure, Jos 7:1-9; Rom 8:35-39; 5:17-21; 6:15-23.
Title: Joshua and Judges: Effect upon others; living sanctified unto God; Joshua's failure, Jos 7:1-9; Rom 8:35-39; 5:17-21; 6:15-23.
Announcements / opening prayer:
Jos 7:1 But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.
Achan's breach of trust is described as unfaithfulness. He withheld what was sanctified unto the Lord.
The fact that the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel is not because they all harbored the same secretive unfaithfulness in their hearts as Achan did, but because Achan, a member of the nation, robbed the whole nation of the purity and holiness which it ought to possess before God.
This is a point that we should pause and reflect upon. Are we as individuals so separate from one another, so independent from one another, that what we do, be it good or evil, has no effect upon the others associated with us? It is obvious that we are not that independent from one another that the actions of one do affect the lives of others. America as a whole has suffered from the actions of others. Some of these effects are smaller and larger than others, but effects none the less.
The actions of one do affect the lives of others in some way.
Think of the effect that the Lord had on this world. Think of the effect that the Pharisees and Sadducees had on the future of Judea. The examples seem almost infinite. Think of a family that is very virtuous or very evil and the effect even one family can have on a neighborhood, community, school, or any other local organization.
Karl Frederick Keil in his commentary on Joshua, pp. 177-8 "However truly the whole Scriptures speak of each man as individually an object of divine mercy and justice, they teach just as truly that a nation is one organic whole, in which the individuals are merely members of the same body, and are not atoms isolated from one another and the whole, since the state as a divine institution is founded upon family relationship, and intended to promote the love of all to one another and to the invisible Head of all. As all then are combined in a fellowship established by God, the good or evil deeds of an individual affect injuriously or beneficially the welfare of the whole society. And, therefore, when we regard the state as a divine organization and not merely as a civil institution, a compact into which men have entered by treaty, we fail to discover caprice [whim] and injustice in consequences which necessarily follow from the moral unity of the whole state; namely, that the good or evil deeds of one member are laid to the charge of the entire body. Caprice and injustice we shall always find if we leave out of sight this fundamental unity, and merely look at the fact that the many share the consequences of the sin of one."
After the conquest of Jericho, the next passage was through the mountains to attack the city of Ai.
Abraham once set up an alter very close to this place.
Jos 7:2 Now 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." So the men went up and spied out Ai.
Jos 7:3 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few."
Jos 7:4 So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai.
Jos 7:5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Rejecting the plan of God brings about dire results. They only lost 36 men out of 3,000 but they were not to lose one battle as they took the land. This doesn't mean that believers in the plan of God never have any troubles, but by being in fellowship with God they handle their troubles with greater power. The believer walking in a manner worthy of his calling fails all the time, but he recovers quickly. Achan will not change his mind about his taking what was sanctified to the Lord until he is caught.
Rejecting the plan of God and not acknowledging and repenting of sin brings dire results in life.
Simply be open with God about your weaknesses and even ask Him to reveal them. There is nothing He doesn’t see and there is nothing that is going to shock Him.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Hiding sin away and only wearing a façade of godliness is using your life as you choose, which is the antithesis to sanctification.
There is way too much of this in the world.
2Ti 3:5
holding to a form [outward shell] of godliness, although they have denied its power;
Every believer is sanctified unto the Lord, as was the thing that Achan took. Our life is hid with Christ. We must lose the self life that we may find our real life.
Despite the trouble around us, which will always be there, we are to live victorious lives. This demands sanctification. We belong to God and we are not to hide our lives away in our own tent.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Not being separated from the love of Christ is being separated from the world and the flesh unto Him. The believer is sanctified in position. The road before us is to walk in that love and therefore to live as sanctified unto Him.
Rom 8:36 Just as it is written,
"For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
Rom 8:37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
We can only live the lives of conquerors through Him. Alone, not in fellowship with Him we walk in darkness and become severely vulnerable.
Rom 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Rom 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This position, away from the powers just mentioned, must be exploited by us. When we do, sanctification becomes a practical way of life.
Heb 12:1-2
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance [hindrance to running], and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,