Inheriting your promised land

Part 3

The battle of an Achan Heart

1. Jericho – Battle of Obedience

2. Ai – Battle of hidden sin

Hidden Sins, Damaged Lives

Joshua 7:1-7:26

Lesson # 1:

We’re extremely vulnerable to temptation in moments of apparent success.

“So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes.”

Joshua 7:4-5

Consequences:

1. Fear

“At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.”

(v. 5)

2. Discouragement

“Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening.” (v. 6)

• The defeat at Ai brought them to their knees before God. Their confidence in God, which had produced their success and victory at Jericho, quickly turn to self-confidence.

3. Correction

“The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned…” V.10

Lesson # 2:

The disobedience of one individual can have a negative effect on the whole community.

• Achan is the epitome of the dark side of every individual and every community. All of us have within us the potential to fall, and fall hard.

• He admits to having taken three things that were supposed to be destroyed or turned over to the Lord’s treasury: a beautiful Babylonian coat, 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels.

A.“I saw…” (v. 21)

This is the beginning of all sin: the looking, the desiring, the envying for what we know we cannot have.

B. “I coveted them…” V. 21

There’s no doubt that Achan didn’t need any of those things. What was he going to do with them?

3. “I took” v.21

4. “They are hidden” v. 21

“Where one member of a local fellowship is guilty before God of sin, the verdict from heaven is, ‘My people have sinned.’

• A church family can be defeated by the malignancy of an individual’s unconfessed sin.

Lesson # 3: God’s judgment is not to be taken lightly.

• Achan’s story is one of the saddest in the Bible. A good man overcome by the evil desires of his heart. It’s a story that’s been repeated over and over throughout history.

“Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor…

Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.” Joshua 7:24-25

Lesson # 4: God can turn disaster into hope and victory.

“Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.”

Achor: “trouble, or disaster”

“There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.” Hosea 2:15

This story shows us how one man’s sin brought a nation to defeat. But it also shows us how through humble repentance and dependence upon the Lord the defeat was turned into victory.

“Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.” Joshua 8:1