1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:06,880 And if you would grab a Bible and open to Joshua Chapter 7, 2 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,280 let me pray for us while you're turning there. 3 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:17,440 Father God, we ask that Your word would be our teacher today, 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:23,240 that You would help us to align ourselves with Your Word and not 5 00:00:23,240 --> 00:00:27,520 align, not seek to align Your word to our modern 6 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,520 sensibilities. Would You help us, Lord, to 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:35,280 humble ourselves and to receive this as Your word about yourself 8 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,560 and Your people and the world that you have made Teach us. 9 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,080 Lord, we ask it in Christ name, Amen. 10 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:43,760 OK, here's what we're going to do. 11 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:49,760 We're going to read the entirety of Chapter 7 and when I get 12 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,960 done, I've got about 7 things. We're not going to go carefully 13 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:54,920 through the text because it's pretty straightforward. 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:59,240 So I've got about 7 things that I want to say about this text 15 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,560 applying to us. So we're going to run through 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,040 start to finish Chapter 7. So read along with me, not out 17 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,040 loud, but just in your head and and we'll get it all sort of 18 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,320 before us. So Joshua Chapter 7, verse one. 19 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,960 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted 20 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:22,000 things, for Akin, the son of Karmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zara 21 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,800 of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things in the 22 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,840 anger of the Lord, burned against the people of Israel. 23 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,320 So Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI, which is near Beth Haven, 24 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:37,120 east of Bethel, and said to them, Go up and spy out the 25 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,000 land. And the men went up and spied 26 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,880 out AI, and they returned to Joshua. 27 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,400 And they said to him, Do not have all the people go up, for 28 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:49,560 let about two or three thousand men go up and attack AI. 29 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,720 Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few. 30 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,720 So about 3000 men went up from there there from the people, and 31 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,040 they fled before the men of AI. And the men of AI killed about 32 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,320 36 of their men and chase them before the gate as far as 33 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,919 Shebarim and struck them at the descent. 34 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,760 And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. 35 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,680 So they became Canaanites with melted hearts. 36 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,040 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face 37 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,800 before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders 38 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,760 of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. 39 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:30,680 And Joshua said, alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this 40 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:34,840 people over the Jordan at all? To give us into the hand of the 41 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,440 Amorites to destroy us? Does that sound familiar? 42 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,480 Does that sound like it should sound in your ear like the 43 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,400 children of Israel when they suffered hardship in the 44 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,040 wilderness and said, why did you even bring us out of Egypt? 45 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:49,600 Why? Why did you even do this? 46 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,960 Joshua's in the same boat. Old habits die hard. 47 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,800 Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan. 48 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,840 Oh Lord, what can I say? When Israel is turn their backs 49 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,000 before their enemies, For the Canaanites and all the 50 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,520 inhabitants of the land will hear that it will surround us 51 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:06,960 and cut off our name from the earth. 52 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,480 And what will you do for your great name? 53 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:15,560 The Lord said to Joshua, Get up. Why have you fallen on your 54 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,360 face? I love that God has his own why 55 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:20,000 to our why? Why did you do this? 56 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,200 And God says why are you on your face as though this is a great 57 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,880 mystery. Israel has sinned and they have 58 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,960 transgressed to my covenant that I commanded them. 59 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,680 They have taken watch these verbs, taken some of the devoted 60 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,920 things they have stolen and lied and put them among their own 61 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:42,640 belongings. Therefore, the people of Israel 62 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:44,880 cannot stand before their enemies. 63 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:47,840 They turn their backs before their enemies because they have 64 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,680 become devoted for destruction. They've become the things that 65 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,360 they coveted for. We wanted forbidden, devoted to 66 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,560 destruction things, and now we ourselves are devoted to 67 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,360 destruction. I will be with you no more 68 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,680 unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 69 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,960 What a catastrophic word, God, that God would ever say. 70 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,680 I'll be with you no more, as long as those things are with 71 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:13,640 you. Get up, consecrate the people, 72 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,600 and say, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow. 73 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:19,959 For thus says the Lord God of Israel, there are devoted things 74 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:22,840 in your midst. Oh, Israel, you cannot stand 75 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:25,640 before your enemies until you take away the devoted things 76 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,720 from among you. In the morning, therefore, you 77 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,440 shall be brought near by your tribes by. 78 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,440 And the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by 79 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:40,040 clans, and the clan that the Lord that the Lord takes shall 80 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,040 come nearby households. And the household that the Lord 81 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:45,680 takes shall come near man by man. 82 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:50,240 And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned 83 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:54,440 with fire, He and all that he has, because he has transgressed 84 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,320 the covenant of Yahweh, and because he has done an 85 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,880 outrageous thing in Israel. So Joshua rose early in the 86 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,640 morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe. 87 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,040 And the tribe of Judah was taken. 88 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,280 And he brought near the near the clans of Judah. 89 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:13,280 And the clan of the Zara Heights was taken. 90 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,800 And he brought near the clan of the Zara Heights, man by man. 91 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,480 And Zab and Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his 92 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,120 household man by man. And Aiken the son of Carmi, son 93 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:28,280 of Zabdi, son of Zara of the tribe of Judah was taken. 94 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,320 That's repeated 3 times in this text at least. 95 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,080 It's very important. Then Joshua said, Aiken, my son, 96 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,520 give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him, 97 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:40,800 and tell me now what you have done. 98 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,720 Do not hide it from me. And they can answer Joshua truly 99 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,200 I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel. 100 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:51,240 And this is what I did when I saw among the spoil a beautiful 101 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:55,440 cloak from Shinar. That's where the land of Babel 102 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:02,840 and 200 shekels of silver round about 5 lbs of a little under 5 103 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:07,400 lbs of silver and then gold weighing 50 shekels a pound and 104 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:12,040 a quarter thereabouts. Then I coveted them and I took 105 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:15,240 them and see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with 106 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,960 the silver underneath. So Joshua sent messengers and 107 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,920 they ran to the tent to behold it was hidden in the tent with 108 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,240 the silver underneath. And they took them out of the 109 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,160 tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. 110 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,040 And they laid them down before Yahweh, and Joshua, and all 111 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,360 Israel with him took Akin the son of Zara, and the silver and 112 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,800 the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, 113 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:44,920 and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent, and all that 114 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:48,080 he had. And they brought them up to the 115 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,960 valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why did you 116 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,120 bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you, 117 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:56,600 Achen. Achor. 118 00:06:57,040 --> 00:06:59,880 Are trouble that it's in Hebrew. That's what it means. 119 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,320 And why did you trouble bring trouble on us? 120 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:04,440 The Lord brings trouble on you today. 121 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,000 And Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them 122 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,560 with fire and stoned them with stones. 123 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,960 And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to 124 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,560 this day. And then Yahweh turned from his 125 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:20,640 burning anger. Therefore, this day, the name of 126 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:23,200 the places, to this day the name of the place is called the 127 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,120 Valley of Achor, the Valley of trouble. 128 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:30,080 This brothers and sisters, as hard as it is to hear, is the 129 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,720 word of the Lord. So what I want to do is I want 130 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,840 to give you about 7 things that we learned from this text. 131 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:39,320 There's about 50 that I could give you, but these are in my 132 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,320 mind, the most significant things we need to wrestle with. 133 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:46,920 The first thing is the the fact that this text begins with what 134 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,400 we might call a very unfair fact. 135 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:56,560 It doesn't seem fair that one guy sends and the nation is 136 00:07:56,560 --> 00:07:59,960 implicated. Did you see the people of Israel 137 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:02,560 broke faith in regarded the devoted things and we might jump 138 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:07,000 in and say no God, not all the people Aiken did it. 139 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:14,360 The scriptures say the people of Israel broke faith and they took 140 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,280 some of the things in the anger of the Lord burned against the 141 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:21,480 people of Israel. And so let me just remind us all 142 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:25,880 what God is not doing. God is not piling up a bunch of 143 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,480 pretty rocks. God is building a temple and 144 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,760 he's and he's fashioning each and every stone that he places 145 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,039 in. And those stones have to do 146 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:37,679 their job or the whole thing gets impacted. 147 00:08:38,159 --> 00:08:41,120 God is not like a scientist, right? 148 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:43,799 Imagine a scientist lab. He's got all these jars of 149 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:48,040 formaldehyde and he has a human hand and he has an eye and he 150 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:50,000 has a brain. It's not what God is doing, 151 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:54,760 collecting a bunch of random dependent body parts. 152 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,880 God is building an interdependent body of faith. 153 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,680 Some of us are hands, some of us are feet. 154 00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:04,080 Some of us are hearts. Some of us are wallets. 155 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:08,240 Some of us are ears, right? But we're interdependent. 156 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,160 And so let me ask you, what happens to you today when your 157 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,440 kidneys decide, you know, I'm going to take the weekend off? 158 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:19,480 You die. The whole body is impacted when 159 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,480 one, when one part fails, everybody feels it. 160 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:25,080 And so I don't know what you are. 161 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:28,960 I don't know what part of the body God has made you, But all 162 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,080 of us need to reckon with this idea. 163 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,800 We say it every Sunday. We believe in one holy Catholic 164 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:35,840 Church. We're not talking about Roman 165 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,160 Catholic or repeat something that we've talked about before. 166 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,560 Roman Catholic is a misnomer because Catholic means 167 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:44,920 university, universal Roman means particular. 168 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:47,560 It just, it's an absurd thing to say. 169 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:50,440 We believe in a, in a particular location of the universal 170 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,560 church. No, we believe in the one holy 171 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:58,000 Catholic Church, that there is only one body of Christ and that 172 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,400 in that body we are interdependent. 173 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,160 And so we need to see, you need to see yourself. 174 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,440 I need to see myself as part of the body. 175 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:11,080 And that if we fail, it's not just us that's impacted, it's 176 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,600 the entire community. Second thing I want you to see 177 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,000 from this text, it's just a helpful reminder that the 178 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,720 enemies of God listen to me. They never win. 179 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:26,080 They never beat us, never. The enemies of God have never 180 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:27,960 been victorious over God's people. 181 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,680 The only thing that has ever happened is that God's people 182 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:33,360 have lost. Do you know the difference? 183 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,440 You know the difference when? When you lose the game versus 184 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,440 somebody winning the game or beating you, God's victory over 185 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,440 his enemies is always sure. It's always certain. 186 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,920 The only thing that can stop the people of God being triumphant, 187 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,600 being victorious, is that we have sin within our camp that 188 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,240 compromises our strength. He says you cannot stand. 189 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,480 He says in other places when you go in, no one will be able to 190 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,520 stand against you. So well, how do we square those 191 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,680 things? The the answer is, the only 192 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,880 weakening thing to the people of God is never the enemies of God. 193 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,560 It's always the compromise within the people. 194 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,440 Amorites never win against Israel. 195 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:21,600 Israel loses fights by acting like the world and surrendering 196 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:24,560 the miracle of divine assistance. 197 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:27,800 And so listen to me, brothers and sisters, an obedient church, 198 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,680 in the history of the world, an obedient church has never lost. 199 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:36,480 Even when it's a weak but obedient church and people are 200 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,960 being martyred, we still win. One of the early church fathers 201 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:43,000 said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the 202 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:44,720 church. Anytime somebody gives the good 203 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,360 testimony of laying down their life for the faith, that's still 204 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:52,680 victory in the eyes of the Lord. It has never happened that we 205 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:56,280 have not won. It has happened repeatedly that 206 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:01,000 we gave away the victory by embracing worldly things. 207 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:06,840 And so we have, we have only ever surrendered voluntarily 208 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:11,040 ground that God has given to us. A faithful and obedient church 209 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:13,160 never loses. A faithful and obedient Israel 210 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:15,960 never loses. It's only a disobedient people 211 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,600 that God brings judgment on. The Third Point I want to make 212 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:24,040 from this text is the compound consequences of sin. 213 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:28,880 OK, so it's interesting Aiken sins and it impacts the entirety 214 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:32,160 of the body. And then in verse 2 it says that 215 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,880 Joshua sins spies in to spy out AI. 216 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:36,440 They come back and they say it's very small. 217 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:38,880 We can take it just 3000 people, it'll be fine. 218 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,560 You know what we don't read. That's very conspicuous. 219 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:44,960 We don't read. And so Joshua went and inquired 220 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,520 of the Lord and said, hey, this is the testimony that only a few 221 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,480 of us need to go. Is that right or is there a 222 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:51,720 different way you want to go about it? 223 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:53,960 He doesn't do that. He just goes forward. 224 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:58,720 It's like the you, you make this one compromise and then all of 225 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,640 the normal things, the normal parts of life with God just go 226 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,160 out the window. How bizarre is it that the 227 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,440 commander of Israel doesn't inquire of the Lord. 228 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,600 So let me what do you think would have happened if Joshua 229 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,160 would have said there He doesn't know that a can ascend and so 230 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,320 they're they're they've become devoted to destruction. 231 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:20,040 What would have happened if Joshua would have said, Lord, is 232 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:22,160 this what we should do? Should we go up this way? 233 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:24,440 I think there's every expectation that God would have 234 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,840 said, no, don't do it because you're going to lose because 235 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:31,240 there's there's compromise. But not only is there a 236 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:37,120 compromise, there's also that that that sin leads to leads to 237 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,320 consequences that have compounded. 238 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:43,480 And so they don't reach out and therefore they lose two things. 239 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:47,840 They lose 36 human souls and then they lose the mystique of 240 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,800 invincibility. The Canaanites know they can be 241 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:54,680 beaten now, right before it's like nobody, nobody can stand 242 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:56,760 before these people. And they were right to think 243 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:58,320 that. But now they've, they've beaten 244 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,000 them. And Joshua says now they're 245 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:01,800 they're all going to know that we're vincible. 246 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,280 We're we're very vincible. I don't know if vincible is a 247 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:08,680 word or not, but it should be. OK, so the, the point is when 248 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:11,640 there's compromise in the community of faith, then the 249 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,800 basics of our faith begin to fail. 250 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:16,720 Like we, we've embraced the world and so we, we just 251 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,520 completely abandoned some of the most basic things. 252 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,440 They don't inquire. The Lord gentlemen, let me, let 253 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,480 me, let me exhort you don't do it on. 254 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:29,320 I'm not going to do it Monday, 'cause Monday's my birthday, but 255 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,440 let's all do it Tuesday. Let's stay married to our wives, 256 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:34,400 but let's just not talk to them all day. 257 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,640 Let's don't ask their opinion, let's don't spend time with 258 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:38,640 them. Let's don't hold their hand, 259 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:40,200 let's don't touch them, let's don't look at them. 260 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,960 Let's just do our thing and see if that works, right? 261 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,040 No, that's just basic life with a bride, right? 262 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,880 Talk to her, right? Be around her. 263 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,320 It's the same thing with the Lord that we are. 264 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,200 Yes, we're in covenant community with him. 265 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,520 And then we're also to be men and women of prayer and like 266 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,640 God, we need direction. We need, there's a, there's a 267 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:02,480 fight here. And so we need to inquire. 268 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:04,000 We need to know what God is like. 269 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:09,000 It is, it's a phenomenal thing to me that they compromise in 270 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,680 this one way. And then there's compound 271 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,640 consequences of of those other things. 272 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:22,440 And so it's it's helpful for us to see that that sin, sin always 273 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:27,040 has further impact. So fourth thing, the lots never 274 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,920 lie. This is kind of amazing. 275 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,520 Imagine for a moment that you're an Israelite, right? 276 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:38,440 And you're told we lost a battle because somebody here in this 277 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:42,960 room has compromised, somebody has sold us out, right? 278 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,240 And we start looking around, Who's it going to be right? 279 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:46,520 Is it me? Is it you? 280 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,600 Who is it right? And so we start to look around 281 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:51,520 like anybody would. And we're going to cast lots 282 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,320 and, and the Lord is going to reveal by lot. 283 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:56,120 I fancy if you think about it for a moment, if you've been 284 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:59,840 tracking with the story that if you were told as an Israelite, 285 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,560 there's somebody in the camp that has a little bit of Jericho 286 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:05,880 with them. And therefore we're all 287 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,600 compromised. We have to root out whoever 288 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,360 among us has a little bit of Jericho in US. 289 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:15,040 Who is the very first person that we're all going to pick? 290 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,520 It's Rahab the prostitute. Of course it is. 291 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:24,000 It's the woman from Jericho. It's the Jericho lady, right? 292 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,920 If we, if we just were, were trusting our own judgment, we 293 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:34,400 would have a predisposed prejudice against Rahab, the 294 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,400 Jericho prostitute. And if we knew our Bibles really 295 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:42,800 well, like I'm sure we all do, we would have a predisposed pass 296 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:48,200 to a particular tribe, the tribe over which was prophesied that 297 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:51,760 the scepter would not depart from this tribe until he comes 298 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:53,960 to whom it belongs, namely the tribe of Judah. 299 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,360 We would, we would have a tendency to look at tribes like 300 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,680 Judah, the tribes of the Levites, that the priestly 301 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:02,800 tribe, the kingly tribe, and we would tend to want to give them 302 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:07,599 an absolute pass, right. If anybody is suspect, it's got 303 00:17:07,599 --> 00:17:11,520 to be, it's got to be Rahab the prostitute. 304 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:16,680 Well, the fact is, if we judge by worldly standards, we would 305 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:20,359 suspect Rahab and we would give a pass to Judah. 306 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:22,800 And it's the exact opposite thing that happens. 307 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:27,480 Rahab is innocent and it's the kingly tribe, a man among the 308 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,200 kingly tribe who is guilty of the great sin. 309 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,760 So brothers and sisters, this is the reason I said a couple weeks 310 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,840 ago that when Jesus shows up to Joshua and Joshua says, are you 311 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,080 for us or for our enemies? And Jesus said, say it with me. 312 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:44,800 No, I'm not. I'm the commander of the Lord's 313 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,360 army. And I told you that we would see 314 00:17:47,360 --> 00:17:49,920 a a greater depth of what that means. 315 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:53,760 And this is it, that at that moment he's standing on the cusp 316 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,160 of the fall of Jericho. And Joshua says, Lord, are you 317 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,720 for us or are you for them? And Jesus says no, because I 318 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,120 have a faithful and a loyal woman in there with a household 319 00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:05,720 that's going to be with me forever. 320 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:11,360 And then I have compromised, broken, rebellious people on 321 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:13,480 this side. And so I'm not for them. 322 00:18:13,480 --> 00:18:16,640 I'm not for you. You guys can be with me. 323 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:19,880 The answer is no. So you have the Jericho 324 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,720 prostitute who is much more suited to rise up by faith and 325 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,320 take dominion upon the earth and take possession of what God has 326 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,960 promised. And then you have a son of the 327 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:34,480 royal tribe in Israel that is ill suited to receive the 328 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,400 inheritance. Isn't that marvellous? 329 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,960 Jesus has some people that are not yet in covenant with him. 330 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,680 And then there are some people styling themselves as Christians 331 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,320 within the covenant community that are very much not his 332 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,320 people, not fit to be his people. 333 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,280 So it's just helpful for us to remember. 334 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:59,120 It's helpful for us to remember. OK, fifth thing is that you have 335 00:18:59,120 --> 00:19:03,320 consequences and you have conversions when there is sin. 336 00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:07,120 I wonder if you would agree with this that one of the greatest 337 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:12,480 kindnesses God ever bestows upon people is to expose sin that 338 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:16,960 you're too ashamed to repent of. Now I don't want to see a show 339 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,120 of hands, but mine is in the air if I'm answering this question. 340 00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:25,400 Have you ever been too ashamed of sin to repent, to just 341 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,840 acknowledge it openly and say, guys, this is what I done and I 342 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:30,480 need mercy, would you please forgive me? 343 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,800 Have you ever been too ashamed to repent? 344 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:38,640 Yes, you have, and yes, I have. And sometimes getting caught is 345 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:42,400 the greatest kindness that God can bestow upon us. 346 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:48,800 And so I don't know if it feels like good news or not to you, 347 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:53,120 but it is good news that God has willed that if you're in 348 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:55,600 covenant with him, he has willed that you would be free from sin 349 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,040 and he will find you out. We're told in Numbers 3223, be 350 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:02,960 sure your sin will find you out. That is a biblical promise. 351 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,520 And so we're we're given this, we're given this promise that 352 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,680 our sin is going to find us out. And so it's, it's very 353 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,720 interesting, right? We could, we could hammer Akin, 354 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:13,480 right? You're standing next to him and 355 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,040 let's just pretend you know it's him. 356 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,880 And you're saying like, brother, it's coming for you like that 357 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:21,520 like. All of Israel is there and he's 358 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:25,160 thinking maybe it won't work. And then the lot falls to Judah 359 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:26,920 and he's like, shoot, that's close. 360 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,720 And then it falls to just closer and closer and closer. 361 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,000 And he doesn't repent until it comes all the way down to him. 362 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,360 And we might hammer him, but we need to remember that we've also 363 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,080 been in the same in the same boat. 364 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:46,080 Sixth thing I want to show you is that hard consequences. 365 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,440 There are hard consequences in the beginning of every major 366 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:54,280 work of the Lord. OK, so sometimes we can read 367 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,280 this and we could say, man, that is like that is so harsh. 368 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,840 It seems like such a harsh punishment that Aiken and his 369 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,320 and his household undergo. But I want to show you 370 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:06,120 something. There's a biblical mega theme 371 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:10,760 that anytime God does start to do a great work, there's always 372 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,840 very, very clear hard consequences at the start of it 373 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:18,760 in order to keep us on the right road. 374 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:20,520 And so I want to give you a couple examples here. 375 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,280 So in the right after the Exodus, when they're walking in 376 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:25,960 the wilderness and they receive the law and they receive a 377 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,960 command that the Sabbath is to be honored, they find a man 378 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,520 collecting sticks on the Sabbath. 379 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:33,680 It's like it's the first time this ever happens. 380 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,600 A man is out there working on the Sabbath and they, they, they 381 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,480 see him and they bring him to Moses. 382 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:39,920 And they say, what, what do we do? 383 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,800 What do we do with this guy? And Moses goes and inquires of 384 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:44,440 the Lord, what do we do with this guy? 385 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,240 And God says, Stone him to death with stones, that Israel might 386 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:50,920 know that my Sabbath shall be honored and it shall be kept. 387 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,160 Now it's the last person in the world that's ever that I know of 388 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,040 that's stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. 389 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,760 But it's there's a beginning weight that God is establishing 390 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,520 that when we are in covenant with this God, we he is, he is 391 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:10,920 expecting us to obey. You have this, the very outset 392 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:15,280 of the conquest of the land of Canaan, the first city to fall 393 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:19,320 is Jericho, and the first city, Aiken violates the command and 394 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,440 he takes what's devoted. And Aiken and his entire family 395 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,240 and all that he has, they die. They're stoned to death with 396 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,160 stones. So there's this, there's this 397 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,360 great consequence that comes at the beginning of a work of God. 398 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:36,680 And very interestingly, there is a New Testament, lest we think 399 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,320 that God in the Old Testament is a God of wrath and anger, and in 400 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:41,280 the New Testament is a God of grace and mercy. 401 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,320 Does the name Ananias and Sapphira mean anything to you? 402 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,680 That right after the Holy Spirit comes and founds the Church of 403 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:53,440 Christ at Pentecost, very soon after that the church is blowing 404 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,960 up like crazy and people in Jerusalem, the church members in 405 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,880 Jerusalem start selling their homes and giving the proceeds to 406 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:02,520 the church. By the way, it's not communism, 407 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:06,480 it's post millennialism. They know that the ground that 408 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,040 Israel is standing on in Jerusalem is about to be worth a 409 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:11,280 whole lot of nothing. And so while it's valuable, 410 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:13,800 we're going to sell it and we're going to bless the community 411 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,480 because we know that Christ is going to keep his word and bring 412 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,640 judgment to this generation. And so it's not communism. 413 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,600 They're just selling off what is soon to not have any value. 414 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:27,480 And Ananias and Sapphira concoct a scheme to sell their land, 415 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,960 let's say for 1,000,000 bucks. And then they, they bring 416 00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:33,400 500,000 to the elders and they say that the apostles and elders 417 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,640 and they say we sold the land for 500 grand. 418 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:40,160 And Peter says, why are you lying to the Holy Spirit? 419 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,320 The land is yours, the money is yours. 420 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:47,000 You don't have to give us anything but to lie about it to 421 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,320 try and deceive the Holy Spirit. That's going to cost you. 422 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:55,680 An an Ananias dies and as the men carry him out, Sapphira 423 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,840 comes in and Peter says, did you sell it for a million or for 424 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:00,840 500,000? And she said, oh, we sold it for 425 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:04,160 500,000. And he said the the shadow of 426 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:06,320 the, of the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the 427 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:08,480 door and they will bury you too. And she dies. 428 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:13,240 And it's the same thing of like when God, when God is starting 429 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,200 off of work, it's like he wants to sink down deep in us that 430 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,320 God's works matter. They really matter. 431 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,800 And he wants to be obeyed. He wants to be trusted and he 432 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,000 wants to be obeyed and he shall be. 433 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,600 And so we have all of these times in, in the Scripture where 434 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:33,040 at the beginning of a work of God, a very hard consequence 435 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:38,440 falls upon, upon those who violate the covenant. 7th and 436 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,120 last thing I want to show you from this text is that mercy, 437 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:47,280 mercy can coexist with remaining consequence. 438 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:52,720 OK, so let me ask you something. Can you be eternally forgiven 439 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:57,720 for a sin while yet experiencing lasting consequence for that 440 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,280 rebellion? Is that possible? 441 00:25:00,120 --> 00:25:03,040 The answer is very much so it is possible. 442 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,360 It's it's probable. I think that we will see akin in 443 00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:09,840 glory and I'll and I'll tell you why. 444 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:13,760 Even though he waits to the very till the lot finally falls to 445 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,600 him and he's exposed, he actually does repent. 446 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,360 He actually does. You'll notice that when Joshua 447 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:21,680 says, hey, confess your sin, tell me what you've done. 448 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,560 He doesn't say no, no, not me. I didn't do anything. 449 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,240 I don't know what this lot is talking about. 450 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:31,320 He says, look, I saw something that was valuable and I took it 451 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,320 and I he says I coveted he named his sin. 452 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,000 And so I think there is real repentance that God really does 453 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:39,520 honor. Of course, it's too late. 454 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:41,200 All of our repentance is way too late. 455 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,360 But I think that I think that though Aiken experienced A 456 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:47,720 devastating consequence in his life, I don't think there's 457 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,120 anything in the text that necessitates us seeing him as a 458 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:54,360 damned man, and certainly not his family. 459 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,160 So you, you know the story of David, David and Bathsheba. 460 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:01,840 He when, when Nathan comes and tells him the story, David says 461 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,280 that guy who would do that thing, who would steal, he has a 462 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,040 bunch of sheep of his own. He steals the one beloved sheep 463 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:09,240 of the poor man and he kills him. 464 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,280 That guy who would do such a thing deserves to die. 465 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,520 And then he pronounces his judgement on him. 466 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:19,280 He says according to law, that man must pay fourfold. 467 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,520 He must make fourfold restitution, which is according 468 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,000 to, to, to biblical law. If I steal your cow and I still 469 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,520 have it, I give you back your cow and then I give you 1 of 470 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,360 mine. Lex talionis, we balance it out. 471 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,720 But if I steal your cow and I kill it and eat it, I can't give 472 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,840 that back to you. And so I'm to give you 4 of my 473 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,560 own. That's that's according to just 474 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:42,840 Old Testament biblical law. And so David says, though the 475 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,360 man deserves to die, it's not an offense punishable by death. 476 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,800 He needs to give fourfold. And do you know that David in 477 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,320 his life lost four sons? He lost the baby that he 478 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:58,160 conceived with Bathsheba, he lost Amnon, he lost Absalom, and 479 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,600 he lost Adonijah, all of them to murder. 480 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:06,680 So David in that text where he says that man must pay fourfold, 481 00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,840 David says you're, Nathan tells David, you're the man. 482 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:12,640 And David says, I've sinned against the Lord. 483 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,440 And the next thing that we hear is Nathan saying the Lord has 484 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,720 forgiven your your sin. He really did forgive David. 485 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,280 We will spend an eternity with David. 486 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,760 And yet those consequences remain. 487 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,400 And so that's part of what we need to understand. 488 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:33,160 We need to have let that idea have an impact on us in these 489 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,760 ways. First of all, brothers and 490 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:40,080 sisters, that it would lead us to never play around with sin. 491 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,600 The greatest word on sin is that sin always takes you farther 492 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,560 than you want to go. It keeps you longer than you 493 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:49,360 want to stay, and it costs you more than you want to pay. 494 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,320 Sin always does that to us. And so we need to, we need to 495 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:58,040 treat our sin like we might treat a serpent in our skivvies. 496 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:01,480 OK, you follow me. Treat your sin like you would 497 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:03,720 treat a cockroach in your coffee cup. 498 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,080 But just imagine this, right? You get up in the morning. 499 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:08,240 It's quiet. It's calm. 500 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:09,600 You're going to go read your Bible. 501 00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,320 You pour a delicious cup of bitter coffee that Lila has 502 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:14,280 made, and you're about to sip it. 503 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,400 And you look down in there and there's a breaststroking 504 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,680 cockroach in your coffee cup just swimming around. 505 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,400 And you say, you know, I should do something about that. 506 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:24,760 But first, I'm going to read my Bible. 507 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:26,120 And 1st, I'm going to talk to my wife. 508 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:28,720 And 1st, I'm going to pray. Right? 509 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:33,920 No, you don't pray, you don't breathe, you don't do anything 510 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:37,040 until you get rid of the cockroach that's breaststroking 511 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:38,400 in your coffee cup. You follow me. 512 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:43,120 Treat your sin that way. We are to we are to deal with 513 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,000 sin now. And by deal with it, I mean we 514 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,720 are to kill it. The standard is to mortify our 515 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,760 sin by the power of the Spirit. Because brothers and sisters, 516 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:58,120 sin is an enemy that is either kill or be killed. 517 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,160 It's never manage. You're never told manage 518 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,880 curtail, sort of, you know, balance out. 519 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:08,640 We are told to murder our sin by the power of the Spirit. 520 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:13,240 And so let let your sin drive you to dependence upon the Lord. 521 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,880 Secondly, confess your sin early and often to everybody that 522 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,040 you've hurt, anybody who anytime your sin is public, you need to 523 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,720 you need to confess it as publicly as you have made it. 524 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:29,040 And then you make restitution wherever possible, praying all 525 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,840 the while that God would be merciful not only to eternally 526 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,600 to the consequences of your sin, which he will always do, but it 527 00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:41,040 is fitting God, would you, would you be that merciful to me that 528 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:45,080 you would relieve the temporal consequences of my sin? 529 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,520 And be gentle, be gentle in your judgement, in your discipline. 530 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,880 Thirdly, on this, on this idea is that we need to be mindful of 531 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,600 the price that others will have to pay for our sin. 532 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:01,880 Do you think for a moment that a man with a wife and children 533 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:07,200 that sees generational wealth right there is not thinking 534 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,080 like, man, what can I do for my wife? 535 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,800 Like what can I do for my kids? If I just take this like there's 536 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,560 no, there's nothing in the text that says Aiken just wanted to 537 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,200 go have his own, you know, private party island. 538 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:20,800 It's there. There's every indication that 539 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,200 he's a family man, that he's wanting to bless his family in 540 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:28,640 the long run. So, so you have, you have this 541 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:33,000 opportunity for him to by disobedience to improve his net 542 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,360 worth, to improve his family standing, to give them security. 543 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:40,000 But by that sin, look what he did. 544 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:44,800 He ended up cutting off his entire family line by that one 545 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,400 sin. And so part of the part of the 546 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,960 lie that Satan loves to tell us and part of the lie that we love 547 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:54,680 to believe is that my sin can just remain a private thing that 548 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,840 only impacts me. And the greatest way that we 549 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,880 could see that that cannot be true is what did it cost God to 550 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,920 be merciful to even one of your smallest sins? 551 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:11,800 It cost the blood of his Son. So we need to be mindful of the 552 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:16,000 price that others will have to pay when we walk in sin. 553 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:20,040 Fourthly, and lastly, we we need to remember that the promise of 554 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:21,920 sin. This is an amazing thing to 555 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,720 think about. The promise of sin pales in 556 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,160 comparison to the reward of faithful obedience. 557 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,440 So. So what did Akin get? 558 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:36,840 What did he get when he when he coveted the goods? 559 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,800 Well, he got sweet new duds. He got a pound and a quarter of 560 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,560 gold and he got just under 5 lbs of silver. 561 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:46,920 And what did he do with it? Nothing. 562 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:48,640 He buried. He had to dig a hole. 563 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,720 It cost him more work. He had to bury it in his tent. 564 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:57,040 It didn't benefit it him at all. It taken for blessing, but it 565 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,480 ended up being a curse. This is like if you've ever seen 566 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:01,480 that, which I'm not recommending it, but if you ever seen the 567 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,200 movie No Country for Old men, that's Aiken's experience. 568 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,560 You see this, you see the suitcase and in it is 569 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,080 generational wealth. It's a game changing one day of 570 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,480 wealth and you take it, But instead of it being a blessing, 571 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:19,680 it is the suitcase that marks you out to be haunted until you 572 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,440 die. That's the that's the theme 573 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,720 here. Consequently, or conversely, if 574 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:28,520 Aiken had said, you know, that would be really awesome to have, 575 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,960 but God has said no, if he would have held held fast and 576 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,160 obedience, he would have been part of countless victories in 577 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:40,000 Israel in the conquest that God didn't say all of the proceeds 578 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,960 go into the temple. You can keep spoils of war after 579 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,320 countless victories that Israel enjoyed. 580 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:51,760 And so untold wealth is just waiting for Aiken to be patient 581 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:57,240 and to trust and to obey. Untold wealth awaited all the 582 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:01,400 men who left what God told them to leave and took what God told 583 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,120 them to take everywhere else. So it's like a sirens song. 584 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:09,440 The world always offers us untold pleasure, untold wealth, 585 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,840 untold experience. But when we listen and we take 586 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,880 the bait, our ships are wrecked upon the rocks. 587 00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:17,640 It's a pipe dream. It's not. 588 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,240 It will not deliver. But if we tie ourselves to the 589 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:25,040 mast of obedient faith, we will make it home unscathed. 590 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,240 And brothers and sisters, Ithaca awaits. 591 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,240 And fair Penelope awaits as well. 592 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:34,400 This table is not just a promise of future blessing. 593 00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,440 This table is the very fulfillment and enjoyment of a 594 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:40,880 greater possession than can be imagined. 595 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,920 Will it be better when the Kingdom is fully established? 596 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,400 Of course. But it's fully here right now. 597 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,320 You offer the man who knows the Lord of this Table 2 doors 598 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,360 behind door #1 He can have every gold bar in the nation. 599 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:59,600 Behind door #2 is the Lord's table and all that it offers. 600 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:03,720 And let him choose one, one door for the man who knew what is 601 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:05,800 here. Offered what I'm about to offer 602 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,159 to you, there would be no hesitation. 603 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:12,600 Door #2 is higher, it is better, it is infinitely more valuable 604 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,920 in its pleasures. Dwarf all others. 605 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,679 And it is that door, brothers and sisters, that I get to offer 606 00:34:20,679 --> 00:34:22,360 to you today. And so let me ask you, will you 607 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,360 take it? Will you forsake the world by 608 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,560 comparison to have this table of great price? 609 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:32,040 Would you sell all you have, even your eternal soul, to have 610 00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,520 Christ as your Lord and as your treasure? 611 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,880 And if so, then I have great, great news for you. 612 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:42,080 He bids you let go of all of of all of that so that you might 613 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:46,159 hold on to him by faith alone. But in exchange, when it's all 614 00:34:46,159 --> 00:34:51,280 said and done with Christ, you will be given all things by 615 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,480 grace. Our Father is always this way. 616 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,760 If he is your great delight, then you are given all other 617 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,000 delights as well, because he is the Father of delight. 618 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,160 So if you want Christ, he is here offered to you to receive. 619 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,680 So come and welcome to King Jesus. 620 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,280 Let me pray for us, Father. We love you. 621 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:16,760 And we do pray, Lord, that this text would have a sanctifying 622 00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:22,360 work in US and that this table would have a sanctifying work in 623 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:24,240 US. That we would see here as we 624 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:28,280 take up the bread, the broken body of Christ, as we take up 625 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,160 the wine, his blood shed for the forgiveness of sin. 626 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,720 With the with the tale of Aiken echoing in our ears of a man who 627 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:39,240 made one bad decision and it cost him and his people their 628 00:35:39,240 --> 00:35:45,520 lives and it cost his nation a compromising weakness and, and, 629 00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:48,720 and loss. God that we would take all of 630 00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:52,880 these things as just the reminder that our sin is not to 631 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,200 be played with, but it is to be repented of. 632 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,320 It is to be mortified. And so, Lord, for those of us 633 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,720 who are here today with tender consciences and any reminder of 634 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:05,160 sin is like a a gash and an open wound. 635 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:10,040 I pray that the healing word of your gospel, the God, the the 636 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:14,480 word of mercy, the word of grace, the word of pardon that's 637 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:17,280 full and free. In short, the word that is 638 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:20,440 offered at this table when we come eating and drinking and 639 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,600 remembrance of Christ. I pray that that would build us 640 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:26,360 up, that it would give us peace knowing that all sin that is 641 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:31,040 confessed is justly forgiven by the God of heaven in the name of 642 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,200 Christ. And so would you minister to us 643 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:38,320 here at the table, make us free from guilt and shame, and make 644 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,640 us free, Lord, from the power of sin in our lives. 645 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:42,880 We ask it in Jesus name, Amen.