A Sermon Outline By BILL PRATER

FROM HERO TO ZERO

Joshua 6:27 & 7:6

What one thing could of had such a dramatic impact upon the life of Joshua? What is it that could have
brought him from the heights of exaltation to the depths of humiliation in such a short period of time? In
one word, it was SIN!

I want to be careful to note that Joshua did not personally commit the sin, but Joshua was still devastated
nonetheless. And it is that devastation, that going from hero to zero as the leader of the nation of Israel, that
going from victory to defeat, that illustrates what sin can do in the life of the child of God. One moment
we're on top of the world spiritually and the next moment, we're having to reach up to touch bottom.
Ironically enough, Moses described the land of Canaan as "a land of hills and valleys" in Deuteronomy
11:11. That statement is much more than a description of the geography of the Promised Land, it is a
description of the life of anyone who dares to step out by faith and possess what is rightfully theirs as a
child of God.

Up to this point, everything that we have read about Joshua and the children of Israel has been positive.
Their victorious crossing of the Jordan, their obedience at Gilgal, and their miraculous conquest at Jericho,
were all signs of God's blessings upon them as a people and upon Joshua as a leader. However, the
beginning verse of chapter 7 indicates that there is sin in the camp (READ VERSE 1).

All is not well. During the battle against Jericho, Achan disobeyed the commands given by God through
Joshua by taking of the "accursed thing" (READ JOSHUA 6:18). Because of one man's sin, victory was
turned into defeat. Here's how it happened:
Joshua sent a group of men from Jericho to Ai to "view the country." Keep in mind, Joshua had no idea
what had happened in regards to Achan's sin, he had no idea that God was angry with Israel. The men came
back and told Joshua that there wasn't really any need for all of the people to go up against Ai because they
were just a small group. So Joshua listened to their counsel and only sent three thousand men to conquer
Ai. As that group of three thousand men approached the gates of Ai, the men of the city began attacking the
Israeli army causing them to turn tail and run. The Bible says that the men of Ai "chased them from before
the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down."
Because of this humiliating defeat, the "hearts of the people melted, and became as water." Immediately,
Joshua begins seeking the face of the Lord and God reveals to him that there is sin in the camp. Joshua
moved quickly to remove the curse of sin from the people of Israel, and to make a long story short, Achan
was found out. Consequently, he was destroyed, along with his "sons, and his daughters, and his oxen,
and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had."

By today's standards, what Achan did would be equivalent to cheating the time clock, or keeping the extra
change at the cash register, or failing to report a modest amount of additional income. To us it would seem
insignificant, but to God it was a serious thing. It is the small things that often become big obstacles in our
Christian life if not dealt with properly. As Solomon said, it is "the little foxes, that spoil the vines" (Song
of Solomon 2:15). ALL sin is a serious thing to God, and left unconfessed, it will bring God's chastisement
upon our life.

The focus of this seventh chapter is upon the Cause, Characteristics, Consequences, and Cure regarding
Achan's sin.

I. THE CAUSE OF ACHAN'S SIN vs. 20-21
Achan's sin can be summarized in three statements: "I saw", "I coveted", and "I took." Or, "he
looked", "he lusted", and "he looted." It should be no surprise that these three statements represent
the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

A. He Looked - "I saw" - Lust of the eyes
1. What happened to Achan is the same thing that happened to Eve in the garden, she "saw."
It is also what happened to David, he too "saw" Bathsheba.
2. According to William Wilson in his "Old Testament Word Studies", the word "saw" is
from a Hebrew word that means to "look at with intention purposely; to see with delight;
to look upon with pleasure." It is not a casual glance or an accidental glance, but a
concentrated beholding of the evil scene.
3. Achan permitted his eyes to dwell upon the forbidden. Perhaps he could not have helped
but see the "spoils" the first time, but he should have never continued to look upon those
things with pleasure and delight, because the result was sin.
4. Lamentations 3:51 says, "Mine eye affecteth mine heart..." If we look at something long
enough, we cannot help but be affected. And before too long, we will begin justifying the
wrong that we do as the result of following our heart.

ILLUSTRATION: There was this woman who had a tightwad for a husband. She had to fight for
everything she got. One day she told her husband that she was going window shopping. He said that
was fine, but that she was to look and not buy. A few hours later she came home with a new dress.
The husband hit the ceiling. He said, "I thought I told you to look and not to buy!" She said, "Well,
I saw this beautiful dress and thought I'd just try it on, and when I did the devil said, ‘You need to
buy it. It sure looks good on you.'" The husband said, "Right then you should of said, ‘Get thee
behind me Satan!'" The wife said, "I did, but when he got behind me he said, ‘Buy it. It looks good
all the way around.'"

5. Solomon gives us some good advice in Proverbs 4:25-27. He said, "Let thine eyes look
right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil."
6. Our prayer should be that of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:37, "Turn away mine eyes from
beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way."

B. He Lusted - "I coveted" - Lust of the flesh
1. The story of Achan illustrates James' words in James 1:14-15, "But every man is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death."
2. Instead of singing praises in his heart for the great victory that God had given, Achan was
imagining in his heart what it would be like to own all that treasure.
3. Warren Wiersbe said that "the imagination is the ‘womb' in which desire is conceived and
from which sin and death are eventually born."
4. The more he looked, the more he lusted.

ILLUSTRATION: Lusting after something or coveting something is like drinking salt water. Ocean
water contains seven times more salt than the human body can safely ingest. By drinking it, a person
dehydrates because the kidneys demand extra water to flush out the overload of salt. The more salt
water someone drinks, the thirstier they get, and they eventually die of thirst.

When we begin to covet things that are either expressly forbidden by God's Word or things that may
not be in our best interest as a child of God, it's like drinking salt water. We desperately thirst for
something that looks like what we want. We don't realize, however, that it is precisely the opposite
of what we really need. In fact, it can kill us.

C. He Looted - "I took" - Pride of life
1. The pride of life deals with our ego. Achan knew that it was wrong to do what he did. He
knew what God had said about taking the "accursed thing", but he chose to ignore the Word
of God and to establish his own rules to live by, and consequently it cost him, not only his
life, but the life of his family as well.
2. It's a sad situation whenever we let our pride and our ego interfere with the authority of
God's Word in our life. We are not only placing ourselves in jeopardy, but we are also
jeopardizing the lives of those around us when we choose to ignore what God says is right
and wrong.
3. Don't ever forget the words of Solomon, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty
spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)

II. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ACHAN'S SIN
Throughout this seventh chapter of Joshua, God graphically describes Achan's taking of the "accursed
thing." He uses five different words to characterize his sin.

A. Sin v. 11
1. The Hebrew word translated "sinned" means "to miss or to err from the mark...to wander
away."
2. Achan, as well as the rest of the children of Israel, knew what the "mark" was. They knew
that it was God's desire for nothing to be taken. The goal was for "all the silver, and gold,
and vessels of brass and iron" to be consecrated or set apart for the treasury of the Lord.
3. Achan severely "missed the mark" when he took of the "accursed thing."
4. Like Achan, most of us know what the "mark" is. We know enough of God's Word to
know what is acceptable behavior, behavior that is proper as a child of God. To live
contrary to the revealed will of God is to "err from the mark and to wander from the way."

B. Transgressed v. 11
1. The word "transgressed" means to "pass over."
2. God had given the command and Achan chose to "pass over" or ignore the command.
3. Such is the case with us when we choose to sin. For most of us, our sin is not committed
in ignorance. We know very well what God has said, and we choose to "pass by" it or
ignore it, and do what we want to do instead.

C. Dissembled v. 11
1. The basic idea behind the word "dissembled" is one of dishonesty and deceit. It gives the
impression of trying to cover up or hide our sin from God.
2. Our attempts to hide our sin from God are futile. Listen to these verses:
a. Psalm 44:21 - "Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the
heart."
b. Psalm 90:8 - "Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light
of thy countenance."
c. Proverbs 15:3 - "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and
the good."
d. Hebrews 4:13 - "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but
all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

D. Trespass v. 1
1. When God used the word "trespass" He was using it to describe the fact that Achan's sin
was a sign of disloyalty, that he was a traitor.
2. When we sin, we are literally turning our backs on God and selling out to the enemy.

E. Folly v. 15
1. Achan could have said, as Saul did years later, "I have played the fool."
2. Sin is so foolish. To think that we can get by with it is foolish. To think that we can sin
and still experience the blessings of the Lord in our life is foolish. To try and justify it is
foolish. To excuse it as a weakness or a character flaw or to blame it on our upbringing is
foolish.

III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF ACHAN'S SIN

Sin definitely has its consequences. The song says:
Sin will take you farther than you want to go.
Slowly but wholly, taking control.
Sin will leave you longer than you want to stay.
Sin will cost you far more than you want to pay.

Achan's sin was not without consequence. As a matter of fact, the entire nation of Israel was affected
by it. Let's take a look at what sin did in the camp of Israel and what it will do in our lives as well.

A. Displeases the Sovereign v. 1
1. Time and time again in the history of the nation of Israel the Bible declares that God was
angry with them because of their sin.
2. The bottom line when it comes to sin is that it angers a holy and righteous God. Psalm 5:4
tells us that God is not a God "that hath pleasure in wickedness." God derives His
pleasure from "uprightness" according to 1 Chronicles 29:17.

B. Encourages Self-Reliance v. 3a
1. It is a fatal mistake for us to overestimate our own strength and to underestimate the power
of the enemy. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall." Israel's fall at Ai is ample proof of Paul's statement.
2. Israel's self-reliance stemmed from their belief that they had conquered Jericho. But in
reality, all they did was march around the walls, blow trumpets, and shout. It was God who
won the battle.
3. The time that we need to be on guard the most, and need to depend upon God the most is
after a great victory. We must never forget that within us, that is within our flesh, dwelleth
no good thing, and the moment we accomplish anything positive for the Lord, the flesh
will rear its ugly head and try to keep us from advancing any farther.
4. Just because God has given us a victory once, does not mean that He has imparted to us
some new source of super-human strength that will enable us to be continuously victorious.
5. The truth of the matter is, without the power and strength of God being imparted to us on
a daily basis, even the smallest temptations would be too powerful for us to overcome.
6. The victory we won yesterday will not bring us power today. Each new day brings with
it a need for new power. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:16, "For which cause we faint not;
but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day".

C. Forbids our being Strong vs. 4-5
1. Look at what the Lord said in verse 13, "thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until
ye take away the accursed thing from among you."
2. Sin weakens instead of strengthens.
3. David said in Psalm 31:10, "...my strength faileth because of mine iniquity..."

D. Engenders Sorrow v. 6
1. Because of sin, the mood in Israel's camp went from one of triumph to one of terror.

2. Rightly could the Lord of spoken to the Israelites as He did in the book of Jeremiah 4:18
when He said, "Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy
wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart."
3. Nothing brings more sorrow into the life of a child of God than does unconfused sin.
4. Psalm 32:1-4
5. Listen to Psalm 38:2-3, "For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in
my bones because of my sin."
6. It was unconfessed sin that led David to say "Make me to hear joy and gladness" and "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation" in Psalm 51:8, 12.

E. Advances Slothfulness v. 3b
1. The word "labour" means "to be fatigued or weary." In other words, the men of Israel
didn't think there was any use in tiring and troubling ALL the people because Ai did
not present much of a problem. To put it another way, the men of Israel saw no need to go
"ALL OUT" for God.
2. Unconfessed sin will cause us to become slothful in our service to the Lord. Sin has a way
of wearing on us and beating us down to the point that we lose our desire to do the Lord's
work. It will keep us from going "ALL OUT" for God.
3. As long as we're willing to give him a listening ear, Satan will fill our minds with all kinds
of excuses why we can't be involved in the Lord's work the way we should be.
4. And let me say this, God may lead a person from one ministry to the next within the church,
but He will NEVER lead them from one ministry to the pew. God does not lead from being
involved to being uninvolved. He wants His people to be involved in His work, and not
to be involved is a sin.

F. Troubles our Spiritual Sanity v. 7
1. This was certainly not one of Joshua's greater moments. He was actually blaming God for
what happened at Ai. In essence what Joshua is saying is, "Because we were obedient,
things have gotten worse instead of getting better. We would have been better off had we
not obeyed."
2. Joshua's skepticism had been voiced by the Israelites on other occasions prior to this
account in Joshua 7.
It was voiced at the Red Sea when the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming after them and
Israel appeared to be trapped. They said, "For it had been better for us to serve the
Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness." (Exodus 14:12)
It was voiced in the wilderness when they had a problem with hunger just before the manna
was given to them. There they said, "Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD
in the land of Egypt..." (Exodus 16:3).
It was voiced again in the wilderness when they had a water problem. We read in Exodus
17:3, "And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses,
and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our
children and our cattle with thirst?"
After the evil report of the spies at Kadesh-Barnea, similar words were spoken. They
asked, "Were it not better for us to return to Egypt?" (Numbers 14:3)
3. It is as foolish for us to blame our troubles on obedience to God as it was for the Israelites
to do it. To express regrets about having followed the Lord is to expose the fact that we
aren't thinking correctly. Obedience to God and success from God are not the causes of
our troubles.
4. Not crossing the Jordan may have eliminated the disaster at Ai, but it would have promoted
far worse trouble for Israel.

5. No doubt, Paul would have had an easier life had he not been so active in serving the Lord,
but remember what he said in 1 Corinthians 9:16, "woe is unto me, if I preach not the
gospel!"? Paul knew that the trouble he faced as a result of his service to the Lord would
not even compare to the trouble he would face if he did not serve the Lord.
6. What Satan can do to us is limited by the hand of God. But what God can do to us is not
limited, and He will go to whatever links necessary to get our attention and to bring us back
into conformity to His will for our life. And for an individual to live outside of the will of
God without feeling the sting of chastisement proves nothing other than the fact that they
are not a child of God, because "whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth."
7. In our last lesson we said that FAITH is the key to victory. But our faith will only be as
strong as our relationship with the Lord is strong. If our walk with the Lord is "hit and
miss" at best, then we cannot expect Him to shower us with His blessings. We can't expect
to feel the warmth of His presence in our lives when we exhibit such a coolness toward
Him.
8. A close examination of our lives will prove that SIN lies at the root of our problems. OUR
sin, not God's.
9. Job 34:9-12

G. Endangers the Sovereign's Standing vs. 8-9
1. The worst part about Achan's sin and our sin as well is that it gives the enemies of God
opportunity to blaspheme and ridicule the things of God.
2. When Nathan was speaking to David about his sin with Bathsheba one of his concerns was
the shame it would bring upon the Lord. Nathan said, "by this deed thou hast given great
occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme..."
3. The world has a hard enough time with spiritual things without so-called Christians going
about committing unspeakable acts of sin.
4. When we sin, we are not only doing harm to ourselves, but we are disgracing the name of
the Lord.

H. Demands Separation v. 12
1. Isaiah 59:1-2 says, "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid
his face from you, that he will not hear."
2. Lamentations 3:42-44, "We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not
pardoned.
Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied.
Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through."
3. The result of unconfessed sin in our lives is separation from God. It severs our fellowship
with Him.

Before we go to the last point, I want you to notice something. The consequences of sin in our life can be
summed up in one word. That one word is spelled out in the first letter of each of the last eight sub points.
That word is D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D! You and I will be totally DEFEATED as long as we allow sin to remain
in our life.

IV. THE CURE FOR ACHAN'S SIN
The cure for Achan's sin and our sin is a three step process. It involves:

A. Examination vs. 14-15
1. Sin must be rooted out of our life, regardless of where it may be found. We cannot permit
sin anywhere in our life and still live victoriously.
2. Lamentations 3:40 and Psalm 39:23-24 set forth the principle of examination.
a. Lamentations 3:40 - "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD."
b. Psalm 39:23-24 - "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my
thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

B. Extermination
1. Notice the last parts of verses 12 & 13.
2. Once our life is examined and sin has been found, then we must set out to deal with
it aggressively.
3. Failure to deal with sin quickly and aggressively will result in trouble. Ironically enough,
the name Achan means "troublesome." God had told Joshua in 6:18 that bringing the
"accursed thing" into the camp of Israel would mean trouble. And in 7:25 we read, "Why
has thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day."

C. Exoneration
1. Verse 26 says, "So the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger."
2. If we want God to restore us to His favor and bless us with power in His service, we must
deal properly with sin.

CLOSING: In June of 1989 a 19-year-old German named Mathias Rust created quite a stir when he flew
a Cessna 172 airplane more than 400 miles into Soviet airspace. Rust's five-hour trip ended when he landed
his plane near the Kremlin. Soviet officials then scrambled to find out how a teenager could slip past their
air defenses. Apparently radar had picked up the craft, but it was presumed to be a Soviet plane and no
attempt was made to identify it. Later, air force jets twice flew around the intruding Cessna, but air defense
commanders showed "intolerable unconcern and indecision about cutting short the flight of the violator
plane without resorting to combat means," the investigation concluded.

When we fail to cut short the existence of sin in our lives, the results are far from harmless. They can be
quite devastating.