Recap on the sermon series

• I don’t have to go to church.
• Failed too many times God has given up on me.
• God helps those who help themselves.

Today’s message:                                                                                                           (Your actions affect what others do)

What I do does not affect anyone else.

(Personal Story bungee jump)

It is easy to see how one person’s courage to jump affectedothers in a positive way to have the same courage to jump. However, is it possiblefor our sin to affect others in a negative way?  What about those secret sinsthat no one knows about?  Will those secret sins affect others, or will they only affect the offender?

Today we want to look at a story from the biblein the old testament about a man who commits a secretsin that no one else knew about, and we will also observe the outcome.

To give you a little introduction, Joshua is the manthat God had chosen to lead His people into the promised land.  Mosesled them out of Egypt and to the outskirts of the promise land, but he was not allowed to lead God’s people into the promise land because of one act of disobedience.  It was Joshua who would lead them into the promise landto take possession of it. 

Jerichowas the first city to be conquered by Joshua and the Israelites. The Lord had given them specific instructions upon conquering the city, to burn everythingto the ground except the silver, gold, bronze,and ironthey were to go into the treasuryof the Lord.   No one was to keep any of it for themselves.

Joshua 6:18-19

¹⁸ But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. ¹⁹ But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”

Nothing in Jericho was to be takenfor themselves. They would be able to enjoy futures spoilsof war but not here, not in Jericho it was set apart to the Lord.  As we know the Lord worked a great victoryfor the Israelites and destroyed Jericho along with its inhabitants.

This gave the Israelites a great feeling of confidencein knowing that God was fighting for them.  They may have been a little too confident as they moved to conquerthe next city Ai without first consultingGodand His infinite wisdom.  They assumed that God would fight for themjust as He did with Jericho, but they failed to realize that they had offendedHim greatly by the sin of one man named Achan.

Joshua 7:1

¹ But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

Notice how this is worded the people of Israel, implying the whole hostof Israel over a million people, were guilty of breaking the faithbecause of one man’s sin.  It also says the anger of the Lordburned against the peoplenot just against Achan.

You may be thinking, that’s not fair, that’s not right, why would the whole camp of Israel be guilty for one man’s sin?

Well because they were forewarnedahead of time that is exactly what would happen if they took any of the devoted things unto themselves.  God was seriousabout this and they were fairly warned.

Sometimes we don’t take sin seriousenough.  We think we can just do what we want and rely on God’s graceto forgive us only so that we can keep on with this repetitive cycle of sinning and repentance. 

But is it truly repentance if we keep on sinning? Is that the freedomthat God has called us to?

We have stories like this in the bible to make it very clear that God opposes our sinand He takes it very seriously.  Also, because He is just, sin will not go unpunished.  There will beconsequences.  For Achan his consequences will be more than he bargainedfor. 

Joshua 7:2-5

² 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.” And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³ And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few.” ⁴ So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, ⁵ and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.

At least thirty-six menhad lost their lives, Israel is humiliatedbefore the people of Ai, and the confidencethat Israel had after their great victory with Jericho was now depleted.  This all happened because one man named Achangot a little greedyand kept back some of the spoil for himself.  He sinned against God, and he sinned against his fellow man.

It was supposed to be a secret, and nobody was supposed to know about it.  No one was supposed to find out about it.  No one was supposed to get hurt. The problem is that God seesit all and He is a Holyand righteous God.  

We thinkthat our sin or our lifestyle does not affect anyoneelse, it does.  It always does.  

Sin that is kept secret produces guilt, and guilt has a way of changing us.

• It changes our countenancewe no longer have the confidencethat we are cleanbut rather we feel dirty; then if we continue in that cycle we don’t see it as something we didbut who we are.
• it changes our behaviorand the way that we correlatewith others.  Because we feel dirty, we are ashamed, and we have a hard time being in community with other believers.  We actdifferentlyin front of them because of guilt.
• Also, when we are upset with ourselvesfor our sins, we spill those feelingsof frustration onto those around us. Which then affects those relationshipsthat are closest to us.

Sins even secret sinswill affect not only you but those around you.

We call it secret sinbecause we don’t think anyone is watching.  But the Lord knows all, the Lord sees all, there is nothing hidden from Him.

Jeremiah 16:17

¹⁷ For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.

Luke 12:2

² Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known. 

In Achan’scase his sin was revealedwhich resulted not only in the spilling of frustrationsonto those around him, but because of his sin people lost their lives, thirty-six people died. That’sthirty-six familieswho lost fathers and/or husbands, brothers, uncles, etc… all because of one man’s secret sin.

You may think that your sinwould never lead to the destructionof people’s lives.  But what if your sin caused another person to stumbleto the point in which they stop believing in God.  Then suppose this person dies in their sinswithout being reconciled to Christ.  Yes they are responsiblefor their own decisions but it would have been your sin that would have ledto their spiritual destruction which is far worse than their physical death.

One man’s singave the enemies of God an opportunity to boastin their victory against the Israelites.

Let’s notgive the people of this world, who are actively anticipating Christians to fall, an opportunity to boast and defamethe name of God because of our sins.

Sin will hinderyour testimony and give those who are anti-Christ a reason to scoff.

Your sin will affect others.  I would love to saythat Achan immediately repentedand that things turned around for him.  But it did not go down like that at all.  Achan concealedthe matter until the man of God confrontedhim about it.  It was only then that he owned upto what he did.

²⁰ And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹ when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

When all the evidence is stackedin front of you which proves that you are guilty, then you have no real choice but to own up to it.  That’s not necessary repentance, that is just being sorry you got caught.

There is a season of gracethat we are currently under. Which the Lord gives us opportunity after opportunity to repentand get right with Him.  But there will be a time when we are standing face toface with Him and it will be too lateto repent for our sins.  For the unrepented, the punishment will be an eternity separated from God.

The punishment for Achan is as follows:

²⁵ And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them (Achan, the silver, the cloak, bar of gold, his sons, daughters, his oxen, donkeys, sheep and his tent and all that he had.)

with fire and stoned them with stones. ²⁶ And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.

Don’t tell me your sin doesnot affectanyone but yourself. It affects your family, your spouse, your kids, future generations, your stuff,your profession, it affects every aspect of your life.  So, besides the thirty six who lost their lives because of Achan’s disobedience, we can add to that numberhis sonsand daughtersand future grandsonsand future grand daughtersthat were not born because of his sin.  There is no one on earthwho can trace their ancestry back to Achan because of his sin.

It is not just our sinthat affects those around us, but everything we dowhether good or badhas either positive or negative effects on those around us.  

It could be:

Good habits,eating right, exercising, stewarding well, working hard, being on time, which could inspireothersto do the same.  In return they will reap the same benefitsthat you enjoy.

It could be bad habits, eating unhealthy, being lazy, being slothful with money, maxing out credit cards, not working hard, always showing up late which again could set a bad example for others to follow.  Then they too will have the same strugglesthat you have.

My kids are always watchingwhat we do and what we say to see if the two line up.  They noticeeverything.  They notice whocomes to churchand who has stopped coming to church.  They show a great deal of concern even sadnessfor those who have stopped coming.  They often ask why?

They also show a great deal of joy and excitementwhen they see people who come to church that have impacted themin a positive way.  They especially love it when we have company over, such as amplify or others from the church.  They are impacted in a positive way.

I could always tell when I’m doing my job as a father, because their behaviors are muchbetter when I’m involvedin their lives as opposed to when I isolatemyself from them.  My actions and inactions are speaking volumesinto their lives.  What I do or don’t do is affecting themwhether I like it or not.  If I don’t give them good attention, they will seek my attention by doing something bad.

For some kids the reason they are so bad, is because they know they could get an interactionwith the parent or guardian.  It may be the only time when they hear their father or mother speakinto their lives even if it is harsh and cruel.  It may be the only attention they get.

The point is this our actions whether good or bad affect otherswhether we like it or not.  Our sin affects others whether you like it or not.  It affected Achan, it affected the thirty-six families who lost loved ones that day, it affected future generations.  Your sin is ruining your lifeand thelives of those aroundyou, and will ruin future generations if it is not dealt with.

While you’re acts of kindness are inspiring others to act accordingly.