← ArchiveUNDEFEATEDIs it worth it?DateFebruary 8, 2021SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonJoshua 71:50Joshua 17:22Joshua 68:20John 324:28Hosea 2:1539:40TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music*0:30okay as you heard in the video if you're just now joining us online my name is josh lead pastor here and i'm reminded every week that that we have covenant members we have friends that have been watching faithfully for 10 months online and we have some here that are new for the first time so can we just let them know how much we appreciate them just give it a quick so we can't wait one day we will be back i promise and it would a glorious reunion that will be i probably see new people every week some i see some that are new and i see some that are renewed0:51so whoever you if you anywhere in between welcome today you know we believe fundamentally at bethel that everything in the word of god is good for our soul everything from genesis to revelation is given to grow you in christ's likeness and because of that not only do you believe that we live it we find ourselves in the book of joshua1:14so today if you join me in the book of joshua it comes after the five books of moses so this is the sixth book of the old testament and this is not a book of moses because moses died right moses fundamentally at sees the promised land and deuteronomy and he breathes no more the lord takes him home and here we are in joshua1:39if you need to use your table of contents please do whatever helps you use that joshua chapter 7 this morning and we're continuing a sermon series called undefeated undefeated and some of you have made hints that i am teaching about your favorite college sports team2:06this has nothing to do with your alma mater i know who you are i'm just saying this is about our growth in the spirit undefeated because our god no matter what happens he is king he reigns so a quick story before we look at the word of the lord together2:32i believe everyone loves a good upset where where some king is in the sports world is dethroned so recently espn polled the audience and also their sports writers and they said give us a top 10 of greatest upsets in your life and it wasn't unanimous but the overwhelming upset that everyone said is the greatest upset in the history of the world happened in 1980 in Lake Placid New York2:57and it was this moment where a group of ragtag amateur hockey players made it into the final round against a group of professional Soviet hockey and if you know anything about the Soviet Union if they can do anything well in Siberia they can play hockey3:25and there was no chance and so in 1980 this group of amateur men dethroned the four time gold medal Soviet hockey team and so much so that we call it today the miracle on ice it galvanized an entire nation not theirs i'm sure ours3:52but this is a memory this upset is something that sticks out in our mind so what has to happen for an upset to happen well one the underdog has to play the best game out of their life of their life they have to play out of their minds and the stars have to align in perfect synchronization for this upset to happen so why do i give you that story because today we look at one of the greatest military upsets in the Bible4:18and it might not be what you're thinking so you're thinking okay God's people upset some other territory actually this is the story of a community that was not a Yahweh fearing community who upset the people of God it's one of the smallest battles in the Old Testament but it's the longest battle narrative in Joshua4:47and I think when God gives us length he's asking you to pay attention right God's saying this is important so read with me verse 1 Joshua 7 and in this by the way you are hearing something that in this moment Joshua does not know so you are privy to special intel Joshua 7 verse 15:14the Israelites keep that word in mind plural however were unfaithful regarding the things set apart for destruction Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah from the tribe of Judah took some of what was set apart and the Lord's anger burned against the Israelites5:41so before we look at the upset hear the word of the Lord let's pray and then we'll begin Father we have read your word we believe that your word is living it is active only your word can cure a broken heart only your word can cure a broken world Lord we need to hear from you6:10not man not institution Father we want your spirit to speak into every heart right now so Lord would you use your word to change lives Lord would you use your word to change my life and to renew us again amen for the hope and the joy of Jesus Christ Lord for those with us right now6:39that are Christ followers would you encourage your hearts and strengthen us Lord for those with us right now that are not Jesus followers Lord may today be the day where they would turn from their hidden sin and find forgiveness waiting in the cross for them Lord may today be the day where they go from death to life Lord may we see that in the midst of your people today Lord we ask in Jesus name7:07amen and amen so let's quickly set the stage really quick to verse one so some of you have been with us for three or four weeks now we're gonna recap Joshua in about 30 seconds Joshua one right you read Joshua Moses has died and Joshua is now on the stage and the Lord gives him the this verse you have on your doorpost right be strong and courageous and so Joshua's yes Lord7:37let's go do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go that's chapter one chapter two spies are sent into Jericho and of all the houses they can go into not the Holiday Inn not the Hampton Inn they go into the brothel and they find these Israelite covenant spies find this lady that looks at them and she says I believe in your God more than you do and her life8:06this lady named Rahab in that instance her life is changed changed because she chose to surrender to the one true God fast forward Joshua 6 as they promised her and as God promised Rahab they said put a scarlet cord out and out your window and when when Jericho is ransacked you will be saved all of your people and so this happens right they march around the city once8:35once twice three times six times on the seventh day in chapter six they march around the city on the seventh day seven times and when they march around for seven times the walls fall down everything is devoted to God they said kill all families all animals take nothing for yourself but Rahab was saved because she believed and if you believe God today you will also be saved and all of this is happening9:04and as all of the chaos is ensuing one man finds something that he likes and he does not listen to God and he gathers for himself his name was Achan so God is asking us in chapter seven to pay attention because before the Bible describes the battle you have significant spiritual insight very clearly here9:33we know several things before the battle of AI one commentator said it this way they said I spy this battle what do you know about the battle before it takes place God is angry against who now this is fascinating for the westerners among us which we all are I think because we are very individualistic right Achan stole God you kill him10:01but the Bible says the Lord's anger was kindled against the Israelites plural it was the Israelites plural that were unfaithful and many of us would raise our hand and say God that's not true Achan was unfaithful and in this God is teaching us much about hidden sin he's teaching us that sin is a gangrene that festers in his community10:30So let's define sin sin explained right here in verse one God says the Israelites however were unfaithful the CSB says at its core and at its essence what the Bible calls sin is simple unfaithfulness to the one true God10:55sin is the breaking of trust with the Lord it's the breaking of trust with Jesus Christ sin is saying to God God you can't trust me and by the way I don't need you I don't need you I don't need God to protect me I'm gonna lie to protect myself I don't need God to provide for me because in my hubris11:24I can do for me I don't need God to save me because I am good enough you see at its core sin is unfaithfulness and we don't like to think of sin in these terms we like to think of terms of right and wrong which is a good category to use or some of us think of categories of good and bad11:49or good and harmful and if we're not careful if we don't think in fundamental categories of unfaithfulness sin slowly seems like a gray area and not a matter of covenant faithfulness so now in our culture sin isn't that bad as long as you're not harming someone else12:18but hidden sin is devastating this is the reason that many of us this is the reason why our society does not think that pornography is a sin because who are you hurting or no one sees this is why our society would say that greed is not near as bad as murder because who are you hurting when you're greedy12:47because who are you hurting when you're greedy we would say that anger is yeah everyone does it judgmental attitudes well that's you're not harming anyone who knows your your heart pride ah this is how we as a society society can get to the point to say abortion well it's your choice because you're not harming anyone else13:14church when you think that sin is no big deal the slippery slope never ends and God says you call it what you want choice your desire but God calls it unfaithfulness and if we're reminded about anything sin is choosing less than God's best for your life and when we choose anything else other than God's best13:42it is a breaking of trust sin is a big deal that's why I've entitled the sermon is it worth it when you desire less for your life than what God wants you're not desiring God I love what John Owen says about sin he says he that has slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God14:12he who has slight thoughts of sin never has great thoughts of God because when we read this story as we're about to I'm convicted because we would say well it wasn't that bad he just he he was trying to help his family and God says never call sin anything else may we always stand on the right side of holiness14:38and you would never think it would happen to Achan right we call him Achan but the Hebrews would call him Achan Achan had a pure Israelite heritage he was the son of Zabdi you know that don't you the son of Zerah you know Zerah the tribe of Judah now you might say well I know Judah who comes from the tribe of Judah one day15:07Jesus Christ so the man who was birthed from Judah the same tribe of our Messiah he had pure heritage surely not this man it's interesting that the name Achan doesn't make any sense in Hebrew but we don't find any biblical evidence for this name ever again literally his name means trouble and that he is15:38but the Hebrew root is Kahan which doesn't sound like Achan it sounds more like Canaan than Achan I think what's going on here is Achan represents a little bit of Canaan in the people of God and God is saying no you need to rid yourself of that purify yourself there cannot be any sin in the camp it has to be identified it has to be uncovered16:08and it has to be excised there's no such thing as a little infection that's okay this is sin explained so now let's look at sin's effect verse 2 so let's look at the battle the upset I was telling you about Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is near Beth Avon east of Bethel not this church this is the promised land16:37some of you are thinking I am not going west after service and he told them go up scout the land so the men went up and they scouted Ai and they came back and they gave this report after returning to Joshua they reported don't send all the people but just send 2,000 really if you want to be safe send 3,000 men to attack Ai since the people of Ai are so few don't wear out all of our people17:07so about 3,000 men went up there and they fled from the men of Ai the men of Ai struck down about 36 of them about 1.2% and they chased them from the outside of the gate to the quarries striking them down on the descent and as a result the people lost heart heart17:37heart now this might seem trivial to you but it's not it's 36 men but it's 36 more men than died in Jericho this heavily fortified city and here we find the visible effects of sin they use this word that that many of you know because we've been working through the book of Joshua they say as a result in verse 5 the people lost heart18:05have you heard that anywhere before remember what Rahab tells the spies she says we can't stand against you because when we heard about the what your God did our hearts melted before us literally the Hebrew is their hearts are melting and turning to water and it's interesting here is a reminder of what sin does you and I were created by God to have a sensitive heart to him18:34and sin changes that heart sin creates a heart that should be sensitive to Jesus and it gives you a heart that says it's not so bad just one look the whole city of Jericho what would it hurt if I just take take this well I'm not harming anyone19:02and when we let sin into our lives the heart that was sensitive to the Lord begins to crumble and it begins to water and it begins to harden which is why some of us no longer hear the voice of the Lord not because he is not speaking but because you are no longer tuned to the voice of God within your heart19:27you choose sin and it's never worth it and it's a slow drift but it's a quick descent sin is never worth it and so if you are fearful today when you watch the news if you're fearful because of the things that you see and hear and you know God has not given us a spirit of fear19:55is that because there is some sin in your life not confessed maybe it's a sin of idolatry and we say God if you would give these leaders then our lives will be okay God if you would give me this money then my life would be sustained God if you would do and God is saying remove that idolatry sin is never worth it these are the effects of sin in your life20:25but there is another visible effect going on it's clear it's complete and utter destruction 3,000 cent 36 killed and the Bible says Joshua goes to to the Lord in verse 7 and he says Lord why have you handed us over to the Amorites for our destruction20:55destruction remember what we read in verse 1 the Lord's anger burns against the Israelites what the Israelites learned that day is something that we need to learn church I think of it like an Olympic athlete you know right before the Olympics if they allow us to have them again they test every athlete for banned substances and you know the scores right21:25they don't give you an A or F they don't say well if you have 80% banned substance you can compete it's pass fail it's either you have this in your life or you don't and in the same way your life and my life and our lives is very much like this God is saying to you and to Israel sin is on the banned substance list and when you have sin in your life it ravages your life21:53and Israel if there is any sin in your life you have failed to qualify how much sin did it take them to lose the battle of AI one man one person and it's the reminder that you and I will never win the spiritual battle alone we have to have God cleanse us22:21sin is never worth it so how much sin can you leave here today and be content with carrying home in your life the Bible says there is none that's why David he cries out to God Lord cleanse me all of me Lord may we not live with sin which is on the banned substance list22:50in our lives so let's go back to sin explained again verse 1 sin is choosing to do anything that's against God's best for your life now when we say it like that that's a lot you know some of us think well I didn't murder anyone I'm a good person well how much do you do that's not in God's best for you so our little categories of sin just God created a huge funnel for us23:15and because of that because of our sin and for Israel because of their sin the Bible says that the Lord's anger in verse 1 burned against them did you catch that when we read it earlier the Lord's anger burned against them how much sin does it take to incur the wrath of God 1023:4510 is God going to weigh the scales and say ooh Josh a lot of wrath for you but Benny pretty good little wrath for Benny right no one sin any sin incurs God's wrath upon your life and this is a reminder that God is not judgmental towards you or wrathful because he hates you24:14I'm asked sometimes well how could a loving God send anyone to hell let me remind you what Jesus says in John 3 Jesus says this the one who believes in the son that's Jesus has eternal life but the one who rejects the son will not see life24:40why? instead the wrath of God remains upon him so let me say it how the Bible says it you choose to incur the wrath of God because you reject the love of God does that make sense? like God loves all of us and he has created a way of escape for every single person on the planet25:05God says my wrath against sin but I have poured out my wrath upon Jesus Christ so to choose the wrath of God to allow the wrath of God to remain on you is to reject the love of God and in doing this Achan refused covenant love of Jesus Christ25:33he refused the covenant faithfulness of God and he said God I don't want you and I don't want your best I choose me so he accepted the consequence of the consequence of his sin and sin left unchecked leads to something in our lives that none of us want to hear in verse 12 Joshua hears this from the Lord26:03the Lord says to Joshua I will no longer be with you I will no longer be with you I will no longer be with you why is this so devastating? why is hell so terrible? and by the way the Bible says that hell is real and I believe the Bible so I believe that hell is real Jesus Christ taught that hell is real26:31so if you say well I don't believe in hell you don't believe what Jesus taught and I'm going to choose Jesus any day right? why is that? it's not the fire that makes it so destructive it's not the darkness it's not the weeping it's not the gnashing of teeth you know why hell is hell? because the presence of a loving God is not there and I can only imagine in this moment for Joshua to hear26:58I will no longer be with you it's like Jesus speaking where he says there will be a day for those who do not know God who have not said yes to the Lord who have not surrendered to Jesus Christ that you will hear depart from me because I never knew you what a devastating critique this is the ultimate effect of sin27:28I heard a preacher this week say it this way there's only one place where you don't want to introduce yourself to God for the first time and that's at the judgment seat come to Christ today come to Christ but there is a way of escape there is a way out so the Lord tells Joshua I will no longer be with you in verse 1227:55but there's a beautiful word unless unless you remove from among you what is set apart so we've seen sin explained and we've seen the effects of sin sin's effects so now let's look at sin exposed as only God can do he delivers the diagnosis and then he gives you the cure28:24that's why the Lord is called the great physician he says here is your disease and I've already provided the cure the answer for corruption in the midst of the people of God is that it must be exposed and so look at verse 14 God tells Joshua in the morning present yourself tribe by tribe and so28:52and so it happens and we see in verse 16 and 17 that tribe by tribe the clans of Judah come forward he had the Zerahite clan come forward Zabdi was selected Zabdi's family came forward man by man can you imagine can you I can just see Achan sweating thinking Lord I know29:21I know it's me and Achan the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah was selected in verse 18 and so Joshua says in verse 19 Achan my son give glory to the Lord the God of Israel make confession to him and I've heard you tell me what you have done catch this word don't hide anything29:51anything from me out of all of the words in the Hebrew vocabulary why did Joshua use that word man does God not have a way of shooting us all in the heart and I believe in that moment Achan breaks and he realizes Lord I've hid something Joshua knows he hid30:21he hid for his family's sake Joshua does not accuse Achan but he instructs him not to hide anything it's the reminder spiritually is that you are only as healthy as your secrets you are only as healthy as your spiritual secrets can I tell you a secret to help you with your secrets there's nothing in your life hidden from God that's freeing for me30:49because when I've sinned the first thing I want to do I want to hide under the bed like a like a dog that's in trouble right yeah I've torn up something in the house when the owners come home I'm just going to hide but what does God tell us he says if you would come to me with your sin and you confess that sin I will cleanse it I will forgive you if you expose your sin I will offer forgiveness31:19church why do we choose to remain in hidden sin and not expose it to the light of Christ and in this we find healing for $40,000 this is what this is the purse that Achan has acquired for $40,000 Achan loses his soul what does it profit a man to gain the whole world to lose his soul31:48and not only him by keeping his sin a secret what does Achan do he endangers the entire community we read that several times the Israelites plural were unfaithful church sin is not only an individual issue my sin is your problem and your sin is my problem32:18now I want some of you to rest today I'm not going to call everyone up family by family today tribe by tribe and say okay the Martin tribe let's go Burnham's confess your sin but the reminder is if we ignore our sin we're unloving to ignore the sin of someone that you care about is to not love them well32:48to be unclear about sin is to be unkind church we must confess our sin you and I are only as spiritual spiritually healthy as our secrets but confession confession is the language of redemption has anyone ever confessed sin I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand I'm just raising mine symbolically have you ever confessed sin to the Lord and said I can't believe I confessed that33:18every time I come to confession I say Lord why did I wait so long God why didn't I come to you quicker I've been carrying this around for for days for weeks for years Lord why didn't I come to you because you paid the price for my sin Lord you take this and the punishment of Achan's sin is that he and his family died33:47we see in verse 25 that the entire tribe of Israel actually took rocks they threw rocks at Achan until he died Achan chose death rather than life because he chose sin and the Bible reminds us even to this day it says the last verse in this chapter verse 2634:15that therefore this place is called the valley of Achor still today literally in Hebrew it's the valley of trouble the valley of trouble what is your sin? it's trouble it's trouble so I ask you is your sin worth it? Spurgeon says that there is no mercy for a34:43he says there is mercy for a sinner but there is no mercy for the one who would not own himself a sinner if you leave here today in your pride you will not leave here forgiven Jesus wants you to forgive you Jesus has made a way out and it starts so small take Achan as a reminder35:13it started with a look look at that Babylonian tunic look at the silver look at the gold and what started with a look continued with a thought and that covetous thought ended up in his purse and that loot ended up in his tent and sin always snowballs downhill35:39it always snowballs downhill so you say okay I get it but is sin really a big deal? I'm reminded that how do we measure the size of a fire? by how many firemen they send how many fire trucks they send to the fire how do you measure how serious your illness is?36:06by the lengths that the doctor will go the invasive plan of attack for your disease so how do we measure the deep effects of our sin? how do we measure the weight the eternal weight of our sin? well look at the cure Jesus Christ the son of God36:35the only son of God came and lived a sinless life he was mocked he was beaten he was ridiculed as his false king and he opened not his mouth as a lamb led to the slaughter and the Bible says cursed is any man who hangs on a tree37:05Jesus Christ God in flesh willingly died on the cross is your sin a big deal? ask Jesus how much it is ask Jesus who bore the weight of your sin you say would God go to all of this trouble for me? yes he did because he loves you and he doesn't want his wrath to remain on you37:35how do you find cure for your sin? the language of redemption is confession to pray a simple yet the boldest prayer you would ever pray in your life Lord I'm going to own my sin today God I know that I'm a sinner it's Achan saying God it was me Lord would you forgive me I know that you've already made a way38:04but Lord today I want to walk in that path I place my faith in Jesus Christ and here's the promise to you if you prayed that prayer right now a prayer like it the Bible says all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved I love that God doesn't play favorites he sent Jesus Christ38:32that we might not have to bear this curse any longer and on the cross I said that you're only as healthy as your secrets on the cross Jesus exposed our sin and said to Satan okay what else you got but the story doesn't end there Jesus Christ rose again on the third day so that not only can39:01can we give him our sin and find forgiveness we don't have to bear the weight of death because Jesus defeated death even those even though we might die we will live again this is the gospel Jesus in our place if you have prayed that prayer today we would love to celebrate new life in you maybe you said well I get that39:29I'm a Christ follower let me remind you what happens to the valley of trouble can I share one more verse with you okay let's go Hosea 2:15 says this there will be a day that I will give Israel her vineyards back and I will make the valley of Achor which means what? the valley of trouble I will make the valley of trouble a gateway of hope39:59hope I love that I love that because of Christ all the trouble that I deserve is turned into hope and for that reason I don't sing these songs with my mouth I sing with my heart for this reason I pray differently for this reason I rejoice because I was living in the valley of trouble but I believe in Jesus Christ he will turn all of my trouble into the valley of hope and for that church40:29we say it's not worth it sin is not worth it but Jesus Christ Jesus is worth it let's pray Father← Previous in UNDEFEATEDYou want me to do what?Next in UNDEFEATED →Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me
