Joshua (Part 6): Dealing With the Past — Richard Sipley

Joshua 7 and the Call to Deal Thoroughly With Sin

This morning in a few minutes I'm going to be speaking from Joshua chapter 7 so you may begin to find that place in your Bibles if you would like. Let's stop and pray. Now Father all things are from you and through you and to you.

To you be the glory and we do not want to be of those that Jeremiah spoke of who did not ask where is the Lord. We do ask with hungry hearts and we pray come Holy Spirit and speak to our hearts this morning.

In Jesus' name, Amen. There have been a number of times in my Christian life when I have gone through a painful struggle over my own sins and failures. At those times because of my personality my natural motivational gifting.

At those times I have been tempted by two extremes. Prophets are extreme. Either to get into bondage about every little imperfection in my life or to say it is too hard to be holy. Do any of you understand my struggles?

Do you understand my struggles? And that is why I am reluctant about my own message. I am reluctant not because I don't personally want to have God speak to me. I want him to speak to me but I am reluctant because I do not want Satan to take advantage of the truth of God to bring anyone into bondage when God wants to set them free.

That makes it something I have to be very careful about when I speak as I will this morning. Therefore right at the beginning of this message I want you to listen to me very carefully so that you will understand and not have Satan to bring you into some kind of bondage about what I have to say.

So I want to begin by saying I am not talking about sinless perfection and when God says be holy for I am holy he is not talking about sinless perfection. God's holiness is perfect. Our holiness is imputed through the righteousness of Christ, hallelujah, so we are perfect in God's sight in Christ.

Then God's holiness is imparted to us through his indwelling presence as he lives out his life through us but perfectly. Do you have that? Not an excuse but just a care. I am talking this morning about dealing thoroughly with those things in our lives that God is leading us to deal with at any given moment.

It's a long statement so listen to it carefully as I say it again. I'm not talking about sinless perfection. I am talking about dealing thoroughly thoroughly with those things in our lives that God, not somebody else, not even the preacher, that God is leading us to deal with at any given moment in our life.

Now please look with me at our scripture for this morning Joshua 7 and I'm going to begin reading with the first verse. But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things. They had taken the city of Jericho.

God had said do not touch anything. Totally destroy that city. Do not take any spoil. Destroy it. But someone had sinned. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah took some of them.

So the Lord's anger burned against Israel. Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai which is near Bethaven to the east of Bethel and told them go up and spy out the region. So the men went up and spied out Ai.

When they returned to Joshua they said not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not worry all the people for only a few men are there. They just decided on their own.

They didn't ask God. So about 3 ,000 men went up but they were routed by the men of Ai who killed about 36 of them. So notice that Achan's sin caused the death of 36 innocent men, fathers of families, husbands, dead because of Achan's sin.

They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Then Joshua tore his clothes fell face down to the ground before the ark of the Lord remaining there till evening.

The elders of Israel did the same and sprinkled dust on their heads. Verse 10 the Lord said to Joshua stand up what are you doing down on your face Israel has sinned. Now I'm not going to read the entire story it would be quite a long chapter but the result was that they cast a lot and the lot took the tribe of Judah and they cast a lot again and it took some families of Judah and they cast it again to finally come down to Achan's family and at that point Joshua said to Achan give glory to God my son confess your sin tell us what you've done and he confessed it he said I saw beautiful a piece of clothing I saw some silver some money I saw a wedge of gold and I coveted it and I took it and I hid it in my tent and buried it there and they went and found it and brought it and laid it out before the Lord and the result was that Achan and his family and all that he had was destroyed.

Sin's Consequences for the Community

Now I'm not going to speak about that part of this story this morning that would be another message about how our sin affects other people because it does. No man lives unto himself and no man dies unto himself says the scriptures we never live in a vacuum so whatever comes into our lives of good or evil affects other people when God works in our lives by his grace that blesses other people when sin takes over in our lives that hurts other people and there's no way we can avoid that.

People say well I'm not hurting anybody but myself but we always hurt others not just ourselves. So many times when I confess my sin to God I say father I have sinned against you and I have sinned against myself and I have sinned against my family and I have sinned against this congregation because I have allowed sin in my life which does affect everyone who touches me in some way you aware of that how serious it is.

And somebody says wasn't it a terrible judgment to destroy this man in his family. He was guilty of the murder of 36 men and so it was civil law that took over. And I as I said I'm not going deeply into that this morning but there are some things about this whole thing that I want to talk about.

Obedience to God's Specific Commands

And the first thing is the principle of obedience. It is always wrong to disobey God. Is that right. Are you sure it is always wrong to disobey God. Is that right. You're still a little weak. Are you really hoping that sometimes it's not really wrong.

It is not always wrong to take spoil. That's very interesting because finally when they had taken care of the sin and confessed it and had God's cleansing and they went to take AI. God said now take the spoil.

When you take AI he said we're for Jericho. Don't take the spoil. He said for AI take the spoil. So it's not always wrong to take the spoil. But it's always wrong to disobey God. My friends there are things that are not wrong in themselves but are wrong for me.

If God says no there are things that are not always necessary for everybody to do. But if God tells me to do it then it's wrong for me if I don't do it are you following me. I'm talking about obeying God.

We live in such days of irresponsibility. We live in days when people do not want to be committed. They don't want to be committed to their marriage. They don't want to be committed to their job. They don't want to be committed to the church.

They don't want to be to anything. If you ask them to do something it's going to take much commitment. They don't want to they want to be. They don't like this word but they want to be irresponsible. They don't want to be responsible or bound to anything.

They want to be able to do whatever they want to do. But brother and sister when you become a Christian you bring your life under the direction of God. Right. And I'm not talking about salvation this morning.

We are saved by grace through faith. It is a gift of God. It has nothing to do particularly with what I'm talking about this morning. You're saved by God's grace and the shed blood of Jesus and the work of God.

Amen. Hallelujah. I'm glad that's true. It's a good thing to have the heart established with grace. But now that I am saved and now that I'm grateful to God and now that I am his child and he is my father and he speaks to me like my earthly father used to do.

And when my earthly father said to me do that I almost said Richard do that. But my middle name is Malcolm and they called me Malcolm but don't tell anybody. And so if he said Malcolm do that believe me I what you better believe it because he meant business.

He never said it to be saying something. If he said this is what you do that's what I did. And if he said don't do that that's what I did not do now there were some times when it didn't work out like that.

But then he had a special place and he had a razor strap with which he sharpened his straight razor and the razor strap was a wide piece of leather and it hurt. And it made me sorry that I had not obeyed my father.

Anybody understand me. Many of you were raised like I was thank God. So what I'm saying is that it's always wrong to disobey God. And what I'm talking about this morning is obedience. God said don't do that and they can did it.

And there were terrible terrible results from his disobedience of God. Now when you disobey God you're always sorry for it always now it's amazing how gentle God is with us and how patient he is with us and how long-suffering he is and how he waits so long to discipline us isn't it I've I've gone back to God sometimes and I've been astounded that he didn't discipline me for something.

I said oh thank you. I don't know how why you didn't discipline me for that but I really thank you God is is so patient. But I tell you what when you disobey God eventually you'll be sorry and when you obey God you'll be glad forever.

Obedience, Restoration, and Reconciliation

And my wife and I were sitting talking yesterday at lunch and we got talking about a phone call that she made the week before last when we were back in Campbell River for a few days and she called some old friends of ours down in Gadsden Alabama a place where most of you have never been but where I was a pastor for a few short very short years.

I think if I remember correctly around two years maybe slightly more. And there's a very interesting experience anyway. She was talking with this family and they are dear friends and and she was talking to the lady on the phone.

Her husband had been on the board when I was pastor there and they just had a great time together and so my wife and I got talking about that family we got talking about their children and and we just enjoyed remembering this these people and their relatives and their friends and all this group of people.

But you know the reason we could enjoy that and that it was such a joy to us and we got so much satisfaction out of it and so much blessing. Just think about those people is because of one act of obedience because I was a very young pastor I tried to figure it up recently without sitting down and writing it all out and I probably should have but I was and I was under 25 I think or right about there and that's pretty young to be a pastor.

And in those days when you were the pastor you were everything and I tell you I was not really ready fully ready to be a pastor. I thought I was then I graduated from Bible College but they don't really teach you very much and and I really didn't love people very much then God really changed me since then and I really love you.

But you're just fortunate you didn't get me then. And so things didn't go very well. And after about two years the board called me in for a board meeting and fired me. They asked me to resign and I tell you it was devastating.

It was absolutely devastating for me and I just I said to Anita I thought I was called into the ministry but I guess I'm not I guess I I'm a failure. I guess I'm not meant to be a pastor. Blah blah blah.

And you know I'm ready to quit give it up. I can't do it. I thought I could do it but I can't do it. Of course that was right. I couldn't do it. That was right. And a couple of the elders came to me and said now don't you just leave you stay here and fight.

That would have been a bad decision anyway. Our wonderful district superintendent came in and he put the whole thing together properly and eased me out of there. But it was amazing. I mean in that board meeting I had a man tell me that one of the reasons they were asking me to resign me was because of the way I tied my tie.

You think I made that up but I didn't. It was a real it was wacky. One man said I I really was a good preacher but I was a lousy pastor. And another man said oh he thought I was pretty good pastor but I couldn't preach worth of who.

It was a bad night and it was a bad number of days afterwards and I would have quit. But our superintendent great man of God he and his wife just loved us and brought us through it and sent us off to another church that was worse than that one and with less people to believe me.

And so that went by. And about six months after that as I was praying God said to me now what you need to do is write a letter to that church board and confess to them all your failure failures as their pastor and all the sins that I've showed you and the ways you failed them.

And don't you say one word to them about anything wrong they did. You say didn't they do anything wrong. Sure they did. But God said that's none of your business. You write the letter humble yourself and confess to them all your faults and ask them to forgive you and then you leave it.

Now we're at the point of obedience or disobedience. So now what are we going to do. Well I prayed about that wrestled with it dealt with my pride and the part of me that loves to argue had to really crucify that long time ago and wrote the letter.

I received a lovely letter back in which they acknowledged my confession and said they forgave me. And then I waited for their letter of confession and I'm still waiting. But you you wouldn't know how important what happened next was unless you lived in the south.

But in the south they have ever so often things at churches they call homecomings and everybody that's ever been part of that church and all its history come back for a day. And they have all day meeting and all day eating on the grounds.

It's something else and they try to bring in all our former pastors and everything. But because I had written that letter and God had used it to bring peace and peace to my heart after a while I did get a letter from them and guess what was in it.

An invitation to be one of the speakers at the homecoming couldn't preach worth a hoot but and so we went and we had a wonderful time and people hugged us and loved us and it was great. And preached and ate and went home a couple years went by.

I received another letter. It was from the man whose wife my wife was talking to a week ago on the phone because he was one of the main instigators in getting me out of there. And it was a letter asking me to come back and hold a week-long revival meeting in that church and to stay with him with them in their home with me.

And we stayed in their home and he and I went out calling together and we prayed together and we had a wonderful time and a wonderful meeting and everything was healed between us and we became close close friends.

And I won't take time this morning tell you how I poured out my life for that man when he lost his leg and should have died in the hospital and how God healed him and brought him through it. And we've been friends for many years about four or five years after that I got a letter from their district superintendent saying that church had approached him to ask me if I'd come back and be their pastor.

I prayed about it didn't go. But I'm telling you this story this morning because I want you to know that it pays to obey God. And there are some of you sitting here who have disobeyed God. And you know you've disobeyed God.

And that thing is festering in your life whatever it is and has been festering in your life for a long time. It's keeping you from spiritual victory. It's keeping you from being a blessing in your Christian life and a blessing for God.

Because there are things in your life that are wrong. You know they're disobedient to God. You know you're not doing what he wants you to do or you're doing what he doesn't want you to do. And you've not dealt thoroughly with that disobedience.

And you haven't come to a place of surrender and confession and maybe restitution and obedience. But you better do it. You better do it. I've been in ministry 50 years since then. I wonder I wonder sometimes how much blessing there would have been if I hadn't obeyed.

But it's wonderful to sit there at the table of my wife yesterday and talk about that family and the love between us and the love between us and the people there and know how God had worked because of one step of obedience.

And some of you have people you need to forgive. Some of you have dishonest things that you have done in your past. You know it was dishonest. You've tried to cover it up. You've tried to justify it. You've tried to excuse it.

You've tried to explain it away. You've tried to argue with God about it but it was wrong. It was dishonest. And you have to make it right. And God is not going to let you be blessed until you do. And the nation of Israel represents an individual Christian who covered the sin.

And whosoever covers his sin shall not prosper. But who so confesses and forsakes it shall have mercy. And so God is calling on us about this matter of obedience and disobedience. And God is saying you've got to go back and deal with that issue and get it straightened out and cleansed and obey me.

Honesty, Confession, and Cleansing

Then there's a principle of honesty or confession. In 1st John chapter 1 verses 5 to 10 we read these words. This is the message we have heard from him and declared to you that God is light in him. There is no darkness at all if we claim to have fellowship with him.

Yet walk in the darkness. We lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another in the blood of Jesus Christ. God's Son cleanses us from all sin.

At the close of a sermon a woman went to the preacher and asked what is the matter with me. Every time I go to church I start itching terribly. She pushed up her sleeve and showed him the rash on her arm.

I go crazy trying to keep from scratching the life out of myself. I'm going to stop coming to church. I can't stand it any longer. The minister asked does this happen in other churches. She replied any church.

He asked if he might discuss the problem with her doctor. She gave him permission. This is interesting. The medical doctor said this woman is suffering from what might be called internal eczema. She's mentally scratching herself on the inside and I haven't been able to get at the real cause.

Later conversation. The pastor's office brought out the fact that this woman had been systematically stealing money from her employer over a period of years. She began by borrowing small amounts she intended to pay back.

She took more and more until now it amounted to a good many thousands of dollars. The pastor said the only cure was confession of restitution. They'll fire me she said. He replied maybe so. Nevertheless she did it.

She was fired. Her employer said he had no choice. But he added since you've made this admission voluntarily and since you say you'll pay the money back I won't prosecute you. In fact I'll give you a reference as a conscientious person.

The woman by the way was immediately cured and I haven't time to tell about the woman. But I had a woman in a church I pastored who had all kinds of skin problems but I found out she had a lot of other problems.

And when we checked with what the doctor had said to her about her skin problems he said it is an emotional problem not a physical problem. And I said to her it's a sin problem. And so it was. Then there's a principle of repentance.

Repentance Produces Restitution and Changed Conduct

Total cleansing means restitution were indicated. 2nd Corinthians 7 10 and 11 says godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret. But worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you.

What earnestness. What eagerness to clear yourselves. What indignation. What alarm. What longing. What concern. What readiness to see justice done. Here is somebody who's really repenting who says I'm going to make this right as far as I can possibly make it right.

So dr. Clarence Lieb of New York had a patient with headaches fatigue tension rapid pulse gastric disturbances etc etc. He finally suggested that his troubles were caused by a disturbed conscience but the man denied it.

Finally however the man confessed the following sin. He was executor of his father's large estate. He had arranged things so his brother living in Europe was receiving far less than the will indicated.

The man protested frantically that he could never tell his brother who trusted him completely. Finally under dr. Lieb's urging he wrote a long letter making full confession and financial restitution. Dr. Lieb escorted him to a mail drop in the hall of the medical building.

The man dropped the letter in the slot took a deep breath turned look the doctor in the eye and said thanks. I feel as if a terrible weight has been lifted off me. I feel good. I know I'm cured. I'm just talking about one little result and I'm not even talking about our conscience this morning.

But my friends if we try to cover our sin no matter how many years go by if we try to cover our sin we will not prosper. You say what can I do. Well it wouldn't hurt to do a personal moral inventory and I'm going to just read it off to you quickly.

A Personal Moral Inventory Based on the Ten Commandments

And it's based on the Ten Commandments. So let me ask these questions. Does God have first place in my life. Have I put anyone or anything ahead of God. And there's thousands of Christians that have their guilty of idolatry.

Do I treat God and sacred matters with reverence. Am I taking adequate time from my relationship with God of my personal restoration. Number four. Am I treating my family and relatives right. Number five.

Is there anyone I need to forgive. Number six of my practicing sexual purity. Number seven. Are all my dealings honest. Number eight. Do I speak the truth in fact and intention. Number nine. Do I practice stewardship in regard to my mature possessions or in my covetous.

Personal Restoration Before Public Ministry

And I want to close with this this morning a well-known pastor was in a city away from home to speak right before he was to go on the platform a man rushed up and wanted to talk. I can't now the minister said but I will.

After the meeting he gave the minister his card. After the meeting the man was nowhere around. The card showed him to be a prominent man in the city. Back at the hotel minister decided to call the man.

The man was surprised and said. I just wanted you to pray with me. I thought if you would pray with me perhaps I could get some peace. There is nothing to present prevent us from praying together on telephone.

Right now replied the minister. I never heard of that said the man. Why not ask the minister. Phone is simply a gadget of communication. You are some blocks from me but by means of the telephone we are together.

Besides the Lord is with each of us. He is at both ends of this line and he is in between. He is with you and he is with me all right he conceded. I'd like to have you pray for me. The minister prayed when he finished.

He heard sobbing at the other end. Won't you pray ask the minister. I can't talk. The man said. Well go on cry for a minute or two and then pray said the minister. After a few moments the man started first hesitantly then with a great rush he poured out his heart.

It was filled with hate frustration and failure a mass of it. Finally he prayed plaintively. Dear Jesus. I have a lot of nerve to ask you to do anything for me because I never did anything for you. I guess you know what a no account I am even though I put on a big front.

I am sick of all this dear Jesus. Please help me. Then the minister prayed again. Lord at the other end of the telephone wire. Place your hand on my friend and give him peace. Help him now to yield himself and accept your forgiveness and your peace.

There was a long pause in the man's voice saying. I shall always remember this experience. And I want you to know that for the first time in months I feel clean inside and happy and peaceful. My friend all around us and even within the church are many of God's precious children who are struggling and who wonder why they've never been able to accomplish much for God.

But there's something buried in the tent something covered up something. Some disobedience some sin something that needs to be dealt with thoroughly. Let us bow in prayer. I'm going to ask for us to stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed.

Just quietly standing our heads bowed and our eyes closed in prayer. On the right side of the platform there is a prayer room. It's been prepared with a carpet on the floor where you can kneel if you like their chairs there where you can kneel or you can sit whatever's comfortable for you.

And there's some of you who really need to spend some time in there in prayer before you leave this morning. You know that God's pulling at your heart. And so while we're just standing here quietly in prayer no one looking around I want to invite you to just make your way forward and up to the right up the steps to the right side of the platform and into that prayer room where it's private and where you can meet with God before you leave this morning and say yes to him.

Whatever he's saying to your heart whatever it is say yes Lord. I'm ready to obey. We're going to stand here for a few moments in quiet prayer.