Radical with David Platt
Sin In the Camp – Part 3
Sin has devastating effects on our lives and our community. In this message on Joshua 7:1–26, David Platt continues to encourage us to recognize the weight of sin in our lives. He shows us that sin doesn’t just impact our life, but actually impacts those around us. He pleads with us to repent of our sins and look to the Lord.
From unexpected olympic champion to martyr in China. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell’s win in the 1924 games.
In Glory Road, Radical’s new narrative podcast, we’ll follow Liddell’s remarkable journey, and discover the current state of the gospel in the countries he knew best.
Start listening to this 6 part series now everywhere you listen to podcasts or find out more at radical.net/gloryroad
Sin has devastating effects on our lives and our community. In this message on Joshua 7:1–26, David Platt continues to encourage us to recognize the weight of sin in our lives. He shows us that sin doesn’t just impact our life, but actually impacts those around us. He pleads with us to repent of our sins and look to the Lord.
From unexpected olympic champion to martyr in China. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Eric Liddell’s win in the 1924 games.
In Glory Road, Radical’s new narrative podcast, we’ll follow Liddell’s remarkable journey, and discover the current state of the gospel in the countries he knew best.
Start listening to this 6 part series now everywhere you listen to podcasts or find out more at radical.net/gloryroad
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author and teacher David Platt. Good morning, I have a Bible, and I hope you do, and I invite you to open with me to Joshua, chapter 7. Feel free to use your table of contents there in the Old Testament if you need to, and pull out those notes in your worship guide that you received when you came in. You see that it says at the top, sin in the camp, part two, and it's really part B of part two. I feel kind of bad that we're camping out on sin in the camp for an extended period of time. I really don't want you to be depressed coming to worship every Sunday. I was telling some of the staff that part of me feels like the last couple of months it's just been so heavy. I feel like I just need to get up and tell some jokes or something one Sunday, and here's the reason I'm not going to tell jokes. Well, number one, I'm just not that funny. And then, second, it's 2 Corinthians, chapter four. Verses four through six give a picture that in a sense haunts me as I preach, certainly overwhelms me.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians 4, 4, just to let you know verse 4, the verse says Paul says that the God of this world, little g God of this world, the adversary, satan, the God of this world, blinds the minds of unbelievers from seeing who God is. So you've got the God of this world in verse four. In verse six it says the true God, capital G God, the true God, is shining light into hearts. And so what you've got in verse four and verse six it's a picture of the God of this world, the adversary, trying to blind minds. And you've got the true God shining light into hearts. And in the middle, verse 5, paul says we preach Christ. And the gravity of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verses 4 through 6, is evident. There is a God, true God, who desires to shine light into our hearts, who desires to lead us to bow at the feet of a loving Savior. That is what God is doing. At the same time, there is a God in this world, adversary, who is doing everything he can to blind us from this reality so that in the end we might burn in hell. So what's at stake here? The God of this world wants to blind us, in our culture and the church, from saying that God is infinitely holy and sin is infinitely offensive in his sight and his wrath is infinitely just and his grace is infinitely precious. And the lives of every single person in this room and every single person in this community, each of our lives, each of our brief lives, is either added to everlasting joy or everlasting suffering. The difference is Christ, and so that's why I'm just not going to tell jokes, because if we don't see the gravity of these things when we look at God's word, then where will we see the gravity of these things? Tv movies, the internet. The God of this world is blinding minds TV movies, the internet the God of this world is blinding minds, and I believe he's blinding minds all across the church, and one of his biggest strategies for doing that is through little sins, through subtle sins that don't seem that big, don't seem like they matter too much.
Speaker 1:One of my favorite writers is CS Lewis, and he wrote a book called the Screwtape Letters and it's a fascinating book. It's letters written from an older, more experienced demon to a younger, more inexperienced demon about how to try to pull people away from God, and one of those letters the older, more experienced demon writes to the younger demon. You will say that these are very small sins and doubtless, like young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from God. It doesn't matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to keep the man away from the light. Murder is no different than cards, if cards can do the trick. And then he says this quote. He says, indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one, the gentle slope soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
Speaker 1:The adversary strategy is to lull us to sleep with little sins that don't seem like they make that big of a difference. In fact, I think he's done it all across the biblical South. There are many of us in the biblical South, many of us, I fear, in this room, that have just enough religion to send us to hell. And so we come back to the bottom line that we saw last week and we realized that we need a radically God-centered perspective of sin. We need that in the church, and you just can't treat that with levity. So we're gonna come back to this picture in Joshua 7 just to recap, if you weren't here last week, the story that's going on here.
Speaker 1:Joshua 1 through 6, they start going into the promised land, the people of God, and things are going great. They get to Joshua 7, and they experience defeat at a town called Ai. And the reason is 36 men die there. They lose the battle because one guy named Achan. One guy named Achan, when they went into Jericho and they took that city, took a robe and some gold and silver not a lot, just a little and he kept it for himself and he hid it in his tent. And because Achan did that one thing, one sin, they started to experience defeat. Joshua ends up calling the people of God out, tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family, and finally it leads to Achan. Achan's the one who is guilty, achan's the one who has caused all of this with his sin, and he confesses his sin and Achan and his whole family are stoned and then burned. And the whole picture of Joshua 7 is a picture of the seriousness, the severity of sin.
Speaker 1:And last week we talked about how one sin harms the entire people of God and we camped out there. We had five to get through and we got through one. And I really want us to get through and we got through one, and I really want us to get through these other four today. That means we're going to have to put our seatbelts on, especially for these first two. I want us to camp out in the last two, and so I want you to hold on tight with me. I want us to run through these first two and see this picture and then lead to the last two, where we can camp out a little bit and still get to lunch. All right, lunch, all right. One sin harms the entire people of God. Second, one sin forfeits the blessing and presence of God. One sin forfeits the blessing and the presence of God. Now we're not going to be able to turn to all these places.
Speaker 1:You might write some of them down, but there is a huge contrast in Joshua, chapter 7 when you compare this chapter with all of Joshua's life and leadership. Up to this point, one of the main themes in Joshua's life and leadership has been the presence of God. Deuteronomy, chapter 31, verse 23. God says when Moses is kind of passing the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua, god says I'm gonna be with you, just like I was with Moses. I'm gonna be with you. Deuteronomy 31, 23.
Speaker 1:Then you get to Joshua, chapter one, three times. In the opening chapter of Joshua, god says to Joshua I'll be with you. Joshua, chapter one, verse five. Joshua chapter one, verse nine. And Joshua, chapter one, verse 17. Five, nine and 17. All chapter 1, verse 17. 5, 9, and 17,. All three verses God is saying I'll be with you. Then you get to chapter 3. The people of God are crossing over the Jordan into the promised land.
Speaker 1:In Joshua, chapter 3, verse 7, god says to Joshua I'm going to be with you. You get to Joshua, chapter 5, verse 13, 14, 15. What you see is Joshua kind of in a lonely place in his leadership, where he's wondering how he's going to take on this task of leading the people into the promised land. And God comes to be with him and talks with him and reminds him that he's not alone. And you get to the end of Joshua, chapter six, right before chapter seven. Look at verse 27. It reiterates it again. So the Lord was with Joshua and his fame spread throughout the land.
Speaker 1:So the theme is clear I'm with you, I'm with you, I'm with you. This is Joshua's life and leadership, the presence of God. But go to chapter seven, verse 12, with me and I want you to listen to what God says. When you realize that context, these words just leap off the page. Verse 12,. That is why the Israelites this is God speaking to Joshua. He says that is why the Israelites can't stand against their enemies. They turn their backs and run, because they've been made liable to destruction. Now hear what God says, joshua I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. These words leap off the page. I'll be with you, I'll be with you, I'll be with you. God now saying to Joshua I will not be with you anymore unless and Joshua realizes don't miss it Joshua realizes that the presence of God is dependent on the purity of God's people, the purity of God's people.
Speaker 1:The presence of God is dependent, even conditional, upon the purity of God's people. Now this reality rings true throughout Scripture Old Testament and New. Now there's a significant difference. In the New Testament, the Old Testament, god's presence comes and goes on people at different times. In the New Testament, when you trust in Christ, he sends his spirit to live in you and the spirit doesn't come and go. You don't one day have the spirit, the next day lose the spirit. The next day you get the spirit back. Spirit lives in you Ephesians 1, 13, and 14. Spirit is in you, a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. The spirit lives, dwells inside of you, and so the presence of God doesn't come and go like that. But at the same time, new Testament picture is just as clear. The fullness of God's presence, the fullness of God's presence, is dependent on the purity of God's people. The fullness of God's presence is dependent on the purity of God's people. The fullness of God's presence is dependent on the purity of God's people. And it makes sense. It makes sense If you and I live our lives and when the Spirit of God, the presence of God, convicts us of sin and we ignore Him and we continue on in sin, then how can we expect the Spirit of God to lead us and to guide us and to empower us for all that we do?
Speaker 1:This is the great mistake we have made in the church today. We've ignored sin, we have not treated the seriousness of sin. As a result, we have jeopardized the purity of God's people and we expect God's presence to lead us. And the reality is one sin picture in Joshua 7, one sin forfeits the entire blessing and the fullness of the presence of God. This is why God has us where he has us as a church, brookhill.
Speaker 1:This is why we're fasting and praying every Tuesday. This is why I want to urge you every week to fast and pray on Tuesdays. In fact, you'll notice in your worship guide we're opening up that time in here for longer. Some other people who couldn't make it from six to eight. We want to be a people who long to be holy, but we realize we can't do that without his presence.
Speaker 1:Last week, men covered the front of this room on their knees and on their faces saying I want to lead my family, lead his church. The reality is there's not one man in this room that can lead his family apart from the power of the presence of God. You can't do it. There's not one of us, including myself, who can lead one person to Christ in Birmingham apart from the power of the presence of God. We can do absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing of eternal value, apart from his presence. That's why we're fasting and praying and it's the mistake Joshua made in Joshua, chapter 7.
Speaker 1:The sin had pervaded the camp and Joshua doesn't pray before he sends out the troops to go into Ai. He doesn't seek the face of God. Instead, he says this is an easy deal, send a few thousand guys up there and we'll take down Ai piece of cake. And he assumed the presence of God while they were sinning in the camp. He assumed the presence of God and they'd had the fullness of God's presence while they were sinning in the camp. And we can't make that assumption. This is why we're saying we are finished and done.
Speaker 1:God, help us to be finished and done with cultural, monotonous routine, do-it-yourself Christianity. Help us to realize that we are destined to live defeated Christian lives apart from the presence of God. And so we fall on our faces day after day, week after week, and we're fasting and praying because we don't want to move one step forward without the fullness of his presence. We want you, god, we want you and the fullness of your presence and we want you, oh God, to reveal any and every sin in each of our camps and in our camp as a whole. Remove them so that we can experience the fullness of your blessing and your presence.
Speaker 1:One sin forfeits the blessing and the presence of God. So that's number two there. Number three effects of sin, seriousness of sin. One sin brings dishonor on the glory of God Brings dishonor on the glory of God. Now, when I say that I'm not talking here about glory, as in the worth of God, we don't take away from the worth of God when we sin. God's worth is infinite. He is infinitely worthy and you and I can't change that. But I'm talking here about the reputation of God, I'm talking about the name of God, I'm talking about the honor of God in the world.
Speaker 1:And Joshua knew what was at stake here. In Joshua, chapter seven, in fact, you look in Joshua chapter seven, verse nine, and what he prays. Look at what he prays. This is Joshua speaking to God after they had been defeated at Ai, and he says the Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then listen to what he says. He knows what is at stake. He says what then will you do, o God, for your own great name?
Speaker 1:Joshua knew what was at stake. He knew that God's reputation in the promised land, god's reputation among all these pagan nations, was bound up in his salvation of his people, his deliverance of his people, and that's why, taking these devoted things, things that have been devoted to worship of false gods, why it was so important not to hold on to them and hide them in your tent. He had delivered them from pagan Egypt, not so they could worship pagan gods in the promised land. He delivered them from pagan Egypt, not so they could worship pagan gods in the promised land. He delivered them from pagan Egypt so they would display the holiness of God. This is why God saved them. God saved them. Joshua knew it. God saved them to demonstrate his glory through them, to demonstrate his power through them.
Speaker 1:This is where we keep coming back, through them. This is where we keep coming back. We keep coming back to how we have so cheapened salvation and the ramifications of our cheapening the gospel. We come back to this picture of if salvation is all about praying a superstitious prayer and then living your life however you want to. From that point on, if that is salvation, do we realize what's at stake there? Do we realize how that picture of salvation jeopardizes the glory of God, the reputation of God, a church, so to speak, professing Christians, the reputation of God, a church, so to speak, professing Christians saying I pray to prayer and living our lives in a way that is completely not noticeable from the rest of the world, indistinguishable from the rest of the world, living our lives like most of unbelieving America. If that is the case, what are we saying about salvation? We are saying that our God has no power over sin. This gospel makes no difference in our lives. This is the reputation of God. It is being dishonored with our cheapening of the gospel. That is being dishonored with our cheapening of the gospel.
Speaker 1:Your life is intended to be a commentary on the greatness of God. This is why God saved you and me. He didn't save you so you could get out of the going to hell line and get in the going to heaven line. He saved you to transform you, so that his glory would remain known through you, so that people you work with people, you live with people who see you, would see in you a reflection of the glory of God. If we claim salvation, call ourselves Christians and yet live still holding on to sin in our tents, then we display to the world that God is not powerful, he is not holy, he gives no victory over sin and we blaspheme his name in front of the city of Birmingham and all nations.
Speaker 1:This is the picture of fear in Scripture 1 Peter 1, verse 17 through 19 says live your lives here in reverent fear. What does that mean? Live your lives in reverent fear? Well, he says what it means. Right after that he says because you have not been bought with perishable things like gold or silver, but you have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Bible warns us don't live Fear. Living in a way that you show the blood of Jesus is not precious to you Men, women, students fear. Living in a way that shows the blood of Jesus is not infinitely precious to you. Run from sin. Run from sin because it's the blood of Christ that saved you from that and you don't want to in any way jeopardize the beauty of that picture.
Speaker 1:It's the picture in house churches in Asia. I've shared with you before these pictures of believers, new believers, gathering together to study the word all day long, in secret, at the risk of their lives. When I was training there one particular time I remember one lady came to know Christ. Somebody who was in that training led somebody to Christ in their village and brought her the next day An older lady. And she comes and somebody gives her a Bible and she's sitting there and she listens to the Bible taught for the first time, she's hearing the truths of scripture. And at the end of the day she comes to me and the church leaders, those house church leaders, and says I've become a follower of Christ and this means everything must change. And my house is full of idols, full of literal gods that are set up all around my house. She said I need to get rid of them. So the holiness of God shines from my house. What a picture. And so the next morning, before we start the training, we go into her house and we take all these idols, foreign gods, and bring them together and we start training that morning with the smell of idols burning outside.
Speaker 1:Get rid of the devoted things. Uncover any and every sin in your tent, because the glory of God, the reputation of God, is important to you, it's infinitely valuable and you want. This is the picture Joshua knew and we need to realize today. Our holiness before God has a direct effect on his honor before the world. Our holiness before God in the church has a direct effect on his honor for the world. One sin brings dishonor on the glory of God, and those are those next two. But I want us to camp out on these last two, as if those aren't important enough, but these last two. One sin warrants the swift and just wrath of God. One sin warrants the swift and just wrath of God.
Speaker 1:Now, let's just, let's just come aside for a second and be really honest with each other. All right, and when you hear this story, when you read this story in Joshua 7, it's a bit disturbing. This one guy takes a robe, some silver and gold, and he hides. It Doesn't seem like that big a deal. After all, haven't most, if not all, of us done worse things than that? And because of this one thing, he's brought out in front of everybody and he and his family are taken outside the camp. People pick up rocks and they stone him and then they burn him. Doesn't that seem like a little overkill, so to speak? No pun intended, doesn't that seem like God is a little overly severe here? I mean, this is the God we're singing to this morning about his love and him being a rock and our hope. This is the God that mandates this man and his family be stoned and burned. It's passages like this in Joshua 7 that, to be honest, there's just a great tendency for us to overlook or to discount as the God of the Old Testament. The God we worship today is not quite the same, but the reality is this is not an isolated picture in Joshua 7.
Speaker 1:Let me take you on a quick tour here. Go back to the first book of the Bible, genesis. I want to show you a few passages. Genesis, chapter 19. First book in the Bible Genesis, chapter 19. And what I'd like for us to do this morning is to be so bold as to stare the God of the Bible in the face, in all of his seriousness and all of his holiness and all of his wrath. And I want you to consider some passages that we just don't talk about very often. Genesis, chapter 19,.
Speaker 1:This is the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 18, abraham pleads on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. If only a couple of righteous people we can find there, will you still destroy the city? God says no, but in chapter 19, it becomes evident there's no one righteous. Destroy the city? God says no, but in chapter 19 it becomes evident there's no one righteous in the city. It delivers Lot, abraham's family. Lot and his family are going to be delivered out, and that's what we see happening in verse 16. Lot someone's being talked about here, verse 16.
Speaker 1:When Lot hesitated, the men grasped his hand, the hands of his wife and of his two daughters, and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said flee for your lives, don't look back and don't stop anywhere in the plain. Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away. Just get the picture. Just imagine you and your family running from a city that God is about to bring total destruction on and somebody says flee for your lives, don't look back. You get over to verse 23. By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. The Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities, and also the vegetation and the land. Now, if that is not severe enough, verse 26 says but Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt. You're running and your wife just takes a quick glance and all of a sudden, on the spot, she is annihilated. Seems a bit severe. Well, the story continues.
Speaker 1:Go two books over to the right. Come to Leviticus, chapter 10. Leviticus, chapter 10. Look with me at verses, starting in verse one. The picture here is Aaron.
Speaker 1:Moses and Aaron were the main leaders of the people of Israel. Aaron was kind of the right-hand man, second in command, and Aaron's sons, aaron's family, the priests who served in the worship of God, his two sons Nadab and Abihu. Listen to what happens to them. Verse 1,. Lord Moses then said to Aaron this is what the Lord spoke of when he said among those who approach me, I will show myself wholly in the sight of all the people, I will be honored. And Aaron remained silent. Dad, imagines your two sons, nadab and Abihu. We don't know exactly what's meant by unauthorized fire, but obviously they did something they had been commanded not to do. They got careless in their worship one day and all of a sudden, fire comes out of the presence of God and consumes them on the spot and you sit box, struck into silence. Story continues.
Speaker 1:Next book. Look with me at Numbers, chapter 15. We've seen the death penalty for a glance. The death penalty for a glance. The death penalty for careless worship. Now look at the death penalty in Numbers 15, verse 32. You may not be familiar at all with this part of Numbers.
Speaker 1:While the Israelites were in the desert verse 32, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly and they kept him in custody because it was not clear what should be done to him. You can imagine the conversation. All he did was pick up some sticks on the Sabbath. What do we need to do? The Lord said to Moses verse 35, the man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp. So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded. Moses. Is this striking you? Does that not seem overly severe? Stoned for picking up sticks? The lord says he must die. Let's show you two more. Keep going to the right and you'll go to second samuel. Go past deuteronomy. Joshua judges ruth. And first samuel, then second samuel, chapter six. Look with me at second samuel.
Speaker 1:I'll give you a little more context leading up to this one. The ark of God, which was a picture of the presence of God among his people, had been captured by the Philistine army. And it's really a funny story because the ark of God just haunts these Philistines and finally they're like we need to get rid of ark of God. And so they send the ark away. The Israelites go and they get the ark. And they've got the ark on a new cart, like the Philistines had transported it on, not the way they were supposed to be transporting it. Listen to what happens in 2 Samuel, chapter six, verse one.
Speaker 1:David again brought together out of Israel chosen men get the picture here 30,000 in all. He and all his men set out from Bala of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name, the name of the Lord Almighty. He was enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it and a heel was walking in front of it. David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cisterns and cymbals. You got the picture, cymbals. You got the picture. You got 30,000 people surrounding this ark. They're singing, they're praising, they're dancing, they're rejoicing Verse six, verse 6,.
Speaker 1:When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, uzzah reached out and took hold of the Ark of God. Because the oxen stumbled. The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act. Therefore, god struck him down and he died there beside the Ark of God. You're walking behind the Ark and you see the oxen trip on a rock and all of a sudden the ark starts to teeter and it's about to fall off. You don't want the ark of God to fall off, and so you reach down and you grab it and you touch it. The Lord's anger burns against you and you're struck down on the spot.
Speaker 1:We don't have time in all these passages to look at all that's going on here, but the severity is clear. Let me show you one more, just so this doesn't stay in the Old Testament. Go to the New Testament, acts, chapter 5. Acts, chapter 5. Just to remind you, this is not just an Old Testament picture. Look at Acts, chapter 5, verse 1. This is a passage we have studied before. As a faith family, as a community of faith. Look in Acts 5, verse 1.
Speaker 1:This is the beginning of the early church, when everybody was bringing together their offerings to help those who were poor and needy Listen to what happens. A man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property With his wife, full knowledge. He kept back part of the money for himself but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and you have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men, but to God.
Speaker 1:When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died and great fear seized all who heard what had happened, and the young men came forward, wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? Yes, she said. That is the price. Peter said to her how could you agree to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out also. At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young man came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events. Well, you would think so.
Speaker 1:Imagine husband comes into the nine o'clock service, gives an offering but tries to deceive everybody else with what he gives. Struck down dead right there and a couple of folks carry him out. Wife comes in the next service not knowing what had happened, does the same thing. Struck down dead. She's carried out. Nobody comes back to Brook Hills. When that happens on a Sunday Nobody, nobody.
Speaker 1:What's the deal? Talk about severity. Isn't this overly severe? Passages like joshua 7 and these others isn't? Isn't this punishment overly severe? And that's a valid question. It's a valid question because it's a question that leads us to the entire point of Joshua 7 and all these other texts.
Speaker 1:The reason we think this punishment is severe, the reason we wonder is that right or is that just the reason we wonder? That is because we have a man-centered perspective of sin. Obviously, if someone lies to you, if someone speaks against you, if someone does something careless to you, then would we say that the penalty should be death for that? Certainly not. And so at this point we realize the issue is not how big or small the sin is. The issue is who is sinned against. The issue is not how big or small the sin is. The issue is who is sinned against. The issue is not how big or small the sin is. The issue is who is sinned against.
Speaker 1:If you sin against a rock, you are not very guilty. If you sin against a man, you are very guilty. If you sin against a God, you are infinitely guilty Because he is infinitely worthy. Infinitely guilty Because he is infinitely worthy. He is infinitely worthy of every single ounce of your worship, every single second of your worship. And so one sin, no matter how small, against an infinite God is infinitely offensive in his sight and deserves infinite punishment. This is the picture ever since the beginning of the Bible, genesis 2 and 3. If you eat of this fruit, eat a piece of fruit. If you take one bite out of the apple, you will surely die. Take a bite, you will die. It seems severe.
Speaker 1:It's at this point people all across our culture and, I'm guessing, many of us in this room, many people in this room begin to point the finger at God and say I can't worship a God who says those kinds of things. I can't worship a God who says those kinds of things. I can't worship a God who does those kinds of things. That's evil of God, that's not just of God, that's not right of God. Ladies and gentlemen, be very careful. Be very, very, very careful when you begin to say those things, because you are only expressing the very sinful character that warrants the death penalty in your own lives, because you are slandering the character of God and violating the very holiness of God and you have no clue what sin has in the sight of a holy God. Psalms, chapter 99, verse 4, says God is just, he loves justice. Everything he does is just and right. This means God's wrath is infinitely right. It is infinitely just.
Speaker 1:We do realize that what should shock us after Genesis, chapter 3, is the fact that we're still here, eat of the fruit. You will surely die. Why? Because you ate a piece of fruit. No, see sin from the perspective of God, no matter what sin it is, in any one of our lives. One sin is looking in the face of our creator and saying you are not good, your law is not good. Your jurisdiction does not rule over my life. I defy your cosmic authority over me and I do what I want instead of what you command. I know what is better for me than you do. One sin it's what's going on in Genesis 3. God has said you will surely die. What shocks us in Scripture is the fact that we've got Scripture from Genesis 3. You realize? You realize that the curse of God, the effects of sin that we see all across the world, came from one sin in the beginning. Do you realize that? Think about that. All the sin we see, all the suffering in creation is a result of that sin. All of it, every tsunami, every earthquake, world wars that we know about, holocaust, the attempt of people to exterminate an entire race of people, hurricanes, tornadoes, schools, shootings, terrorism the whole picture that we see is a result of one sin.
Speaker 1:Romans 5 says that one sin brought condemnation on all men. One sin, and you and I have committed thousands of sins. One sin warrants the swift and just wrath of God. His wrath is swift, his wrath is just, it is right, and I would add it is swift, his wrath is just, it is right and I would add it is eternal. But the beauty of it is God's wrath is swift and just and right and eternal, but it is also escapable. It is also escapable. It is also escapable, it is avoidable.
Speaker 1:This is the point of Joshua seven and all of those other scriptures. The point is to show us the reality of the wrath of God and final effect of sin. One sin leads us to the waiting mercy of God. And the beauty of scripture, the beauty of scripture is that God does not leave his people under his wrath. He delivers them out into the umbrella of his mercy. Ladies and gentlemen, god is God, has massive wrath, but he has massive mercy and he is massively loving and he is massively loving. This whole business of saying this is the God of the Old Testament and not the God of the New Testament that we're seeing misses the whole point.
Speaker 1:Is the God of the New Testament a God of wrath? No question, no question. Is the God of the New Testament a God of wrath? No question, even more so than the God of the Old Testament, the God of the New Testament is a God of wrath. How do you know that, ladies and gentlemen? Look at the cross of Jesus Christ. It is the epitome of the wrath of God. He pours out the wrath of our sin upon his son, and his son bears the wrath of God, so that you and I can come out from under that wrath into the mercy of God. Hallelujah, what a savior. Glory be to Jesus Christ. He delivers us from the wrath of God into the wide, open arms of the mercy of God. And they're wide and they're open, ladies and gentlemen. They're wide and they're open for you to run to, for you to run to. Now. How do you run to the mercy of God? How do you run to the mercy of God?
Speaker 1:Go to Joshua, chapter 7, and we see how sin is dealt with. How is sin dealt with? You get to verse 19,. Joshua said to Achan, my son give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done, do not hide it from me. What an amazing phrase. Give glory to God in your sin. How do you give glory to God in your sin? By telling what you've done, by confessing your sin. Now, here's the deal.
Speaker 1:What we see is a confession of sin here in Joshua 7, but it is remarkably different than other confession of sin we see in scripture. Remarkably different than, say, for example, psalm 51 and David's confession of sin there and what we see in scripture and Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 8 through 11, talks about how there is a confession of sin and acknowledgement of sin that is pleasing to God and there is a confession or acknowledgement of sin that is not pleasing to God. And there is godly confession and there is worldly confession. What's the difference? What separates the two? Because they can hear it, mitch, what he done wrong. This is not the picture of confession we see later in Psalm 51. Like I mentioned, what separates the two? Because Akin here admits what he'd done wrong. This is not the picture of confession we see later in Psalm 51, like I mentioned.
Speaker 1:And I wonder, I wonder if there are scores of people across the church that have confessed sin, but not in a way that brings honor to God. Let me ask you have you truly confessed sin? And I want to show you just kind of take a broad picture. I want to show you four facets of confession. I want you to ask the question have you confessed sin? Like this Confession starts number one and they all start with R, so you can remember, start with one recognition you recognize your sin.
Speaker 1:You recognize this is when you face the facts, so to speak. You realize that you have sinned against God and you recognize the seriousness of sin. You recognize you've done something wrong. Now, a lot of people do this. This can be really superficial. This is the intellectual component of confession. You recognize you've done something wrong. In fact, romans chapter two says that all people have a knowledge of right and wrong inscribed in our hearts and we know when we do right, we know when we do wrong. So there's an intellectual component here, recognition of sin. But that's not where confession stops, that's where it starts. Recognition leads to second remorse, remorse. This is the emotional component of confession. This is when you begin to not just realize your sin, but you feel sorry for your sin and you are affected by your sin emotionally and you feel the weight of sin. Now, even here. Even here there is.
Speaker 1:This is what Paul's talking about in 2 Corinthians 7, talks about a godly sorrow, godly remorse and a worldly sorrow, worldly remorse, a worldly sorrow, worldly remorse and I'm convinced the picture here in joshua, chapter 7, is a worldly remorse. You realize, you realize that it's possible to feel bad because you got caught. You realize that it's possible just to feel bad because you know I'm a fool, I shouldn't have done that, I don't know what I was thinking and now I've got these consequences to bear as a result. That's easy, that's superficial, and I am convinced it's rampant across the church. It's when we realize, yeah, you know, I messed up, I got caught doing something and I know that God forgives me, and so I ask him forgive my sin and just kind of move on, forgive and forget.
Speaker 1:There's not a depth of sorrow there that we see, for example, in Psalm 51, there is a godly sorrow that says I know I've sinned and I feel bad not because I got caught, says I know I've sinned and I feel bad not because I got caught. I see the weight of what this involves. This wasn't me lying, this was me looking in the face of my creator and saying I'd rather deceive than follow you. This is me bringing dishonor on the glory of my God with one little sin. And you see that you. You begin to see it now as God sees it. You start to think if I see it this bad, then how does God see it? And you begin to abhor sin, you begin to hate sin, you begin to abominate sin. You want nothing to do with it. You shudder at the thought of ever doing that sin again. You shudder at the thought of the fact that you did that and you brought dishonor on the glory of God for that, and it brings you to your knees and you're crying out for God to forgive you. This is not forgive and forget and move on. This is seeing the seriousness of your sin. Have you ever done that? A depth of remorse over sin, to see it as God sees it. And then that leads recognition, to remorse, to repentance. That's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7.
Speaker 1:Godly sorrow leads to repentance. Godly remorse leads to repentance. And this is where the whole idea of praying a prayer and then living your life how you want is shot out completely, because when you see sin for what it is, you can't get up and rise and do it again, over and over and over again. And we all know, we all know it's possible. Isn't it possible to confess sin with no intent of leaving sin? Isn't it possible to confess sin with no hatred for that sin that will cause you, next time you see it, to say I don't want it. Godly sorrow and remorse leads to repentance, leads to running from that sin, fleeing sin, wanting nothing to do with that sin, getting as far away from it as you can because you hate it, you don't want anything to do with it. It's godly remorse that leads to repentance and that leads recognition, remorse, repentance to finally.
Speaker 1:Fourth facet of confession restoration. This is Psalm, chapter 51, verse 12. David says restore to me the joy of my salvation, because you have turned from sin and you're running to Christ and you're pursuing Christ and you want to know the joy of knowing Christ. You want to treat the blood of Christ as of infinite value to you and to experience restoration to him. Here's the picture from recognition to restoration. And the path to restoration is paved with deep, true, honest, vulnerable, even painful confession. God, how we need to be there, god, how we need to be there. Be there, god, how we need to be there.
Speaker 1:Martin Lloyd-Jones talking about revivals and he said these words. He said go and read the history of revivals again. Watch the individuals at the beginning. This is invariably the first thing that happens to them. They begin to see what a terrible, appalling thing sin is in the sight of God and it's the thought of sin in the sight of God how terrible it must be. Never has there been a revival, but that some of the people, especially at the beginning, have had such visions of the holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin that they have scarcely known what to do with themselves.
Speaker 1:God, bring us Brook Hills in Birmingham, alabama. Bring us to a holy discontent with sin that causes us to no longer be content with Sunday to Sunday superficial observance of Christianity. It brings us to our worship and we don't know what to do with ourselves. It brings us before God on a daily basis and we don't know what to do with ourselves, because we see the gravity of sin and we hate it and we want to leave it. God, bring us to this point and God, show the power of your presence when that happens. And God, show the power of your presence when that happens.
Speaker 1:One sin can help us to see that. It harms the entire people of God. It forfeits the fullness of your presence. It brings dishonor and the glory of your name. But here's the beauty of it. Here's the beauty of it.
Speaker 1:Once you go on that path, once you come to Christ, you trust him to deliver you out from under the wrath of God. The beauty of it. Here's the beauty of it Once you go on that path, once you come to Christ, you trust him to live, to deliver you out from under the wrath of God. The beauty of the gospel is this Once you trust in Christ, come to see sin as he sees it and run to him.
Speaker 1:At that point you were delivered out from under the wrath of God and you need no longer fear it. Ever, ever, ever again. Sure, god will discipline. God will discipline us when we sin and bring us into the image of Christ. But we need no longer fear the wrath of God, ladies and gentlemen, because we are under the umbrella of the mercy of God and when his wrath rains out on sin like we hear rain all around us now we know that the umbrella of the cross of Jesus Christ keeps us safe from it. All of a sudden, oh glory be to the God who takes sin and uses that to lead us to this mercy. We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of Radical with David Platt. For more resources from David Platt, we invite you to visit radicalnet.