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Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.”
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Israel, led by Joshua and blessed by the Lord, had miraculously won a total victory over the famed walled city of Jericho. That now famous victory of God’s people was tainted by the sin of one man, Achan! He was drawn by the lure of silver and gold and had disobeyed the command of God that His people were not to take any spoils of war from the city. {Jos.6:18} And as it was in that time, it is certainly still true today that if we sin our sin will find us out. {Num.32:23}


Soon after, the armies of Israel went up against the land of Ai—and they were soundly defeated! When Joshua sought the Lord for a reason for that debacle He answered saying that they had become accursed because they transgressed His command and had taken things under the ban for themselves. {Jos.7:11} The sin of one man!


Today it is, or at least should be, clear that sin entered the world through one man, Adam, just as the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome {Rom.5:12} and that sin as we know affected and infected all mankind. That is a principal at work in today’s Bible verse. And then God the Father sent one man, His Son Christ Jesus to provide forgiveness to all mankind, whoever would receive it. {Jn.3:16} All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God {Rom.3:23} so if you have not yet done so, give praise to God, confess your sin, don’t try to hide it as Achan did.


The armies of Israel now fought against Ai and destroyed it, leaving it in ruins. {Jos.8:28} Jesus has indeed fought and destroyed sin and conquered death for all who will follow Him. He said ‘I have overcome the world.’ {Jn.16:33}


It is truly imperative that we understand the relevance of this whole account of Achan to the church today—the effect of one sinner in the family of God. The church, the Body of Christ, although it has many members is one body. {1Cor.12:12} The human body, which is fearfully and wonderfully made, {Ps.139:14} if one part of it is malfunctioning—any part—it can have a tremendous impact on the whole body.



That is true in the natural and true in the spiritual! So God has made a plan…. “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” {Mat.18:15-17}


It is not about us being judgmental, it is all about the holiness of God being manifested in and through the body of Christ.


“But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” (1 Corinthians 5:11-13)


TEST EVERYTHING BY THE WORD OF GOD