Looking at Mitch and Carl out of the side of my eye right there, I thought they're in the same spot. They sat there for 30 years. Glad you're here.

I have entitled tonight's message, The Sin of Akin. Israel is defeated by the tiny town of Ai. I think that name for that town is kind of ironic. I'm sure that's not what the writers meant, but it's interesting nonetheless.

And Joshua asked the Lord why this happened. He's devastated. I mean, they'd just seen the walls of Jericho collapse, and there's a much greater victory. And now this little tiny town beats them. And the Lord told him it was because someone in Israel had hidden the accursed thing in his tent. And the Lord warned them not to do this right before the conquest of Jericho. If the accursed thing's there, don't take it.

Now in the case of One man by the name of Achan, he disobeyed God. He took the accursed thing. And Israel was destroyed because of the sin of this one man. We're going to read about it in a moment. He had a Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold. And God called this the accursed thing. And because of this, Israel was defeated by our enemies.

Now, I think it's very interesting that most preachers, when they deal with this passage of scripture, they'll deal with the problem secret sin brings into your life. If you have a secret sin, it's going to bring God's judgment and God's curse upon you. You need to get rid of all your secret sins.

Now, let me say that that's not what this passage of scripture is teaching. I say regretfully that every one of us have secret sins that no one knows anything about that haunt us as it were. And we're made to see by those secret sins that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness we have. Thank the Lord for that.

Now, before we get into the story, I want you to hold your finger there in Joshua 7 and turn to Hebrews chapter six. Verse one. Therefore leaving the principles. the foundational truths, the elements, the ABCs of the gospel. Now that's what he's calling this. Leaving the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on into perfection, not laying again the foundation. Now, if you have to lay a foundation over and over again, the superstructure will never go up, will it? He's not saying we got to leave these. He said we ought not have to be laying them again and again and again. This is something that ought to be like your ABCs. You know your ABCs. You know, you can't read if you don't know your ABCs. You can't really grasp the truth without being grounded in the ABCs.

Now, notice the first thing he mentions. Let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. Now, I believe in this story, we have a very clear illustration of what repentance from dead works means. How would you define that? You know, it's something that's not emphasized enough by me or anybody else, but it's the first thing the writer to the Hebrew mentions the foundational principles of the truth, the ABCs. The first thing he mentions is repentance from dead works, a change of mind about dead works. Now, what does that mean? I think this passage of scripture is going to give us a very clear idea as to what repentance from dead works actually is.

Now, in Joshua chapter six, the walls of Jericho Collapsed. I love that story. I love to think of them marching around it every day, blowing a ram's horn. And I'm sure the inhabitants of Jericho were freaked out when they saw this army of a million people, two million people marching around it with the Ark of the Covenant in front. And then on the seventh day, they marched around it seven times and blew the trumpet and the walls collapsed. It was defeated, not by military might, but it was defeated when the ram's horn was blown, signifying the preaching of the gospel. That is why those walls collapse.

Let me read a passage of scripture to you from 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we don't war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Isn't that what happened there? Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Any thought that is not centered around the obedience of Christ is a wrong thought. His righteousness, his obedience, every thought is to be brought into subjection to the obedience of Jesus Christ, being saved. That's what it says.

Most people look at that and they say, well, every thought needs to be brought into obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. all for that, but that's not what it says. It says every thought is to be brought into submission to the obedience of Jesus Christ. And when they blew those rams horn, the walls came tumbling down.

Now look in chapter six, I've already read this. Joshua chapter six, verse 18. Now verse 17 says, the city shall be accursed. even it and all that are therein to the Lord. Only the Rahab, Rahab the harlot shall live. She and all that are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent. And ye in any wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing. Lest that you make yourselves accursed when you take of the accursed thing and make the camp of Israel a curse. and trouble it.

Let's go on reading in verse 19. But all the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord. They shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted when the priest blew with the trumpet, and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat. so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep, ass with the edge of the sword.

But Joshua said unto the two men that had spied out the country, go into the harlot's house and bring out, thence, the woman and all that she hath, as you swear unto her. And the young men that were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had. And they brought out all of her kindred and left them without the camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein, only the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasure of the house of the Lord.

And Joshua saved Rahab, the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had. And she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. And Joshua jured them at that time, saying, cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth the city of Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set the gates of it. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was noise throughout all the country." Now you can imagine how afraid everyone was of Joshua. The river Jordan had parted for him. They come in and destroy Jericho.

But, chapter seven, verse one, the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. By this one man, defeat came upon everybody.

You know what that picture is. And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaphon on the city of Bethel. And Spake of them said, go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said unto him, let not all the people go up, but let about 2,000 or 3,000 men go up and smite Ai. And make not all the people to labor thither, for there but few. This is easy pickings. We just need to send a couple thousand there and we'll destroy them." They were looking totally from a fleshly point of view. They were thinking of their military might and their ability to destroy this city.

So they went up there, there were the people, about 3,000 men, and they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai smote them, about 30 and 6 men, for they chased from them from the gate, even in the Shebem, and smote them in the going down, where of the hearts of the people melted like water." They were so discouraged over what took place.

Verse six, and Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord into the eventide. He was there for quite a while just on his face before the Lord and the elders of Israel and put dust upon their heads. And Joshua said, alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we been content dwelt on the other side of Jordan. O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns their backs before their enemies, this small town? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and they shall environ us round about and cut off our name from the earth. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name? You brought us up. out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea, parted the Jordan River, brought us here, and this tiny, little, insignificant town has whipped us? What's this say about your great name?

Verse 10, and the Lord said to Joshua, get thee up, wherefore liest thou upon my face, Israel has sinned. And they have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them, for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have stolen and dissembled also, and they have put it among their own stuff. Therefore, the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turn their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed. Neither will I be with you anymore, except you destroy the accursed thing from among you. Sanctify the people and say, sanctify yourselves again tomorrow. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, there's an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel. Thou canst not stand before thine enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you. Because of this accursed thing, you're going to be defeated nonstop. In the morning, therefore, you shall be brought according to your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof, and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households, and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man, and it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath. because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zerites, and he brought the family of the Zerites, man by man, and Zabdiah was taken, and he brought his household before him, man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmel, the son of Zabdiah, the son of Zerub, the tribe of Judah, was taken.

And Joshua said unto Achan, my son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him, and tell me now what thou hast done. I did not for me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord of Israel, And thus and thus have I done when I saw among the spoils, after Jericho, the walls of Jericho had dropped and I was in there, when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight. Then I coveted them. and took them and behold, they're hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver's under it.

So Joshua sent messengers and they ran into the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent and the silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and to all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord. A Babylonian garment. 200 pieces of silver and a wedge of gold.

Now, I think this is so interesting. Babylon hadn't been mentioned since Genesis chapter 11. Some 500 years before, we had the building of the Tower of Babylon. Now, what was going on? All the earths make one language and they said up, let us make bricks, mortar and build a tower to heaven and make a name for ourself. And you remember that God came down and that's when the languages were changed and the languages were scattered. These men thought they could build a tower that would reach all the way to heaven. Did they believe that literally? I don't know. But what does it symbolize? This is our pursuit of God. This is our effort at reaching God. We're going to make a name for ourselves, the scripture actually says, by doing this. And what does Babel represent in the scriptures?

Turn with me to the book of Revelation. Verse three. Well, let's begin in verse one. And there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vows, and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither. I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. Did I give you all the scripture I see? Revelation chapter 17. Sorry, I was listening to all the pages fluttering while I was reading that, and I think, what's wrong with these people? Chapter 17, verse one, and there came out of the seven, one of the seven angels which had the seven vows and talked with me, saying to me, come up hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication, So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. I saw a woman set upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy and having seven heads and 10 horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with golds and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of the abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written mystery. Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

Babylon represents man's religion, false religion. And a Babylonish garment? Why did God the Holy Spirit use that word to describe? Because it's the garment of false religion. It's the covering of false religion, the Babylonish garment.

Turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 17. This is the next time Babylon's mentioned. 2 Kings chapter 17, this is while the children of Israel had been carried away into Babylon. And this is actually where the Samaritans have come from. You've heard of the Samaritans in the New Testament, this is where they came from.

Verse 24, 2 Kings chapter 17, and the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Kuthath and from Hamath and from Sepharva and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. Remember, they've been brought out into Babylon, they put people back into the city. and dwelt in the cities there. And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of the land. Therefore he hath sent lions among them, and behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.

Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Cary, they're the one of the priests whom you've brought from the ends, and let them go and dwell there, and let them teach them the manner of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in their houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities, which they dwelt.

And the men of Babylon made Succalbanoth. And the men of Kuth made Nergal. These are different heathen gods. And the men of Hamath made Asshamah. And the Abbots made Nibbaz and Tartak. And the Seraphites burned unto their children in the fire to Adramalack and Anamalack, the gods of the Seraphim. So they feared the Lord. and made unto themselves the lowest of them priests of the high places would sacrifice for them in the houses of the high places.

They feared the Lord and served their own gods after the manner of the nations who they carried away from them. And to this day, they do after their former manners. They fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes or after their ordinances. or after the law and commandment, which the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, from whom he named Israel, with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying, you shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourself to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them. But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall you fear, him shall you worship, and to him shall you do sacrifice. And the statutes and the ordinances and the law, the commandments, which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore.

You shall not fear other gods, and the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, neither shall you fear other gods, but the Lord your God, ye shall fear, and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies, howbeit they didn't hearken. But they did after the former manner. So these nations from Babylon feared the Lord, and serve their graven images, both their children and their children's children, as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.

" Now, this is the second mention of Babylon. They feared God and they served their other gods. And you heard that passage of scripture where he said, they didn't fear the Lord. You don't fear the Lord if you serve other gods.

And then the next time Babylon's mentioned, is in Revelation chapter 17. Turn with me there again. The Babylonish Garment. Verse 5, and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great. the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, and I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration, she was impressive.

And the angel said to me, wherefore dost thou marvel? I'll tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that careth her. which hath the seven heads and the ten hordes, the beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is, and yet that was, and is not, and yet is.

Here's the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, and whence the woman sitteth, and there are seven kings, five are fallen, one is, the other is not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue his short pace, and the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and he is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as the kings of the earth to reign for one hour, They have one mind, they shall give their power and strength to the beast. These shall make war with the lamb. I love this verse. These shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome him for he is king of kings. He is Lord of lords. And they that are with him are called chosen and faithful. What a description of God's people.

Look, in chapter 18, after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with a glory, and he cried mildly with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit in the cage of every unclean and hateful bird, for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, her religion. And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth are wax rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, that you receive not of her plagues. You are to stay away from the religion. You go on reading.

But the Babylonish garment, what is it? It's anything that's not Revelation 19, eight, the fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints. Anything that is not that is from Babylon. The only righteousness the believer possesses is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And we know it. We believe it. We rejoice in it. And when you take a Babylonian garment, You've not repented of your dead works. You think somehow your works enter in. If you don't look at the righteousness of Christ as the only righteousness you have, somehow you've allowed your works to enter into the equation. And you're failing to repent of dead works.

The Babylonist garment hidden in the tent. And the next thing that's mentioned is 200 shekels of silver. First there's the Babylonian garment, then there's 200 shekels of silver. Now anytime I see a number, I try and research what the number means and I wasn't looking for this. when I read it, that there is some kind of significance to every number. And I tried to look up what the significance of 200 is. And they said, 200 is the number of insufficiency. Somebody says, where do you get that? Well, remember where the Lord said 200 penny worth of bread are not sufficient to feed them. And they had several other examples, but it made sense to me. 200 the number of insufficiency. And the Lord did use that 200 penny worth of bread or not sufficient to feed this multitude.

Now, what about the shekels of silver? What was silver used for? Well, this same word is used the atonement money. The atonement money. Turn to Exodus chapter 30. Verse 11, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, when thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, when you take a census to count how many people are there, when you take a census, a sum, after the number, then they shall give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord when thou numbers them. that there be no plague among them when thou numbers them. Now, if you don't take this ransom money, this atonement money, there's gonna be a plague. This they shall give everyone that passes among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is 20 giras. A half shekel shall be offering of the Lord. Everyone that passes among them that are numbered from 20 years old above shall give an offering unto the Lord. this half shekel of silver. The rich shall not give more, the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls, the atonement money. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Now, do you remember when David decided to number the children of Israel in 2 Samuel 24? He decided to take a census. And God plagued the people of Israel and killed over 70,000 people because of this. And somebody might think, well, did he do this because he's proud and he wanted to see how good he was? No, because he was numbering people apart from the atonement. The only thing that makes anybody a true Israelite, the only thing that makes anybody a true child of God is the atonement of Jesus Christ. That's all that makes me his child.

Insufficient atonement, isn't that the message of false religion? An insufficient atonement, an atonement that does not atone because the moment I have an atonement that does not atone, I've got to do something about it. I've got to add something to it. Once again, the religion of Babylon, the religion of works and insufficient atonement.

Now, if I think that I was saved, I remember this thing of repentance from dead works. You haven't repented from dead works if you keep the Babylonian garment. the insufficient atonement, which is pretty much the message of false religion. Christ died for you. He made your salvation possible, but it doesn't save you. You've got to do something to make it work. That means you believe in salvation by works. And you never really repented of dead works. You're keeping that work with you. And that's why God's curse came upon the children of Israel. They were harboring the Babylonian garment and the insufficient atonement.

Aren't you thankful the atonement of Jesus Christ is sufficient to make you perfect in God's sight and that you don't need anything else? But when someone leaves that, they're like Achan. They have the 200 pieces of silver hidden in their tent. And the last thing that's mentioned is the wedge of gold, 50 shekels weight. Now, when I think of a wedge, I think of something triangular-shaped, don't you? Well, that's not really the word. The word is almost always translated the tongue or the language, the language of Babylon, the words of Babylon, the false message of Babylon. That's the way the word is almost always translated. As a matter of fact, Wedge here is the only time it's translated that way. It's the language. It's the tongue of Babylon.

Listen, Babylon's got a lot to say. Anything that is not the gospel of this book exactly is the language of Babylon. And so he hid this stuff in his tent. He never really repented of dead works. That's what this represents. The repentance from dead. You have a change of mind about your works. You see that Babylonian garment's no good. You see that atonement that doesn't atone is no good. If you say, well, I was saved when I believed that. Well, you believe you were saved when you believed in salvation by works. That's exactly what that means. And the language, the tongue of Babylon,

Now, this is what he hid in the tent. Verse 24. Joshua chapter 7. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, his asses, and his sheep, and his tent. and all that he had. And they brought them into the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day.

Now, I like thinking of this when Joshua, I mean, when Achan made this confession, look how he confessed. Verse 20. And Ankit answered Joshua and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils of goodly Babylon's garment and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them and behold, they're hidden the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it. Now that seems like a very genuine confession, doesn't it? It seems like he was sorry by the grace of God. It seems like it was a true confession. And I like the way it says, the Lord's gonna trouble you this day. He had to be destroyed, but perhaps it was just for this day. Because if you look at the reality of his confession, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous. So I can't say I know it's that way, but I hope it's that way.

The Lord will trouble you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones and burned them with fire after they'd stoned him with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore, the name of that place was called the Valley of Achor unto this day.

Now would you turn to Hebrews chapter nine. What does it mean to repent of dead works? And I think we can see this. Hebrews chapter 9. Verse 11. The Christ, being come in high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this building, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place. What? Having obtained. Eternal. Don't miss that word eternal. Eternal. He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Having obtained. eternal redemption for us.

Now I want you to think of the glory of that. When he went into the very presence of God, he had obtained eternal redemption for us. Four, if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies through the purifying of the flesh, symbolically, how much more Shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God. Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. He obtained eternal redemption. Don't seek to satisfy your conscience with anything else. Don't look to yourself. Don't look to your evidences. He obtained eternal redemption for us. And I love the way he says, purge your conscience. May God give me and you the grace to do that right now. Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living and the true God.

Let's pray. Lord, So thankful for the gospel, the perfect robe of righteousness of thy son, his all sufficient atonement. How we thank you for the clarity of the language of the gospel, how you saved by your grace and not by our works. Lord, give us all the grace to repent of dead works. and look to thy son only and rest in him. In his name we pray, amen.

Hope everybody has a great holiday week.