1. Covered-up sin always gets uncovered, sooner or later. Sometimes it is uncovered right away.
2. The hidden sin of Achan is a vivid illustration of this principle.
3. In Joshua chapter 6, the city of Jericho was captured by the Israelites.  It was a great victory.
4. Joshua 6 concludes with this wonderful statement, "So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country" (Josh. 6:27).
5. But the very next verse is not wonderful.  It is tragic: "But 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" (7:1).
6. If there is one thing I have learned over the years it is this: you cannot get away with sin.
7. Proverbs 28:13 says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."
8. Numbers 32:23 says, "Be sure your sin will find you out."
9. Psalm 90:8 says, "Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance."
10. Covered-up sin always gets uncovered.  Sometimes it is uncovered right away, like in the case of Achan.
11. Sometimes it is uncovered many years later.
12. There was a big article on the front page of yesterday's newspaper, about the drowning death of movie star Natalie Wood thirty years ago.
13. The article says her husband Robert Wagner is now being accused of her murder.   I do not know whether or not Mr. Wagner is guilty, but God knows and soon he will have to face God.
14. Our Lord said in Matthew 10:26, "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
15. The apostle Paul says in Romans 2:16, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."
16. Hebrews 4:13 says, "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."
17. The apostle John says in Revelation 20:12, "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
18. God gave John a vision of the lake of fire.  And John saw sinners stand before God to be judged for all their sins, and then to be cast into the lake of fire.
19. Nothing escapes God's attention.  God keeps accurate records.  God always judges sin.   Sin always brings disgrace and shame and failure, as we see in the sad story of Achan.

I. THE CURSE OF SECRET SIN

1. When the LORD gave Israel the city of Jericho, Joshua told them, "And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein" (6:17).
2. Furthermore, Joshua specifically warned the Israelites not to take anything from Jericho, lest they make themselves accursed, "and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it" (6:18).
3. These instructions were very clear.  Achan heard them and understood, as he himself later admitted (7:20, 21).
4. The curse of secret sin is separation from God.  A person cannot engage in sin and enjoy fellowship with God.
5. First John 1:6 says, "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth."
6. When David committed his secret sin, and committed adultery with Bathsheba, he had no peace with God.  He later wrote these words to describe his ordeal, "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.  For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer" (Psalm 32:3, 4).
7. David was confronted by Nathan the prophet, who told David that God was going to severely judge him for his secret sin.   God said, "For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun" (II Sam. 12:12).
8. God had judged King Saul for his sin.
9. And God judged King David for his sin.
10. And God judged Achan for his sin. No one gets away with sin.
11. Because of Achan's sin, "the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel" (7:1; cf. 7:5).
12. The Israelites had to flee from their enemies because God was no longer with them.   Like Samson, when he awoke out of his sleep, and said, "I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself."
13. And Judges 16:20 says, "And he wist (knew) not that the LORD was departed from him."
14. Trouble is often a sign of God's displeasure (Josh. 7:10-12).
15. First Corinthians 11:30-32 says, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."
16. God always judges sin.  A man murdered another man right here in front of our church a couple of years ago. I read in the paper that the police went out to California and arrested him.
17. The long arm of the law reached all the way from the East Coast to the West Coast, three thousand miles, to apprehend this murderer.
18. God's arm is longer than that.
19. Sinners cannot escape God's arm of justice.  Amos 9:2 says, "Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down."
20. Over and over in the Bible, we read about the power of God, and His "stretched out arm."  It is stretched out in mercy and compassion for the repentant sinner.
21. But that same arm is stretched out in justice and vengeance for the impenitent sinner.

II. THE RAMIFICATIONS OF SECRET SIN

1. Joshua is one of the great heroes of the Bible. Joshua is first mentioned in Exodus 17:9 as one of Moses' helpers.
2. Joshua went on to become Moses' assistant and then his successor.
3. But this great soldier was brought to his knees, defeated and distraught because of Achan's hidden sin (Josh. 7:6-8).
4. People seldom consider the ramifications of their secret sin.
5. A.W. Tozer said, "Sin is three-dimensional and has consequences in three directions: toward God, toward self and toward society. It alienates from God, degrades self and injures others. Adam's is the classic example of a secret sin that overflowed to the injury of all mankind. History provides examples of persons so placed that their sins had wide and injurious effect upon their generation. Such men were Nero, Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin, to name but four. These men dramatized the destructive social results of personal sin; but every sin, every sinner injures the world and harms society, though the effects may be milder and less noticeable. Have you ever wondered what the world would be like today if...all businessmen should suddenly turn honest? Or if every politician should stop lying?"
6. That is hard to imagine!   Some one said you can tell when a politician is lying -- he's moving his lips!
7. The Scofield Study Bible says, "The sin of Achan and its results teach the great truth of the oneness of the people of God (7:1). 'Israel hath sinned.'...The whole cause of Christ is injured by the sin, neglect, or unspirituality of one believer" (P. 265).
8. Consider the ramifications of secret sin.  By taking the accursed thing, Achan himself became accursed, and the entire nation of Israel became accursed.
9. Deuteronomy 7:26 says, "Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."
10. Joshua 7:12 says, "Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed..."
11. This Old Testament lesson can be applied to the New Testament church (cf. I Corinthians 5).

III. THE JUDGMENT OF SECRET SIN

1. The accursed thing must be removed.  Otherwise God removes His hand of blessing (cf. 7:1-13).
2. The word "accursed" is found thirteen times in the book of Joshua, twelve of them in chapters 6 and 7.   It means something God has cursed, and has devoted to destruction.
3. Joshua 7:14 and 15 remind us just how much God hates sin.  People today do not hate sin.  Most people love sin.
4. Sinners commit the most heinous crimes, and foolish juries and corrupt judges give them very light sentences.  Soon these dangerous criminals are back on the street committing more violent crimes.
5. Just look at the way these wretched Occupy Wall Street people have been allowed to break the law with impunity.
6. Today man has been deified and God has been humanized.
7. Referring to the holiness of God, Habakkuk 1:13 says, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity."
8. God is holy, and the more we appreciate God's holiness the more we will hate our own sinfulness.
9. Consider the downward progression of sin.  First Achan saw the spoils and he coveted them, and then he took them (Josh. 7:19-21).
10. Then he hid them, as if he could hide them from God!
11. Sin often begins with just a look.
12. Eve saw the fruit.
13. Lot saw the plain of Jordan.
14. David saw Bathsheba.
15. First John 2:16 says, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
16. The tenth commandment is, "Thou shalt not covet" (Ex. 20:17).
17. Achan said to Joshua in Joshua 7:21, "When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them..."
18. Achan saw, and he coveted, and he stole.  He lost his life, and the life of his wife and children, for a Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold (7:21-26).
19. Our Lord said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
20. Achan lost his own soul for a lot less than that!  Achan lost his own soul for just a little silver and gold. And "a goodly Babylonish garment."
21. Achan's family was stoned to death along with Achan. And after they were stoned to death, they burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones (7:25).
22. Sin defiles the whole family. Sin defiles everything it comes into contact with.  And sin must be eradicated as soon as it surfaces.
23. Also, remember about thirty-six men were killed in battle because of Achan's sin (7:5).

CONCLUSION:

1. Romans 2:5 says, "But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
2. Romans 2:5 says sinners are treasuring up for themselves wrath.
3. Instead of laying up treasures for heaven like our Lord told us to do (Matthew 6:19-20), they are treasuring up wrath for hell.
4. A mocker asked an elderly Christian lady if she believed in a literal lake of fire and brimstone.  She said she did.
5. The mocker laughed and said, "No such amount of brimstone can be found in one place."
6. The lady replied, "Each sinner takes his own brimstone with him!"
7. John 3:36 says the wrath of God abides on those who do not believe in Jesus.  They will take that wrath right with them to the lake of fire.