[AI translation] Dear Brothers and Sisters! Let me announce right at the outset that I would like to deal with this long story, one of the darkest in the Old Testament, in three successive sermons in three parts.Briefly, it tells of the conquest of Jericho by the people of Israel in the conquest wars. And all the booty they found there: the precious things, the jewellery, the gold, the silver, everything had to be dedicated to the Lord, and no one was allowed to keep anything for himself - obviously so that he could later have enough to build the temple in Jerusalem. But one of the warriors, a man called Achan, secretly hid some beautiful things he saw, and could not resist stealing them, and hid them in his tent. So in fact he stole the spoils that had been consecrated to God, and in so doing he brought terrible evil upon the whole nation. In the next battle, the siege of the city of Aj, the Israeli army was no longer able to hold its ground, and was badly defeated, with many dead and wounded. The army fled, there was great mourning, great sorrow, great shame. But the reason for the defeat was revealed, namely that God had been stolen from them, and by the casting of lots it was also revealed who the culprit was. Achan had to pay for his crime, for not only he himself, but all the members of his family were stoned to death, and burned with all his possessions. I have said that this is one of the darkest stories in the Old Testament. I would like to highlight only those parts of this story that shed light on the terrible thing that sin is, which we take so lightly.
What I want to say here is about a great statesman who lived decades ago. This statesman, this president, was a very taciturn man, a very silent man, a man of few words. One Sunday morning, when he came home from church, his wife asked him, "Who preached? Well, he said the name of the pastor: this and this. And what did the pastor say? - The wife continued to ask. The answer was laconic. And what did he say about sin? - the woman continued to ask. And the President settled the conversation with that single word: he was against it. He was against. We are like that, brothers and sisters, we are used to a lot of talk about sin in church. And we are also used to preaching against it. With this humorous lightness of touch, we then unfortunately usually get over it, the whole sin problem. We almost consider the matter settled. But this story shows how it is not that simple! How it is not such a trivial matter, but how terrible, how terrible sin is.
We do not believe, brothers and sisters, what a deadly danger sin is! Look, it's very interesting, very instructive, and it's very well to note what we read here that it emphasizes almost in the very first verse, "The children of Israel were unfaithful to the things that were holy to God, because Achan had taken something of them... And the wrath of God was kindled against the children of Israel because of it." Isn't this shocking, don't you sense this very dangerous relationship between Achan and the children of Israel? What is between the individual and the community, what is between the individual and the people around him? Because what we are talking about here is that there is an extremely close relationship between Achan and the children of Israel, between the individual and the community. Achan and Israel are one in blood and one in sin. The sin of Achan is the sin of Israel. The children of Israel sinned because Achan took something! Yes, the children of Israel sinned, they are the sinners, but behind the sin of a community there is always the specific sin of a particular individual or individuals as a background, as a basis. The sin of a community is always borne, willed and committed by an individual or an individual. The community has no self, and behind the sin there is always a self, a person who is actually responsible for the sin, who has actually and really committed the sin: an Achan who has touched something that is not his, who confuses things, who brings trouble on the whole community, on others, who makes trouble for the whole community, who brings misfortune for others. Because that's what Achan did. He has brought terrible trouble on his family, his house, even his cattle and oxen. And all the people of Israel. He brought misery on the whole community.
You know, Brothers, it's kind of like our human body. You know, we live in a world of many contaminations. We are constantly, always under attack from all sides. But that deadly bacterium or germ always enters the body through a particular cell, the one particular cell that is weakest and has the least resistance. Well, this weak cell in the body of the people of Israel - it was in Achan where the corruption entered the body. So that the wrath of God was kindled against the children of Israel. They lost the war. A chain is only as strong as the weakest link in it, because if it breaks there, the chain breaks. That weak link in the chain of the people of Israel was Achan. He could not resist the temptation, he touched what was not his - and the chain broke. Achan sinned, Achan failed, and with that there was a breach in the whole front of the people of Israel. Do you sense, brothers and sisters, that this is how the sin of the individual affects the fate of the community? Take it seriously: this is how the sin of the individual affects the fate of the community! For that is the terrible thing about sin, that we do not live and sin as separate, distinct individuals who have nothing to do with the others. Whoever imagines that he is responsible only for himself, and that he stands or falls only for himself, is very much mistaken. For no one lives only for himself, and no one sins only for himself, but we always live and sin in very close communion and relationship, in context, with others. We are all like a door: a door to the community of which we are a part. The only question is, through this door, what flows into the community? Is it a blessing or a curse? And the sin that I have committed somewhere, I take it into my house, into my family, into my circle of friends, into my church, into the life of my people, and I bring it into the whole community. That is the terrible thing about sin! That's what's so terrible about sin, that the sin of one Achan brings the wrath of God down on the whole nation. This is the very awful thing in sin, that, for instance, a useless son or daughter should corrupt the public spirit of the whole class, or the wickedness or secret sin of one member of the family should corrupt the whole family life. Or a corrupt member of the staff of a whole factory is defiling. Sin, brothers and sisters, is like a leak on a ship: corruption seeps in through it, and the whole ship will sink if something is not done. Anyone who thinks that if, for example, he has sinned against family, against marital fidelity, and no one has found out about it, and he has managed to keep it a secret, then there is nothing wrong, is terribly mistaken! For through this gap, which his secret sin represents, corruption flows into the family and infects the souls of the children without their knowing it. It sours the whole atmosphere. It leaks and slowly the whole family life is submerged.
Imagine the state of mind of this Achan when the children of Israel ran back to the camp like beaten dogs that morning, when Achan saw the burial of those 36 men, when he heard the cries of the widowed women and orphans, how did this man feel then? Imagine! His conscience must have been stirred and he must have said to him something like, "You know why this is happening, don't you, Achan? Do you know the reason for this shame, for this flight, for this grief, for this sadness? See what you have done! What you have done against your people! You alone know, no one around you knows why this misfortune has happened. But you know!
It means something like this, that when you see your son or daughter falling away and separating from God, you should not wonder how this is possible, but rather wonder very seriously if it is not your fault? Is it not you? Is there not some secret sin somewhere in your life and is this not the gap through which the infection has penetrated the whole family? Because this is what we should understand very seriously and examine within ourselves what we are to our environment? What kind of doors are we to our family life, to our circle of friends, to our congregation? What goes through our hands and our minds and our thoughts and our imaginations and into the lives of those around us. Oh, if you only knew what a terrible effect sin has on our environment! We would not take it with the jocular equanimity of that President of the State, but would be horrified! The sin of the one Achan brought the judgment of God upon the whole nation of Israel. For such is sin, such a terrible thing is sin.
Then look, even the very instructive thing in the story is that Jericho, the fortified mighty city is miraculously taken by the armies of Israel, defeated. And at the much smaller Ai, they are defeated. The enterprise fails. And yet it is a small city compared to Jericho in military terms. The heroes of Jericho run ashamed like rabbits, leaving behind their dead and wounded. What is the reason for this? What is behind this failure, behind this shame, behind this running away? Do you know what it is? Sin! That is behind it! "The children of Israel have been unfaithful", we read in the first verse. And that expresses so well what sin is: unfaithfulness. It is when a person turns away from God. It's when you turn away from God, you turn your back on God. When one becomes unfaithful to a faithful God, that is sin. Or as verse 11 says it even better, "Israel sinned because they transgressed my covenant which I commanded them..." Yes, that is the essence of sin. It is a transgression of what God has ordained. Sin is when man simply transgresses God's ordinances, when man is not limited by what God has said. When man simply goes beyond what God says about these things. This is the essence of sin, this transgression, this transgression.
In mountainous country, on the edge of great precipices, they used to put up barriers or fences, so that tourists would not be dizzy in the abyss. Such a barrier, such a fence, is not intended to restrict a person's freedom of movement, but to protect him from misfortune. Of course, one can step over this fence, cut through it, or crawl under it - any child can do that - but once one has done so, there is nothing to protect one from falling, from tragedy. Well then, Brothers and Sisters, that is how God protects the lives of men with His laws, His decrees, His commandments, like a fence. God does not tell you not to do this: not to kill, not to commit fornication, not to steal, not to bear false witness, not to covet another's - as if God were pleased to command - but that you may not be led astray into perdition. For sin is a breach of this fence. Crossing the line which God draws, which separates happiness from unhappiness, purity from impurity, joy from sorrow, life from death. That is sin: when one crosses. And when one transgresses, when one confronts his own stubborn will with the will of God, then he suffers a loss, then he is defeated by Ahi. And then things start to go wrong in the family, in marriage, in office, in private life, in conscience and in physical condition. Everything starts to go wrong at once. There's trouble, defeat on all fronts, failure, running away. And it is so terribly difficult for a man to realise that this is what is behind all the failures and defeats in his life: sin. This! Only man always feels at first that something is wrong, then that something is wrong, something has gone wrong in his life, and he always looks for the cause elsewhere, in others, in circumstances - he just does not want to face the fact that the real cause is that he has transgressed the ordinances, crossed the line. And then there is nothing to keep one from falling further, from tragedy, from peril. For look, such is sin, that it entails ruin, shame, bankruptcy, death. It is not a joke, it cannot be played with, it cannot be tolerated by man alone: sin is a deadly peril!
What, then, was the great sin that had such terrible consequences? When Joshua, with a staggered spirit, goes before God, begins to plead, God tells him. He lets him know what the great sin was. Because, brethren, when a man comes before God with a truly sincere heart, God not only tells you in general terms that you are a sinner, but He also points out your sin and specifically names what your sin is. The heavenly physician does not just say, alas, my friend, you are sick, but he also tells you what is wrong with you. Precisely, quite definitely and unambiguously. I would say that anyone who does not know the sins of their life by name has never really stood before God in their life. Because when God reveals your sins to someone, there is no fiction and no misunderstanding, it is impossible not to understand. Because God speaks very clearly. And if you don't know what your sin is, you have never been alone with God in your life. Look how unheard of plainly God says, "Israel sinned, they also transgressed my covenant, for they took of the things that were wholly consecrated to me, and they also stole, and they also lied, and they also hid themselves among vessels." So, what God laid his hand on and said no man shall touch, that is what Israel took. They stole from God! They stole it.
You've never stolen God? Is not what God says here against the people of Israel, that "they have taken of the things that are wholly consecrated to me, and have stolen and lied and hid them in their vessels", valid for us? Have you realised in your heart who you belong to? Whose are your hands and eyes and heart and mind and family and marriage and work and money and strength and time? Who owns it all? Did you hear this verse at the beginning of the service, God says, because I read it from the Scriptures, "And you are the temple of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. And if anyone defiles this temple, God will defile it." For this temple is holy, and these are you - God says so. So God has consecrated you to Himself, to Himself. He has put his hand nailed through you, he has reserved you for himself. He has said that this man and this woman, this boy and this girl are all mine. God said to Joshua, "They have broken my covenant". Is it not the covenant of God that you and you and I belong to God? Is not this his covenant, that we are his, both in body and in soul, both in life and in death? And now tell me, brethren, what has God received of that which is his? Where have you hidden yourself from him? God takes what is his seriously. What have you done with what is God's? Have you never stolen from God? This is no joke, brothers and sisters! This is deadly serious! At least God is deadly serious about what is his. For look, this is how the reproach goes on afterwards, the divine word: 'Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, they turned their backs on their enemies, for they became accursed. I will be with you no more!" No wonder there are all kinds of troubles in our families, and in our marriages, and in our churches, and in the whole world. No wonder: how can there not be troubles, all kinds of troubles, when there is a break in the contact between man and God. How could there not be trouble then! How can there not be trouble when the channel through which we receive strength and desire and life from God is clogged, blocked. How could it not be wrong then! "I will be with you no more!" That's what God says. But the sentence doesn't end there. It goes on, "unless"! I will be with you no more, unless... Yes, unless something happens. What has to happen? Next Sunday I would like to tell you what must happen.
For now, I just want you to think about this story, what an abominable scourge, what an abominable curse that little three-letter word sin is. And then you'll understand something of why God had to take such an abominable action against sin, for deliverance from sin, as the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Because when one comes to know the reality of sin, he knows and then seeks to go where the help is. And then one can cry out in this way, with all sincerity of heart:
"Our heart is only for You,
Jesus, Lamb of God,
We long to be your faithful
Precious bright gold,
For our death's corrupter,
Giver of eternal life
Or Christ alone, our Christ,
Jesus our Saviour."
(Canto 227, verse 1)
Date: 3 February 1963.