Our Devoted Things

When Joshua was leading the Israelites into the promised land, God instructed the people about what they should and shouldn't do. They were about to attack Jericho and God didn't want them to become corrupted by the people who lived there. 

"But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it." - Joshua 6:18

But, of course, someone disobeyed the Lord and stirred up God's wrath against them.

"But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel." - Joshua 7:1

God punished all of Israel and only relented when the offender was found out, repented and was punished.

"Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel." - Joshua 7:19-20

Achan was then taken outside the camp and was stoned to death for his sin.

There are some interesting things we can glean out of this story. But most notably, God will punish an entire nation for the sin of one person.

If we think of "the world" as Israel, and "outside the camp" is hell, what 'devoted things' of Satan's have we hidden in OUR tents?

"For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” - Mark 7:21-24

Even if we repent of having these things in our hearts, God's wrath still burns against us. We can say we are sorry and repent, just like Achan did. It doesn't matter. We are destined to be taken outside the camp and 'stoned to death.' Hell.

"In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." - Hebrews 9:22

We're all doomed! But....

"For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son...."

Jesus! Jesus died for our sins. He shed HIS blood for OUR sins. The sins of the entire world, "once for all." (Hebrews 10:10)

"...that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have eternal life." John 3:16

Jesus is our only hope.

Without Jesus we are destined to spend eternity in hell - "outside the camp." We must repent AND allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives. Now.

Without the blood of Jesus covering our sins we have no hope at all.

But...

"Blessed be the name of The Lord from this time forth and forever more." - Psalm 113:2