0436. Achan Said, "I Have Sinned"
Achan Said, "I Have Sinned"
"And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the God of Israel" (Jos_7:20).
When God sent the children of Israel to destroy the city of Jericho, He commanded that they destroy everything. Achan, however, saw some goodly Babylonish garments and two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight. He saw them, he coveted them, he took them and he hid them in the earth in the midst of his tent.
When the children of Israel went out to fight against Ai, they turned their backs upon the enemy and ran for their lives. Joshua was overwhelmed with this defeat. He rent his clothes. He fell to the earth, and he said, "Oh! Lord, what wilt Thou do with Thy great name?"
God called upon Joshua to get up from his knees. He told Joshua that sin was in the camp. Joshua, at once, instituted a search. During all of this time Achan said not a word about his sin. He thought himself secure. He did not believe that he could be discovered.
Little by little, however, the search came closer and closer to Achan, until at last his sin was found out. Then it was that Achan cried, "I have sinned."
This cry is the cry of one who realizes that his sin is made known. Had Joshua never found out concerning Achan, then Achan had never said, "I have sinned." There is a sorrow unto death.
Illustration: One day we received a hurried call to a home in a Southern city. We were met at the door by a weeping woman. She said, "Oh, what will we do, for our sister has sinned?" We told the lady to be quiet, and to show us her guilty sister. As we entered the room where lay the mother-girl upon the bed, she piteously cried, "I have sinned."
The intention of these women was to cover up the sin of this mother-girl. The law, however, found them out. Had her sin never been discovered, this poor girl had never cried, "I have sinned." There is a sorrow unto death.
Illustration: A young man had been filching money from his employers. One day he was discovered and lodged in jail. Immediately he sent for us. As we entered the jail, he was standing behind the bars, and he cried out: "I have sinned." But why didn’t he cry before his sin had lodged him in jail? His rascality had been going on for a year or more. During all of that time he was a prominent member of our Baraca class, acting a hypocrite. His prayer was not genuine. There is a sorrow unto death.
God has clearly taught us in His Word that if we want our sins covered, we must uncover them; but, if we coyer our sins, God will uncover them. "Be sure your sin will find you out."
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR