The Thief Arrested

Over the last few weeks we have been in a series entitled THE THIEF. Jesus said…

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10

The devil is the greatest thief of all time, and he is constantly on the prowl. He is not satisfied with simply stealing, he wants to kill and destroy as well.
In the first sermon, we examined the TOOLS OF THE THIEF, which are:

IMAGINATION (Matthew 15:19, 20)
INTIMIDATION (Revelation 21:7, 8)
ISOLATION (Genesis 2:18)

Last week we looked at STOLEN TREASURES. In that sermon we examined the things that the thief steals from our lives and from God’s house. He steals:

OUR FOUNDATION AND STRENGTH (2 Kings 25:13)
OUR SERVICE AND USEFULNESS (2 Kings 25:14)
OUR FIRE AND PRAYERS (2 Kings 25:15)

The title of the message this morning is: THE THIEF ARRESTED. The story of Achan illustrates succinctly how to truly arrest the thief. This is a sobering chapter in Scripture that comes on the heels of one of the greatest victories in the Bible, the miraculous victory over Jericho.
God had instructed the children of Israel to take nothing from Jericho. It was to be considered a first fruit offering to the Lord. (This is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible on the importance of tithing, because that’s in essence what Achan stole, the offering that belonged to the Lord.) But during the battle, a man named Achan takes things from the city. In his later confession to Joshua he says…

When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it. Joshua 7:21

His thievery would have tragic consequences.
Joshua and the children of Israel found out the hard way that there was a thief in their midst. In fact, from the story we can learn, as Joshua and the children of Israel did, how to recognize when there is something wrong. It was a downward spiral. Because they had a thief in their midst…
•They had an over confidence in the flesh (Joshua 7:3).
•They were easily defeated by a much smaller army and saw death among their own soldiers (Joshua 7:5).
•They were confused and whined about their defeat (Joshua 7:7).
These were all results of an unchecked thief among them. The thief moved in secretly and brought defeat, death, and doubt among God’s people at the very time when they should have been walking in victory.
Joshua could not understand what the problem was. In fact, his actions and prayers demonstrate that he felt that everything befalling them was the fault of the Lord. He is in essence whining, when the Lord speaks to him:

10 So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Joshua 7:10, 11

Because there was a thief among them that had stolen the things that were consecrated to the Lord the children of Israel were in a precarious position. The Lord told them the consequences of the thief’s activity among them in verse 12:
•They could not stand before their enemies.
•They had become doomed to destruction.
•The Lord would no longer be among them.
Only one thing could save them. They had to find the thief and destroy the accursed thing from among them. This would require Joshua to take action in order to arrest the thief. As we look at this chapter, we will see the steps necessary to arrest the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy in our lives as well.