Trusting God for All the Wrong Reasons
There is a way in which many Christians trust God for all the wrong reasons. They trust that God will secure their future no matter what they do. They trust that they can disobey God and He will not punish them or see their sins, or that He will just look over their sins. They are very trusting that God will not bring justice. They trust that He will not punish them. They trust that they will go to heaven and not hell because they believe that they are entitled. They trust that God has entitled them with everlasting life. They are very trusting to things that God never promised them.
The righteous are those that inherit everlasting life. Israel will not just inherit everlasting life because she was once the seed of Abraham. And Christians will not inherit everlasting life just because their parents were pastors or Christians. In order to inherit everlasting life, you need to follow Jesus Christ, you have to surrender to Him. I had this epiphany when I was reading the other day, some more of Joshua. And it's interesting because after this fall of Jericho and this great triumph where Joshua listens to the Lord and they follow the Lord's directions, and they defeat Jericho. And immediately after they go into battle, and I believe it's like 36 of them are killed, and Joshua falls on his face and he says, “Lord, why did you bring us out of Egypt just to die by the hands of these heathens, these people are enemies?” And the Lord reveals to Joshua that there is sin in the camp. They were able to defeat these guys because they were with the Lord, and they were pure. They had circumcised themselves; they were living pure. But as soon as evil came back into their life, they were not able to win even a small battle. And 36, I believe, of the Jewish people were killed or these Hebrews were killed. And Joshua tears his clothes, he falls down on his face before the ark and he prays to the Lord. And the Lord tells him that there is sin and it was interesting the way that they find out who sinned, but it comes down to this one man named Achan. God had specifically told them not to take any of the plunder of the land of Jericho, not to take gold, not to take silver, not to take any of the animals, but to put everything to death and then to bring the gold and all of that stuff to the Lord, not for people's personal use. But this guy, Achan, he lusted after the things of the land, and he stole some of the silver and gold or coins and he brought them into his tent and he hid them under the ground in his tent. And so then when the nation of Israel went to battle, or when these Hebrews went to battle, you know, they were killed. And it was because of Achan's sin. So Achan says, yes, it is true, I have sinned. And then Joshua brings Achan out with his wife, his children, his animals, his tent, and they stone them all to death and then they burn them. And this is the end of Achan's family line.
I thought to myself, I bet you Achan trusted God. He had to have trusted God. He trusted God first in the good way. Obviously he was part of this people that trusted God to go into battle, that they would not be killed. But he also trusted God in a perverse way. He trusted that God would look over his sins. He trusted that God would not punish him for his evil. He trusted too much in God in the wrong way. He trusted in God's forgiveness, His grace. And a lot of Christians are like Achan. They say, “I was saved. I've won all these wonderful battles in life. I've made it through Jericho. God has given me the victory. Victory in Jesus”, these Christians say, “I believe in the cross. I believe in the blood.” They call on the name of the blood. And they have faith that God will forgive them and bless them and take care of them no matter what they do. So they can then go back secretly without telling others and they can have secret sins in their life that are very perverted. They can cheat on their wife. They can look at porn. They can be addicted to the things of the world that pollute a man's heart. And they just trust that God will forgive them. They say, “I believe that I'm saved. I believe I'm okay.” Well, that is exactly how Achan trusted God. He trusted God in the perverse way and he also trusted God in the true way. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been marching around that city. He trusted his leadership. He trusted that God would give them the victory. But he also had a perverted trust in God. The sort of trust that did not think that God would punish him. And as we know, the punishment of God, the righteous anger of God, fell upon Achan for his sins and he was killed.
Many Christians will die in their sins. Instead of abiding in Jesus, they reject the words of Jesus. They live a sinful life and they just hope “God will forgive me”. But they never repent of obvious wilful sin. You need to repent of your sins. Whatever sin you're in, you need to repent of it. Come out of sins. Focus on what you need to do to come out of big sins. Don't trust God how the hypocrite Christian or the hypocrite Jew trusts God, just thinking that He will forgive you even though you are in wilful sin. You need to repent. You need to put your faith in Jesus. You need to trust Him that He will be just, whether you are a Christian or not a Christian. Trust Him that He does good for the righteous, but He punishes the wicked. Will you repent of all your sins? Will you live in purity, or will you be like Achan, the disobedient child of God? May the grace of Jesus be with you.
