" . . . man by man." Joshua 7:18
A great sin had been committed in Israel by one man, but no one knew who he was except he himself. Achan had taken some spoils in the conquest of Jericho, which had been strictly forbidden. To find the man, eleven tribes were first eliminated, and the tribe of Judah was taken. Then all the families of Judah were eliminated except one family. Then this family was examined man by man. One by one the members of the family were examined till they found the guilty man - Achan. After establishing his guilt, he was justly executed. Achan was found out because they were examined one by one. It was man by man. Before God we cannot hide in the crowd. We can go to Hell with the crowd, but we go to Heaven man by man - one by one. Salvation comes only when we learn to say, "It's me, O Lord, It's me." It is not enough to say, "We are all sinners," but we must confess I ...I ...I, am the guilty one! It is man by man, and so it will be at the judgment. Have you ever come personally as a lost sinner to Christ?
A Christian told a preacher, "I was saved in your meeting last winter. It was a stormy day and I was the only one in your audience. Whenever you said something hard about sinners, I looked around to see who you meant. But there wasn't anybody else, so I figured you must mean me. When you said, 'You must be born again,' I looked around to see who you meant, but there wasn't anyone else, so I said, 'Zeke, he must mean you,' and that did it, and your whole audience got saved that day." Yes, it's man by man. You can't be saved with the crowd.
"Bread For Each Day"
