Exodus 20 Bible Study (The Eighth Commandment) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Exodus chapter 20 verse fifteen, four simple words, yet so profound concerning who got it? The eighth commandment. You shall not. Day. And I want us to pray in a specific way.

I want us to give thanks to a lot. That on a Friday night, there are people that want to hear from protect what he's doing in this house because he deserves all the glory. And our prayers that God would raise up a remnant that would love his word again in a day where it's being rejected and even diluted by those that would claim to believe in it. And so join with me as we just give thanks to the Lord for what he's doing in this place. Father, we bow our hearts in reverence to you, Lord, that there is a people that you are drawing to yourself.

And we just trust, Lord, that people are here for the word of God, for your word to be sanctified and to be fed. And if there's anybody in here that has a different motive, Lord, may they taste and see that the Lord is good tonight, that nothing else can satisfy. Lord, you know where every person tonight is at with you. You know, whether they're fully in your will. You know if they're sliding back.

You know if they are not even saved. But, God, we just pray that through your word, you would do all the things necessary to not just save, but sanctify and bring us to the place where we know you more and love you more. God, in this simple commandment, what may seem simple, may we know your heart, and may your holiness not just humble us, but inspire us to reflect the one that we serve. Lord, we pray that you would just unctionize these words. May they penetrate our hearts, and may we leave here in awe of who you are.

Sanctify our lips as we share with one another the goodness of our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Just curious to know as we are coming near the end of the 10 commandments, we've dedicated a week to each commandment.

And just hearing some comments from some people about how what may have been so simple, even if you grew up in the church, you you you are familiar with these commandments. But when we take the time to really go in-depth with what the whole council of God says concerning specific commands, there's so much more weight to it. There's so much more gravity. There's so much more implication. And when we started this, I don't know if you remember, but we decided together, and we were hoping and praying that by the end of the 10 commandments, we would realize how unholy we are and how holy he is.

And that it would cause us yes, we know in the new covenant that God writes his law in our hearts, but it would more cause us to realize how awesome God's grace is through Jesus Christ. That he fulfilled the law when we failed to keep it, and he imputed his righteousness to us, and we traded our sinfulness to him. And we stand perfectly righteous, justified just as we have never sinned before a holy God because of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But at the same time, we are taking this series of the 10 commandments through this bible study to understand that by the power of the Holy Spirit, he takes the law and he writes it on your heart. And now it's not something that we try to keep to be saved, far be it from us, but it's something that we do because we delight in the law.

And now we stumble upon the eighth one, you shall not steal. Curious. That meant something to the Israelites in their day, but it has way more implications today. And we're gonna find out that stealing is an act that perhaps many of us commit in ways that we don't even know. When you think of stealing, what comes to mind?

It could be a possession, it could be what what comes to mind? You shall not steal. What's the first thing that comes to your mind? Shoplifting. Shoplifting?

Sure. Curious to know, has anybody here ever had something stolen from them? You can lift up your hand, that's fine, unless the person's in the room. So you know the feeling when somebody steals something from you. It's a whole another feeling when you know the person too.

Okay. So shoplifting is the only thing that comes to mind when you think of theft.

Taking something that's not

Taking something that doesn't belong to you. Yes. I

don't know. Taking something that's god's.

Taking something that belongs to god. We kinda think of it on a horizontal level. There's a vertical aspect to it. Absolutely.

Yes. Yes. We said robbing God of his glory.

Robbing God of his glory. That's profound. That's very profound. So in this day when You Shall Not Steal was given as a command, things may have popped up in their minds such as cattle, oxen, people, slaves, different things. How do we steal today?

Taxes. Taxes. Oh, tax season is coming up, isn't it? Perfect. Isn't God's providence amazing?

Is it a lot easier to steal today? Sure. And perhaps the sting of stealing is not as sharp because we can steal in a way that seems kind of innocent.

Right? Steal time.

Steal time? Oh, yeah. You can steal time. You can rob yourself of time too. Do you know that you're probably stealing and robbing yourself of some stuff?

We're gonna find that out tonight. It's a lot easier to steal, is it? Is is it not? What what what can you steal that you don't have to necessarily take with your hand or break into physically?

Music and movies.

Oh, music and movies. No. No. No. It's not stealing though.

Is it?

How about the time God has given us to minister to him? Mhmm. To him, because that's not not the time.

Stealing God stealing from God, robbing ourselves of the times to spend with God. Does God require time from us? Absolutely, he does. Yeah.

You can steal with your eyes too.

You can steal with your eyes? Sure. Simple definition of stealing. Taking another person's possessions without their permission or without legal right and not intending to give it back. This can be done through manipulation.

This can be done in secrecy, or this can be done through violent robbery. Taking something that doesn't belong to you and having the intention of not giving it back. And so, I mean, we can end it there. Don't steal. Right?

I mean, let's pray. Let's wrap it up. But why does God hate stealing? Why does God hate it if he commanded it? Obviously, it's in conflict with his holiness, and he commands his people that represent him, you shall not steal.

I feel like especially for his people, it almost mocks him because they almost said to him, like, you don't provide enough for me, so I have to go and take him.

Is it a statement of lack of faith? Absolutely. Yes.

Because God's not a thief.

God's not a thief. God doesn't steal, so why should his people, his offspring so to speak, steal? Sure. It's not in line with his nature. Think about the act of stealing though, and and Gil is going down that road.

What does it involve? What does it say of the person? Why do people steal?

It shows like a lack of respect for other people.

Yes. Absolutely. A lack of love for other people. Have you ever thought why people steal? Why do people steal?

Why do people take the time to break into somebody's home? Why do people take the time to break into somebody's car? Why do people go into their house, take their dad's wallet, open the wallet, and take cash out? Why do people do it?

Sinful nature.

Sinful nature is the obvious reason. Let me give you one reason I believe, and I believe what the scripture says. The reason why people take that step and become a thief, whether for a lifestyle or for a moment. Number one, there's a rush to it. There is a rush to the act of stealing.

Two verses. Proverbs nine seventeen and Proverbs twenty seventeen. Proverbs nine seventeen and Proverbs twenty seventeen. Both saying the same thing. Proverbs nine says that stolen water is sweet.

Proverbs twenty seventeen tells us that stolen bread is sweet. And so what is that proverb trying to say? What are those two proverbs trying to say there? That there's something about taking something that you did not pay for that becomes a little bit more satisfying. Does it not?

This isn't something that you take or something that even something that's just free. You you even might boast about it. Hey, you're telling your buddy about a story. I didn't even have to pay for that. I didn't have to give anything for that.

Right? There there's a sense of being satisfied with something that you did not have it didn't cost you anything. And so there's something sweet about something that you've taken that did not cost you something. Not only that, I believe as our brother said, because of our corrupt nature, the element of forbiddenness, something that you know is not yours and doesn't belong to you, but you are taking it, it it satisfies an itch within us. There's something about do not touch.

There's something about that's not yours. It doesn't belong to you that because of our corrupt nature draws us to it more. And that's why as we talked about last week, and we could go on a part two on this one, that adultery is a form of theft. Adultery is a form of theft. And part of the thrill of adultery is I'm taking some not something.

I'm taking someone that doesn't belong to me, and I'm satisfying myself with this idea of it being forbidden. If you don't believe me, you can turn to second Samuel 12 when Nathan confronts who? David with what? The sin that he had committed with Bathsheba. And out of all the things that he does, out of all the things he could have done to confront him, he tells a story, and he brings David to a place of confessing and judging himself.

But look at the story and look how he unfolds it to David. And the Lord sent Nathan to David in second Samuel 12 verse one. He came to him and said to him, there were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. Two men, a rich man and a poor man. Verse two.

The rich man had a had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Stop. So think about it.

If you know the story, Nathan is confronting David with his sin. So up to this point, who are the characters in this play? Who's the rich man? David. Who's the poor man?

Uriah. Uriah. Who's the little ewe lamb? Bathsheba. So we have the stage set.

Now another character comes in. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guests who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come come to him. Who's the traveler? His name is Lust. The traveler that came to the rich man, the traveler that came to David was Lust, and he wanted to be satisfied.

And so instead of satisfying a in a natural sense with something that belonged to him, he had more than one wife and that's a whole another conversation for another thing. What does he do? He goes to somebody else's property and takes it to satisfy his guest. Lust. And I think that's a wonderful way to think about lust.

Don't you? That when you sense that pull and you sense that temptation to walk into a place, to act a certain act with a certain individual, that's lust knocking on your door and saying, hey let me in. Let me let me in. I I I wanna come in. But when it comes in, it's gonna ask for things.

It's gonna take from you. Think of it that way next time you're tempted to click on something you're not supposed to click on on your computer. That's just the guest coming. He'll leave if you ignore him. He'll go if you fight him off.

He might stay. He might not he might knock for a week. He might stay there for a while, but make it your ambition not to open the door. Because once you open the door, you have no idea what he's bringing with him, and you have no idea what he's gonna take from you. But Nathan, inspired by God, treats this sin adultery as thievery.

You took something that does not belong to you. It belonged to another man. But again, there's this element because of our corruptness that says, I'm drawn to something that doesn't belong to me. That's how twisted and corrupt and dark and vile we are, that we have a thrill. We we take some delight in acting upon that, which comes to my next point of why I believe stealing is something that people do.

Yes. There's a rush to it, but there's also a challenge to somebody's pride in it. There's a challenge to somebody's pride in the act. In the process of stealing, your pride is being challenged. One, your pride is being challenged in what we just talked about that you see something that doesn't belong to you, whether it's a person or whether it's a thing and hands off.

Right? Well, I can get it. Watch me do it. I remember talking to a specific individual that said he had a rush in breaking into cars and parking lots at night in malls and people and movie theaters because he loved the adrenaline that came with doing something and not getting caught doing it. So it wasn't even about stealing the product.

He wasn't in need. He just loved the the rush that came with trying to break into cars and take something without getting caught, and having this reputation of of being able to go and and take things that don't belong to you, and the secrecy that comes with it. And you might be thinking to yourself, that's just so messed up. Welcome to the life of sin. How it deceives and it corrupts all the more.

Now do people steal out of a genuine need ever? Is there ever a time that people steal because they they they feel like there's no other option in life? Yeah. Is that not true? And we talked about this verse in Proverbs six thirty.

Right? We talked about how a man who steals for the sake of feeding himself, those that know of it will not despise him. So when a man steals out of the just the the last resort of his life, he he he he doesn't have any other option it seems. He goes and he steals. Those that know his situation will not necessarily despise him.

Nevertheless, he still has a pay sevenfold for it. And so there's still a consequence to that sin. There's still a payback that needs to come through that. And we have to ask ourselves a question, what brought that person to that place in the first place to become so dependent that he has to steal other people's stuff? But rarely is that the case.

Rarely is that the case. We have the fact that there's a rush to it. Secondly, think of the scriptures that come to mind with this. Is there another reason why people steal other than the fact that it just feeds our pride and it feeds our sinful nature.

Revenge.

Revenge? Sure. So then we can categorize it with Romans 13 Romans 13 verse 10. We talked about this with adultery last week. That in the earlier verses, it says, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, and then Paul makes this point in verse 10 saying, love does no wrong to a neighbor.

Love does no no wrong to a neighbor. In fact, love is the fulfillment of the law. So when a person steals, it's evidence that he lacks love in his heart. That's what can make you go into somebody's property and take something that doesn't belong to you because you don't have love. And if you're doing it as an act of revenge, it's still evidence of lack of love.

Jealousy.

Jealousy. Sure. All these things. All these things that really if you go to the foundation of it, it's not built on love for somebody else. Can we say that people steal because of laziness?

Is that is there any place in the scriptures that talks about that? Ephesians four twenty eight. We're talking about this this Sunday as we continue in Ephesians, so I won't go too much into it. Ephesians four twenty eight. He's talking to Christians.

He's talking to believers. And he says, let the thief no longer steal. Let the thief no longer steal, but do what? But let him labor. Let him get his hands to work.

Let him put effort into gaining honest wealth. And what's amazing is why he's supposed to do it. It's the next part of the verse so that he has something to share with others. It's like the the believers relationship with property and and money is completely different. You work hard so that you can have something to give to others.

It's the complete opposite of the thief who takes for his own pleasure. No. You as a believer, you work hard, honestly, righteously, so that you would have something and ready to give it away. The spirit filled life. So we talked about how there's a rush with it.

It's just the the twisted idea that it thrills somebody to do it, whether it feeds their pride, whether it's an adventure for them. It's the idea of not paying for something and you being able to satisfy yourself with it. We talked about the fact that there is it's probably evidence of laziness, and it's a lack of love. But it goes even deeper. Dig deeper.

Dig deeper. Why would God say don't do it? Why does it why does it bother him so much? Think of all the things that are involved with the act of stealing. You're not on autopilot mode when you steal.

You're you're not going up and you're saying nothing's going on in your mind and nothing's going on in your heart. You're taking something and you're doing it in a certain way. You're involving different things in order to perform that specific action. What's involved in stealing? Lack of faith.

That's a huge one. What else? Deception. Unless you're a terrible thief. You are a good deceiver if you are a thief.

What else? Manipulation? What else? Greed. Greed?

What else?

Unwillingness to follow God's character or be like

Yeah. Just living for yourself. Living like we're gonna find out like who? What else?

Envy.

Envy. All these ugly things accompany this sin. And like our sister just said, one of the strongest ones is the lack of faith. The lack of faith because, you know, believers can fall into this sin. Right?

Christians can steal, and it's not just money. It's not just food. It's not just clothes. It can be intellectual property. It can be so many other things, and this is the mindset of it.

Here's God saying you shall not steal. You are taking something that does not belong to you because you failed to realize who you belong to. I'm your father, and I can provide for you. And instead of going all that way to take something that doesn't belong to you, risking your integrity and the name that you represent, Why don't you come to me and lay your needs before my feet and let me supply those things? You take something that doesn't belong to you because you failed to see who you belong to.

Me, God, your father, your supplier, and your sustainer. And so ultimately, it's I don't trust that God will provide for me, and that can manifest even in being dishonest with our taxes. Right? As you come up in this season, those who pay taxes and all those questions come up, make it an act of faith before God saying, you know, I could not say this and I could not record this, but I'm gonna trust God that in this year, you're gonna provide for me and that you see my need and that you are for me and I wanna represent you well even when nobody else knows what I'm doing with my records. It's a declaration of faith when you trust God with your money.

Yes. Do you have a hand up?

So, yes, the tax withholding tithe on the church that ceiling is well

Well, there's different philosophy with tithes. We'll get into that in a second. Do you give 10%? Is that new covenant or old covenant? That's old covenant.

That's old covenant to the house of Israel. You know what you give in the New Testament? 100%. And what does God look for in the new covenant? Not just a giver, a cheerful giver.

So somebody that wants to give and doesn't just want to meet a certain percentage. Now that's that's a principle if you would like to take that upon yourself and that's something that you can walk with, but the new covenant has a different standard if you read very carefully. But you do rob God in different ways, and we can fall into that sin in different ways. And so when we think about not stealing, when we think about stealing, we talked about what it means for the person that does it, what it reveals about the person, but what does it do to other person who become victim of stealing? Once again, just think about the time that you had something stolen from you.

What emotions did it invoke in you? Anger? Okay. Let's say if a stranger breaks into your house, a stranger breaks into your car, and they take something, or maybe they don't take anything. Isn't there a sense of being violated in that act?

And if there is one thing that they took from you, it's your sense of security. And we live in a society that is polluted with this sin. You say, I don't know about that. Do you lock your door? Do you have an alarm system?

Do you lock your car when you get out of it? Do you have a password for your phone? Do you have a password for your computer? Why? Because you wanna protect it.

Why? Because people steal. But it's a whole different thing when somebody you know or you've caught somebody that you know doing this act. It's a whole another emotion involved. There's distrust, there's pain, there's anger, there's a future sense in which you don't know if that person will do it again.

There's a fear. There's all these nasty things that come with this specific sin. And God hates it because he wants harmony. He wants harmony in society. He wants harmony amongst people of God, and this sin violates all of those things.

So now we understand why God hates this sin. I remember talking to an individual who a long time ago was at work, and he couldn't leave his work, but his buddy came to visit him at work. And and so he gives them, I don't know if it was 5 or $10, and he said, friend, would you just go get me something to eat? I can't leave right now. It's really busy.

Could you go do this for me? And the buddy had asked him, can I get a drink with it? I don't have money.

Can I get a drink with the money? And I'll

I'll get you food with the rest. And he said, sure. That's fine. After an hour, the buddy comes back and brings nothing back. No drink, no nothing, and no change.

And the individual said, what did you do with all the money? He says, you know, I was really hungry and I decided to get everything for myself. And you know what that friend had said to the person who did that? You just sold our friendship for $10. You wanna really know how somebody is true?

Just give them a little bit of money and see what they do with it. Reveals a lot about their character. Some of you can testify to that. So we now understand this, but we can talk about stories and we could talk about how this person stole from me, and we could talk about different examples in the old testament how people have stolen. But I want us to take the time tonight to explore this idea of you shall not steal in ways that perhaps we do not immediately perceive, in ways in which we probably would not categorize as theft or would not categorize as robbery.

And so there are ways in which we can steal from one another and not in the realm of property or possessions or merchandise. And there are ways in which we can steal from God in the same way. Now we know in the physical sense, in Malachi, God criticizes the Israelites and says, you robbed me. And they go, how did we rob you? He goes, you didn't pay your tithes and your offerings.

So the there's the obvious sense they would not bring their necessary amount concerning the temple and all the services that need to be performed as an act of worship and God criticizes them for that. But, oh, when you get to the new covenant, there are ways that the people of God have stolen from him and till this day are stealing from him and he wants his payment. How can we steal from one another? How can you steal from somebody else that does not involve you reaching into their back pocket and taking out $20? Not paying them back?

No. If you hire somebody and you don't pay

Yes. So if you hire somebody and you tell them I'm gonna pay you and you don't pay them, yes. That's that's keeping back something that's owed to somebody else. Sure.

I don't know if this kind of makes sense, but not sharing the word with someone that's lost, you're you're basically stealing from that person the joy that you have in God's word and not sharing it with someone else.

You are touching the right nerve, my friend. Yes. Think about it. I wanna present you an idea found in the old testament and still a new covenant principle about how we can steal from other people. Turn with me to second Samuel.

Second Samuel chapter 15. Now here's the story. This is Absalom, David's son, who's scheming and planning to do something that's gonna become very obvious as we read these verses. In second Samuel chapter 15 verse one. I'm just gonna read it and visualize it as I read it.

After this, Absalom got himself a chariot and horses and 50 men to run before him. And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king, who's the king? David, for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, from what city are you? And when he said, your servant is of such and such tribe in Israel, Absalom would say to him, see, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.

Then Absalom would say, Oh that I were a judge in the land. Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me and I would give him justice. Stop there. What is he doing? What is he doing?

Read on. And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take a hold of him and kiss him. And thus Absalom did all to Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of men of Israel. You and I have the ability to steal people's hearts.

How does that relate to us as believers? What are we talking about here when we say that he stole the hearts of the people? What does this say of his character? What kind of person is he? A divisive person?

Is he being divisive here? Is he scheming here? Absalom is attempting to turn the people's hearts away from David to himself. And Absalom here is doing it by belittling the authority and the ability that David carried and is putting himself in the spotlight and convincing other people that he is the fit leader for Israel. And so what does he do?

He convinces them, he tricks them, and he speaks ill of another person in order to elevate self. And people do the same today. People with a specific agenda in their mind can come into a body and seek to speak ill maybe of leaders, maybe of another person, especially if a person is being used by God, especially if a person has a level of influence, especially if a person has been called by God to do certain things in the realm of leadership. Somebody can come in and see that, and whatever is going on in their heart would come and steal the hearts of the people by speaking ill of the one that God has appointed. And it doesn't have to be like Absalom for the sake of building your own kingdom.

It could be simply because you want the praise of man. It could simply be because because you want, affection, and you want attention, and you want people to speak of you. And instead of just being faithful in what God's called you to do, you want to steal their hearts. You wanna defile another person so that you look like somebody special. So divisive people are really thieves.

And whether that's in a church level, whether it's in a group setting with friends, whether it's in a familial level, it's possible to steal people's hearts in a way in which, not that you gain their affection naturally, but by turning them against somebody else in which they are called to be faithful to. That's scary. That's scary. And there are people today that might go into a local body and perhaps they wanna enhance their own ministry. And I mean, there are 7,200,000,000 people in the world that they can evangelize to, but instead they specifically come to bring the vision and to start what Absalom started a revolt for the sake of their own agenda.

That's thievery. I'm not talking about people leaving a church for obvious reasons such as lack of teaching, some critical issues within. I'm talking about somebody that comes in with a divisive mindset and plan to bring destruction and division for the sake of a personal agenda. If you don't think people like this exist, just stick around in Christianity a little longer and you'll hear a story and God forbid you ever experience such a thing. God forbid you might be that person.

Don't be that person. Don't be that person. So we see here that Absalom is acting in a way in which he's stealing not money, but people's hearts. And that's dangerous. How else can we steal?

I'm not talking about material things. I'm talking about different things. How else can somebody steal? One way, Romans 13 verse seven. Romans 13 verse seven gives us an indication.

Pay to all what is owed to them. Now what's the context of Romans 13? Especially in the first few verses. Government. How God has instituted the government.

How God has placed government as the instrument of his judgment, and as the instrument of his rewarding to those who do good in society. And then he comes near the end and he says, talks about taxes. Right? And we talked about that. He says, pay to all what is owed to them.

Taxes to whom taxes are owed, that's obvious. Revenue to whom revenue is owed. Respect to whom respect is owed, and honor to whom honor is owed. So when you are supposed to pay somebody something that's owed to them and you withhold that payment for your own gain or for whatever reason, it's still thievery. And that could be true in taxes, that could be true in giving your employee the necessary amount that you've promised them, and that could be in respect and honor to those who deserve respect and honor.

And when you withhold respect and when you withhold honor, you are stealing. You're not giving what is owed to them. So because we don't wanna step there, what positions are people as God called us to give respect to, to give honor to, lest we fall into this sin of stealing and not giving what is owed. Romans 13, government positions. Right?

Government positions. See, that's the context. And so be very careful of those who are so loose with their tongue to not give respect and honor to whom as we believe according to the scriptures, not what man has decided, but by God's sovereignty who is he has instituted in government. You might not like them. That doesn't mean you don't have to be you have to be disrespectful.

You might not agree with their policies. That does not mean you are called to dishonor. Because they've been given that position, you and I are called to owe unto them honor and respect because that's what their position demands for. We talked about another idea of honor and respect. It's a commandment actually that we talked about.

Honor your father and your mother. So when you and I withhold honor from our parents, we're stealing what belongs to them. Is there another arena of leadership that we're called to honor and respect? President. President.

Yeah. Government. Yes. Pastors. Pastors.

First Timothy five seventeen. First Timothy five seventeen tells us very plainly and clearly. The story. First Timothy five seventeen. If we're called to give honor to where honors do, let the elders that rule well Okay.

Notice. Let the elders that rule what? Well. Those type of elders be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in word and in doctrine, in preaching and in teaching. So elders, those who are faithfully called to shepherd your life, that do it well, and that labor and preaching and teaching, the scriptures say double honor.

And so the question then is, how do we rob people of honor and respect? Whether it's government, whether it's parents, whether it's the spiritual leaders of your life, how can we rob them of that honor and fall into this indictment? Slander, disobedience, lack of reverence. In those moments, God has instituted in his understanding of his economy in the spiritual realm that there is some currency that's supposed to be given to these specific people that have been instituted by God. And when you and I fail to do so by slander and gossip, lack of reverence and lack of whatever it may be that concerning their job to be done easier.

We're robbing them. It's thievery. I'm sure perhaps we didn't think of you shall not steal in this way and it even goes deeper than that. Is there another way that somebody can steal? Not necessarily in the physical sense but even with graver consequences.

And we talked about this. Yes.

One's life.

One's life?

Suicide. If I can just put they actually see God's given life, bread. It's not ours to give away. It's for

him to take away. So when we take what belongs to God, especially our own life, you know, and as we talk like this, it makes that scripture in James even more clear, I believe, in some sense. Maybe maybe in in one way that when you break one of the commandments, you break them all. Because somehow they seem to all intersect. Does it not?

That when you murder you're actually stealing. When you commit adultery you're actually stealing. When you covet you're actually breaking the first commandment. They all interlink. One way of stealing, the thief comes to do what?

Steal, kill and destroy. Now we talked about this, so let's do this for the sake of refreshing reminder. Is that thief Satan? Can those things be ascribed to Satan? Who is the thief in the context of John chapter 10?

The false teacher. How do we know that? How do we know that the thief in John chapter 10 verse 10 is a false teacher?

He said all who came before me.

So there's scriptures around it. So for the sake of sharpening our understanding of the word of God, listen, we don't wanna just know about the sword. We wanna know how to swing the sword. Right? It's one thing to know how to examine the sword and understand.

We wanna know how to swing it. Tell me why John chapter ten ten is not the devil and it's a thief or a false teacher rather.

Because he's talking about a robber that comes in, to steal and he's not the shepherd of the flock.

So are there there are verses? There are two specific verses in that chapter. So look at verse one. John chapter 10 verse one. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door who's the door?

Jesus. But climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. Verse eight. Go down to verse eight. Truly, truly, this is verse seven, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

So he's the door. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. So we understand by that that any person that says that there is another way to the father, any person that says that there is a another way into the sheepfold, into the place in which Christ and his kingdom dwells is a false teacher and in fact is a thief. And they're not stealing your wallet, though they might involve that, though they might have a twisted doctrine for personal gain, for popularity, for possessions, in the end, what they are stealing is souls. Souls and the eternal destination of where people will go because of their false teaching.

How frightening is that? How frightening is that? Think about the great white throne judgment for the false teachers that will stand before God, and God will show them all the souls that they have stolen because of their false teaching. So this is way bigger than just, oh, that person's off. This is no.

That person's a thief. And when we talked about murder, they're also a murderer because they destroy those souls. And so to some degree, we should praise those that expose false teachers because what they're doing in some sense is rescuing people that have been kidnapped from thieves and robbers that would preach a different gospel. It's dangerous. Is there another way that we can steal from another?

Our dear brother said something very similar to it, and disagree with me if you would like, but I believe this is one form in some sense that connects to this command. It's found in first Peter. First Peter chapter four verse ten and eleven. As every man has received a gift. So we talked about this on a Sunday.

When Christ died, was buried, rose from the grave, he did what? He gave us the gift of what? Salvation. The gift of salvation. Right?

But when he ascended according to Ephesians four verse eight, he did something else. He did two things. Again, sharpening our minds. Who remembers that Sunday sermon? He what?

He led a host of captives and he did what? Gave gifts unto men. That's not the gifts of salvation. Those are gifts tailor made for you at salvation that have been deposited in your life, and now what were those gifts for? Well, this verse tells us, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another.

Use that gift that God has purchased through Christ and deposit it in you for the sake of the edification, for the sake of the purification, for the sake of stirring up to love and good works. Use that gift for the purpose of serving another as good stewards of God's varied grace. That gift is a grace, you can't boast in it. The same way salvation is by grace. The gift in which you operate in and bear fruit with and exalt Christ with is a measure of grace.

And I remember reading this once just in my devotional time and so convicted to realize that this gift is deposited in you. It came with a price, his blood. And you and I are called to be good managers of that gift. Think about it. We are called to be good stewards with that gift, because that gift has a purpose and it's not about you.

That gift is not about how people can praise you and how you can elevate your agenda and how you can come forward and move forward in fame and popularity. Nothing to do with you. That gift, no matter what that gift is, is used to serve one another. So if we make this connection, if I do not steward my gift, if I don't faithfully use my gift, what am I doing? I'm robbing somebody else of a blessing that comes through my gift.

Never thought of it like that, have you? That when I come to a place where I'm not faithful with this gift and that that faithfulness, that lack of faithfulness can come in many ways. Many ways, in ways that are so subtle that we can justify our lack of service in the church. And one way is laziness. Like God has purchased something in you.

Listen. Your salvation and your sanctification goes beyond you just getting a ticket and you holding on for dear life until Jesus comes with that trumpet sound or before you go into the dirt. There is something involved in the salvation. It's you serving. And when you get saved, you have to get plugged into a local church.

And when you get plugged into that local church, you're doing something with your hands, your lips, or your feet. You're active. If you're not active, you're not being a good steward of that grace. And not only that, you're robbing of other people of being edified, of being stirred, and you're even robbing them of some sense of supplementation to their sanctification. That's profound.

So if I'm lazy and I have a gift and I make excuses not to be involved when there are so many needs and so many opportunities at hand, what am I doing? I'm robbing my local church. I'm robbing my brothers and sisters of Christ of being blessed through what God has deposited in me. So that tells you and me two things. One, find out what your gift is, and that's a whole another Bible study.

But you find out what that gift is. You pray. You seek. You talk to your leaders. What do you see in me?

You see what you flow in with ease. You see what your heart seems to gravitate towards when it comes to service. You just find yourself always saying, I just I love to pray. I'd love to pray, or I'd love to evangelize, or I'm really good at logistics. I'm really good at organizing, or I love to deck.

Whatever it may be. Figure it out, be a good steward of it, and watch how you will invest in other people's lives, and you're gonna stop robbing them of what Christ has called you to give to them. And sometimes it could be masked by fear, especially the public gifts, especially the gifts that require speaking. But look what Peter says right here, whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. And so there's sometimes even this wrestling with those who have the ability to communicate in such a way where people are stirred up, where the Holy Spirit can use that person's words and it's his words through them that convicts and stirs them to to to understand the word of God in a greater way.

And that person can say, well I just don't want them to think I'm proud when I preach. Or I don't want these people to think that I have a different agenda when I'm up there. Or I don't want people to see me on the worship team and think that I'm an arrogant person. And it's like, woah listen. You can you can bury that gift and rob people of blessing because of fear.

So if you have those emotions in you, if you have those thoughts, this is your responsibility, especially if you have a a a platform gift, so to speak. You go to Christ daily and you kill those thoughts, and you ask Christ for the humility and the power necessary to be effective in what he put in you, and you ask him for the perspective of realizing that whatever ability you have, whether it's to communicate or to play musically or whatever it may be that might be on a public setting, it has nothing to do with you. Because the same way Christ gave it to you is the same way he could take it from you and make you mute if he will. So you understand that the same way he can put you up somewhere is the same way in a moment, he can flick you off the stage. And you operate in that gifting faithfully and watch how people will be blessed, lest you rob them of blessing.

Figure out what your gift is. Get plugged into a local church on a consistent basis. Build your life with a family, whether it's here or wherever God leads you, and exercise your gift so that you can bless other people because that's why Christ put it in you in the first place. He purchased something. He put it in you.

Now use it. So we talked about how we can do this with other people, but there's a whole another category. There's a whole another category right here how we can rob from God. We can rob from other people in this way, and we can rob from God in a whole another way. So here's the question.

How can we rob from God? We talked about tithes and offerings in the old testament understanding. How else can we rob from God? Not giving him time as we spoke of? Sure.

So, you know, you're not going to follow not following God's call for you or using that gift that he's giving you. You're robbing up the glory that you give to him by using it for him.

So it

goes even deeper. We were here, now we're going here. So it's not just robbing of other people and the blessing that they can receive in their walk with Christ because of your faithfulness in Christ. That's not a stretch. We also rob God of his glory through you.

How do we know that? Go back to first Timothy four. What does he say in verse 11 at the end of it? In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. And so this is what we have to do.

We have to continually come before the Lord, mold my mind to believe that when I exercise my gift faithfully, Christ you're being glorified, and my brother and sister are being edified. There's a way of robbing God's house that goes beyond the ties and the offerings found in Malachi. And it's in Matthew chapter 21 verse 12. We are familiar with this. Jesus entered the temple in verse 12 of Matthew 21.

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who are buying and selling there. What were they doing in God's house? Buying and selling there. Is that what God's house is for? He overturned the tables.

Wait, is that Jesus? He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. And this is what it says in letters of red. It is written, he said to them, my house will be called the house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers. So Jesus comes into the temple, and he sees a sight that clearly does not please him.

He sees people buying and selling when in fact they should have been doing what? Praying. And because they weren't praying, he lashes them not just with a whip of cords or cord of whips, whatever. He lashes them with this indictment. You have turned my house into a den of robbers.

So it is possible to take God's house, it is possible to take a ministry, and to use it. Now they didn't get rid of sacrifices here. They didn't get rid of the offerings nor did they get rid of the feast. They just took advantage of those holy moments to make an extra buck. And so there is a business agenda in this setting.

And so clearly, God is not in favor of turning his house into a place in which we can make merchandise out of people even if it has Christianity written all over it. Even if it's done in the name of Christ. If there is some motive in there to receive extra gain from vulnerable people, from the people of God, we're in trouble. Now why would he say den of robbers? There's many explanations.

I believe the simple surface level reading is this. You have turned my house into a place where thieves can come and do what they wanna do. You've turned my house in a place in which people can come with their own plan and their own schemes and take advantage through my word, through the vulnerability and even the naiveness and the simplicity and the kindness and the loveliness of people, and you have turned it into a place in which you can receive more. Do people do that today? Absolutely.

But there's another understanding of this, which is scary as well, That they have taken God's house, which according according to Acts chapter 20 verse 28. It says that he had purchased his church with his blood. So he purchased the church with his blood, and he had a specific intention in mind when he made that purchase. And what was it? That it would be a house of prayer.

So when we turn God's house into something other than what he purchased it for, we are essentially robbing God. He made a payment for his church, and when the church fails to operate in the in the way in which he planned it to through the purchasing of his own blood, guess what? You're robbing God. You're robbing God. So when we fail to pray on a corporate level, when we fail to turn this place into a house of prayer, what does that say of the purchase that he made?

What does that do to his heart? What does that speak of his sacrifice? He intended his house to be a place in which the people of God could come and commune with him through the channel of prayer, and when we fail to do that, I don't care how many activities we're doing, I don't care what we're doing, I don't care how much money we're pumping in every year, We're robbing God. Robbing God. And that could be actively or that can be passively.

But God says, I made a purchase for you to seek me, and this would be a house of prayer for all nations. What priority should we put on prayer because of that revelation itself? Not a house of sacrifice, not a house of worship, not a house of preaching, not a house of teaching, not a house of community, not a house of fellowship. No. No.

No. House of prayer. When we fail to pray, we cheapen the blood of Jesus Christ. But what happens when we allow Jesus to clean house? Judgment begins in the house of God.

What happens when we let Christ enter into the temple and to not just let go of the benches, but to drive out the people that have different mindset? Two things happen. Verse 14 happens and verse 15 happens. Verse 14, pay attention to the sequence of Matthew 21, is the direct result of Jesus Christ coming into his house and cleaning up house. What does it say in verse 14?

Matthew 21 verse 14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. Let me say this very boldly. I'm not too concerned about people leaving if they're not in there for the right reason. In fact, oftentimes, if the spirit of God really comes into a place, you know what he will do?

Drive out the ones that don't wanna be there for God in the first place. And when he takes possession of a local setting, and he drives out the money changers, and he drives out this business mentality, and drives out any purpose that is outside of the clear ordained reality of what his house is supposed to be, what happens? Somebody comes in. Christ. And when Christ comes in, things begin to happen.

What's one thing that happens? The blind and the lame come. People will begin to be drawn to the house of God to receive wholeness. They can't do that when you're making merchandise out of them. But when they realize that there is somebody in this place, and it goes beyond a preacher, and it goes beyond a talented musician, and it goes beyond the nice lights, and it goes beyond the programs, but there is a person, Jesus Christ.

They will be drawn, and they will understand that there is power in that place to receive wholeness. He healed them. Not only that, verse 15. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the see, religious people don't like this stuff. The chiefs and the scribes come in, they go, wonderful things here.

And saying Hosanna, the son of David, they were sore displeased. So the second thing that will happen for sure when God cleans up houses, Christ becomes the center, and he becomes the object of worship. And people will realize who he is in his goodness and his majesty, and people will come for Christ. People will be drawn to Christ. People will stay for Christ.

But if we, be careful, any person here in any level of leadership that has any power to make decisions in a local church, if you choose to do anything outside of the prescribed will of God for the sake of your agenda or for the sake of whatever reason, you're robbing God. Not Not only are you robbing God, we can go back and say we're robbing people of being touched by God. Fearful things at hand here. Not only that, but we can what? We can rob God by doing as we please with our bodies.

We can rob God by doing as we please with our bodies. First Corinthians six nine nineteen and twenty. This is in the context of what we spoke about last week about sexual immorality. And it says at the end of Paul's argument here, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God, and you are not your own? You're not your own.

Why? For you are bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. We rob God of glory when we allow our bodies to be mastered by anything other than God himself. And I want you and I to develop this, understand this beautiful perspective that the preservation of my purity in body, not just soul, not spirit, not in body, the preservation of the purity of my body is an act of worship to God.

That he is worshiped when we say no to temptation, when we say no to immorality. But it is the opposite truth. When we give ourselves over to these sinful things, we are robbing God of glory, and we are testifying to the world that this sin is better than God, That the pleasure that comes from this forbidden act is actually more enjoyable than God taking possession of you. If you think about it that way, that my resistance to this person who is calling me into an act of immorality, or this specific thing on a screen that's calling me to an act of immorality, my resistance is worship to God, and it's a testimony to the world that God is better. That God is better.

But when I give myself over to the desires of the flesh and I allow my flesh to be mastered by anything other than God himself, we're robbing God of the glory because he purchased not just his church, he purchased you. He purchased you. Your body belongs to him. What a wonderful thought. What a fearful thought.

What I do with this in every sense of the way, whether in morality or even with health, or how I treat my body, this is his property. Lord, let me see myself not my body. God is concerned. You know, salvation has to do with your body too. Your body is gonna be resurrected.

This means a lot to him. So what I do with this is an act of worship or it's an act of thievery. Could be an act of thievery. Remember when those men came to trap Jesus? Hey Jesus, should we pay our taxes to Caesar or not?

What does Jesus say? Render unto Caesar's what is Caesar's. Before he said that, he said something else. Give me a coin, then what did he say? Inscription and likeness is on this coin.

And then they said Caesar's, and he said, render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and render unto God what belongs to God. So this is the train of thought. Without compromise, without hesitation, gift to Caesar the very thing that holds his inscription and in his likeness. And in the same manner, you give to God what holds his inscription and his likeness. What is that?

You. You bear his image. You bear his likeness. And so in the same way Caesar is to receive what has his inscription and likeness on it, you, my friend, tonight are called by God to give yourself to God for you bear His image, and He longs to restore the image of Himself in you and through you through association and union with Christ. So when you withhold yourself and giving yourself to God, you are robbing God of what belongs to him, your life, your life.

So people live how they want. They want live without Lord Jesus being Lord of their lives. You're robbing God. You bear his image. You bear his image.

I'm gonna end with this thought. Jesus dealt with a thief. He dealt with two of them, actually. So there's Jesus on the cross, and there's two people on his left and on his right that are being crucified for a specific crime. What's that crime?

Robbery, thievery. So there they are being convicted and being punished and condemned for that sin. But I would present to you that they were also convicted of not just stealing in the physical sense. They were stealing from somebody else, from God himself. You say how?

Matthew seven twenty seven verse 44. Matthew 27 verse 44 tells us something about these two thieves. Matthew twenty seven forty four. The thieves, plural. Right?

The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. I don't know what that translation says, but I'll tell you what it says in the ESV, and I'm sure it says it in your translation, that they joined the mockery, and they joined the reviling of those that were standing before the cross and mocking Jesus. Come down. You saved others. Save yourself.

And the thieves, both the thieves joined with them. So you know what they were doing? They didn't just steal. They didn't just commit robbery. They were stealing and robbery robbing God from his glory by slandering the perfect spotless lamb of God.

But something happens to one of the thieves. In Luke 23, Jesus makes the famous statement, does he not? In verse 34, father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. And when you scroll down in Luke 23 after that verse in verse 40, something happened between verse 34 and verse 40 that pricked the heart of the one thief. And so here's this other thief still mocking Jesus.

You know there are people that go to their deathbed mocking Christ. There are people that go to their dying breath blaspheming the son of God. And this man is blaspheming and reviling, and this other thief begins to rebuke him and said, listen. We're here because of our deeds. He's here, but he's innocent.

He he declares the sinlessness of Jesus. And he looks at him and he says, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And Jesus in total compassion and forgiveness says, today you will be with me in paradise. When this thief who began mocking Christ saw the forgiveness that Jesus showed to these ones that were mocking below them, something he he melted. His heart began to just come to a place where it realized that this this is more than a man.

This is the God man. This is the Messiah. And in that moment, he he looks at Christ. He says, you are innocent. You are pure.

You are holy. I'm vile and I'm wicked. And this man who robbed from people and robbed God of his glory was forgiven in that moment. Listen. I don't care what thievery you're a part of.

I don't care if you've done it to people. I don't care if you've done it to God himself. Christ is willing to forgive you now. Right now. You could have stolen from God because you failed to give your life to him.

You could have stolen from God by failing to realize that he has deposited in you, Christian, a gift that you failed to use because of laziness or fear. And fear is not a package in this thing called salvation. He's not giving us a spirit of fear. You could have robbed people physically. You could have stolen property.

You could be cheating on your taxes. You could be you probably were planning to cheat on your taxes this year. Maybe you're in a little financial rut where you said, you know, I'm just gonna be a little dishonest here and there. You could be downloading things that you're not supposed to be downloading knowing that it's supposed to be purchased for, but it's just a little easier because you're not actually taking it. Doesn't matter what it is.

Christ in this moment is willing to forgive. But let me make this strong urgent warning. Don't take this idea of the grace and forgiveness of Christ even to somebody's dying breath, and say, you know, I'm just gonna live how I want. When I come to the moment where I'm coming on my deathbed, I'm gonna ask Christ for that's not that's not what it's about. One, you don't know if you're gonna get a deathbed.

Two, have you ever thought about this? That though this man, though he stole from other men and stole from God in that moment by robbing him of his glory and slandering his name, he actually, unfortunately, though this is an act of grace, he actually was a victim of his own robbery. Because though he gained salvation and though he received grace before his dying breath, he robbed himself of the joy of living for Christ throughout his life. So we come to this story and we go, this is awesome. It is awesome, but it's also tragic.

I don't know how God will judge this man at the judgment seat of Christ. But based on what I see in the scripture, he did not live for Christ and therefore robbed himself of so much in this life. There are so many people that have grace, that have salvation. I don't wanna give a number statistically, but I would say the majority, but are robbing themselves daily. You're robbing yourself.

You don't see it, do you? But you're actually stealing from yourself. God wants to do something through you. God has a plan for you, and the only requirement tonight from you and for the rest of your days is total surrender. And so if you've made it up in your mind that you're gonna get serious about God when you're a little older and when you finish college and when you get through the fun years in life, let me tell you what you're doing.

You're robbing yourself. And if you just develop this understanding that God really has something for you in this life, and there are rewards for your faithfulness, and that every day is a possibility for you to invest in those things, and invest in advancing the kingdom of God, and seeing his face at the end of it all and to hear those words while done good and faithful servant and to be blinded by the rewards that will come with it if you just really believe it tonight. You will not be robbing yourself, you will be investing in yourself. So many people are rich in this world, even Christians, rich, but are bankrupt spiritually. And as one preacher said it, there are a lot of Christians who are millionaires in this life but will be bankrupt in heaven because they failed to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ and wanting to take their lives and do something with it.

So if you look at the thief on the cross and you come up with some twisted philosophy that you're just gonna live this life however and at the end of it, you know, when you think things are getting a little okay, God, here's my life. You know, he's so gracious, he'll do it if you're serious. But one, you don't have tomorrow. You don't know if tomorrow's coming. Two, if you're a believer, you're robbing yourself of rewards.

You're robbing yourself of joy. You're robbing yourself of thrills. You're robbing yourself of testimonies. You're robbing yourself of seeing God do things through you where you can't even dare take glory for yourself because you know how weak you are, you know how frail you are, you know how inconsistent you are, yet God takes possession of your life just because you said here's my life and he does things through you that you cannot even imagine. Do you know how many people are not living like that?

Do you know how many people are not living like that? So many, and so many have deceived themselves thinking that they are on that path, but they know in their hearts that they have not given every ounce of that ointment, that alabaster flask. Don't make that choice tonight. Don't rob yourself. Don't rob yourself of what God wants to put in you.

Let's pray. If there's any sense that I've stolen from God tonight, why don't we just confess it and bring it before him? It could be money. It could be whatever it could be. The Holy Spirit is pinpointing it in your heart.

But lay it before him and saying, lord, I don't wanna rob from you. I don't wanna rob from my brother, and I don't even wanna rob myself. I wanna give myself to your purposes. God, tonight, we come before you in this eighth commandment, perhaps not realizing how we can actually be stealing and not even realizing it. But, Lord, we come humbly before your word asking that you would show us if there's any any any indication of us robbing you or others or ourselves from what you want to do in us, what you wanna do in others, and what you want us to experience in you.

God, we pray that you would protect us from the temptation of stealing in the physical sense, being dishonest because we don't trust that you can provide for us. We fail to realize that you are in control of everything, even our bank account, even our future. You know our needs, and you call us to come to you. Lord, when we feel that pull to be dishonest, help us kick into faith. Lord, are we stealing from one another?

Show us if we are. Are we divisive people? Are we trying to steal the hearts of people and turn others from others? Lord, are are we stealing by not being faithful with the gifts that you've given us and people being blessed by those gifts? God, are we stealing from from you by not putting a premium on prayer?

Are we stealing from you by not giving our bodies to you as an act of worship? Are we are we fooling ourselves to think that though we might be walking pretty okay and things seem to be consistent, yet we have not made that full surrender, even as believers, for you to do what you want in our lives. And we have grace, we have salvation, but we don't have service at full hand, show us, God, if we're robbing ourselves. By disobedience, by backsliding, by living in sin, by flirting with the world, we're robbing ourselves. Help us really believe you have something to give us, and we don't wanna give that away.

So, lord, as we worship you, we we worship you in light of the fact that you have given Christ, and you've given us so much. And there's yet so much to obtain if we just let go of certain things and say, Lord, I I give it all away for you to have possession of my heart. We worship you tonight in Jesus' name.