Well, it's good to see everybody
out and seein' it. Remember those who requested
prayer? Remember those who requested
prayer? The Lord's here for them. The bread is doing so better. Not in pain, which is a good
thing, goodness. Don't worry about that. Some swelling's going on there,
so maybe they need medication. Kick it in, that'd be a great
thing. Pray the Lord to that end anyway. That's one of the
amazing prayers. And the other should be a question
of prayer. I think Greg Peters is going to be committed, is
that right? To a mental institution? That's
right, that's a mental institution here. And we continue to remember
those in the parks. And the other should be a question
of prayer. Seek the Lord's help. Let's begin our worship service
tonight. We're going to have number 436,
an amazing raised house Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me. My heart was broke, but now
I'm found, was blind, but now I see. The grace that taught my heart
to fear, and raised my fears free. How gracious He, how gracious
He, the hour I first believed. To me, danger, torch, and spares,
I have already come. His grace hath brought me safe
thus far, And grace will lead me home. When he's been bending thousand
years And shining at the sun We know that's little to say
the least And when he first begun KUNE LELAM NIUKWESI NIGAKUYARE
NAKUTOSA NIUKWESI NIGAKUYA HOKA In number six, Come Thou Almighty
King. Come Thou Almighty King, have
us I need to see, have us to praise, Father of glorious For all victorious Come and reign
over us Ancient of days Come thou incarnate Word Girl, thy
mighty sword Our rarity I say. Thou who almighty art, Thou who
in every heart, And there from us depart, Here in the light,
To the great one in three, Eternal praises be, Each never new, Also, remember my mother, who
fell in the woods on a hike, messed up his knee and had to
be operated on. We've got about three more weeks
before he Possibly dry. I don't know if
he starts his rehab this week. He said, well, being that knee
has been straight for some time since May. I said, gee, 13th,
I realize. 20 degrees. I told him, I said, well, you're
looking forward to that. I said, that's 20 degrees. It's
going to be hard on you. But remember, you have your prayers
for us to recover you. He's in good spirits, so we had
a good laugh today. Exodus chapter 20, we're gonna
read one verse of scripture. The title of my message tonight
is Steve's. Exodus 20, verse 15. Thou shalt
not steal. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,
glorious and holy, you who move this world by your absolute power
and sway, we thank you Send your son into this world
as our shooting team, having assumed our sin dead and paid
it with sin dead, and set us free. We thank you that we can
approach you as our father, the one who loves us, who watches
for us, and cares for us. And we praise you that we have
nothing but the goodness of God in you. Father, we pray for those who
are accomplished, sick, or going through trials. I pray for the
others who request prayer. Kind and generous to your hearts
for Jesus Christ. We pray as we look at your We appreciate these things. Help
us Lord, we pray in Christ's name, in his will. Amen. Now this commandment addresses
taking someone's property. Property that does not legally
belong to the thief. There's an underlying presupposition
in this commandment. And that underlying principle
is that one can legally own property. that rightfully belongs to him.
Every nation, tribe, or people that form any kind of community
have some sort of restriction against that. When a state or
nation relaxes those laws and gives theory an open season,
as many have in the past, its intent has been proven to be
socialist or communist. property belongs to the state.
Then when thievery occurs, stealing often becomes a capital crime
worthy of death or boon in some areas of the offending limb that
steals. This commandment given to this
new nation was added because they were already
guilty of the transgression. It was given particularly strong
status because God was the one who commanded it. The Israelites
had what they had because God had freely given them what they
had. They didn't have anything of
their own. They were slaves. They were Catholics. They owned
nothing but their sorrow. They owned that. But what they
have and what they now have as they stand before Sinai and as
they will walk into the Promised Land, they have Because God is
freely given of them. God is the author, and the believers
know that what they have, they have received. And they don't
boast as if they've not received. And they were given, each tribe,
property rights to what God had given them. But that was with
a caveat. They could not sell what God
had given to them. They could not sell it. If they
were plagued with poverty, they could pawn their property. was
freely returned to them at the year of the Sabbath or the Jubilee.
Now the reason that the property could not be sold was that it
would make the grace of God a thing of commerce and that can never
be so. We know the case of Jezebel.
She sought to buy Naboth's vineyard for her husband. and Ahab and
Naboth refused to sell it because it was against the law according
to Leviticus 25, 23. It says this, Leviticus 25, 23,
The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine, saith the
Lord. Ye are strangers and sojourners
with me. The land belongs to God. of the people of God on property. It really belongs to God. Everything
belongs to God. I remember old Bill Carver said
one time he found it easy to give his money away. Once he
found out it wasn't his money, it was somebody else's money.
It was God's money. And the law did state no relatives
to pass it down to that the property could be sold or could be auctioned
to another tribe or another person. So Jezebel killed Naboth to get
that vineyard. Her husband wanted that vineyard.
And when Naboth refused, he went into a blue funk and cried and
whined. She said, you're a king. Don't
you act like a king. So she killed Naboth and then
had his two sons killed. And she did that by hiring two
false witnesses to witness falsely against those two sons. And because
they witnessed against them for blasphemy, they were killed.
And suddenly, they were available to be bought. And so Jezebel
bought that. But the land was God's. It was
not to be sold. It was not to be sold. She stole
the vineyard and broke a number of laws of doing so. It is a
sin to take what belongs to another that does not belong to you.
That's what this sentence says. Ultimately, since all anyone
has is by the hand of God, all theft is against God, and all
theft is a matter of the heart. We know that our Lord said, what
proceeds from the heart, murderers and adulterers and thieves. and
thus proceeds from the heart. So our Lord made reference to
thieves when he designated himself as the only access or entrance
into the sheepfold. He said, I am the door of the
sheep. I am the door. This is the way we enter into
the pasture of God's green pastures, enter into the salvation that
God has brought. Only through Jesus Christ, the
false shepherd's intent was to steal and kill and destroy. That's
the way he said it. Look over at John chapter two. John chapter 10, verse 7, it
says, Then said Jesus, Verily I say unto you, I am the door
of the sheep. All that ever came before me
are thieves and robbers. thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. I am the door, by me if any man
enter, and he shall be saved, and shall know in and out of
thine passion. A thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life, and they might have it more abundantly. If all shepherds
attend, it's to steal, it's to kill, and it is to destroy the
sheep. He calls them thieves and robbers,
thieves and robbers. There's a difference between
stealing and robbing. There's a difference. The Beatles
wrote a song about a girl who came in through the bathroom
window. You remember that song that they
wrote? Said she quit the police department
to get a steady job and she could steal but she could not rob.
There's a difference there between stealing and robbing. Robbing
is stealing. There's no doubt about that.
But stealing is not necessarily robbing. Robbing is open. and stealing can be done clandestinely,
often required still. The robbing is open and involves
a face-to-face encounter with the one being robbed. In Malachi,
the Lord accuses Israel of robbing him in tithes and offerings.
Now those things were offered at ceremonies, which his intent
was to worship God, that he had given the first fruits. He had
given, and tithes had nothing to do with money. Offerings did
have to do with money. But tithes had nothing to do
with money. Not one thing. It had to do with
crops. It had to do with cattle. It had to do with things like
that. But never money. Offerings had to do with offering
money. But tithes, which were under the law, had nothing to
do with money. They said that they were keeping the law. These
people did. concerning what belonged to God, but they were robbing
him. They were not doing it. You remember Ananias and Sapphira
in the early church. They gave to the church, but
they said they were giving more than they actually gave, and
they were put to death in the early church. They were stealing
from God by saying they were giving to God. They said they were keeping the
law concerning what belonged to God, but they were robbing
him. If they robbed him thusly, they were robbing him what? They
were basically robbing him of what was due him. And what is
due the Lord? He's due his glory. His glory. So any robbing of God is in worship,
it's in religion, it's in saying you're face to face with God,
but you're stealing from him. This is common among false professors. They say that salvation is of
the Lord. If you would ask any Baptist
preacher on this reservation today, or anywhere just about
in the world, and say, how does salvation come? They'll say,
well, salvation's of the Lord. But didn't they also say that
it can't happen unless you exercise your will or your decision or
you walk out front, but it's still of the Lord? And they say,
well, they're robbing him. And they're robbing him not at
clandestiny, they're openly from the pulpit saying they represent
God and they profess God, they profess to know God, and yet
they're saying, The Lord also accuses and ignites false pastors
and prophets of stealing His words. we're studying in the book of
Jeremiah, and we'll get here sooner or later, probably later,
but in Jeremiah chapter 23. And remember, Jeremiah is that weeping
prophet that is confronting that nation with their idolatry before
God. In Jeremiah chapter 23, verse
30, The Lord says, Therefore, behold,
I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words
every one from his neighbor. Steal the words of God. Jeremiah's
message was wrath and slavery, and captivity was coming to Israel. It's on its way. It's coming
from the north. The Chaldeans are coming. Babylonians are going
to take the captives. So that was his words. His wrath and slavery and captivity
was coming. He pulled no punches and gave
no quarter. Over in Jeremiah chapter 7 we
get some sense of how he approached his preaching. In Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 9 it
says, he said, will you steal? and walk after other gods whom
you know not. This is the kind of preaching
he did. He confronted people with what they were doing. So
he pulled no punches and gave no quarter to these people. His
words were the words that God put in his mouth. We saw that
in our last study. And his preaching, when he preached,
he knew that men would hate him. And the prophets and the pastors
stole those words. They stole those words from him.
Back at Jeremiah chapter six, we see how they did it. In Jeremiah
chapter 6 verse 13 it says, For from the least of them, even
to the greatest, everyone is given to covetousness, which
is dissatisfaction and malcontentment before God. Idolatry it is called. And from the prophet even to
the priest, every one of them dealeth falsely. They have healed
also the hurt of my daughter and my people slightly. That's very important. What did
they do? They didn't give them true healing. They didn't tell
them about true healing. They didn't tell them about where
there was refreshing and healing and freedom in Jesus Christ.
It was spoken of in Isaiah 28. What they told them was that
everything is going to be okay. It made the people feel a little
better. It slightly healed. They're hurt,
slightly healed. How do they do that? They say,
peace, peace, when there isn't peace. That's how they do it. That's how they steal God's word.
What was God's word? Wrath is coming. Judgment is
coming. You're going to rue the day that
you were in idolatry before God. And these false preachers say,
oh, it's not that bad. It's going to be OK. Peace. Don't
worry about these things. Don't worry about what that crazy
Jeremiah's talking about. Everything's gonna be okay. That's
the language. That's the kind of things they
did. They still exist in these days, preaching peace when there
is no peace. There's still a group of that
today. Look over, and they do it basically by lying on God
altogether. But over in 2 Peter, Peter talked
about the last days and people's religious reaction to it. In
2 Peter chapter 3, beginning with verse 13, he says, Knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last days, and that's
not our John or something, it's starting when Jesus Christ entered
this world, the last days began. John said we are in the last
days in verse John. He says, Knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after
their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
Well, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continued
as they were from the beginning of creation. Nothing's changed.
Talking about the war coming again, and he's going to destroy
the enemy, and he's going to cast people into a lake of fire,
all that. Well, that ain't happened, and
it's been a long time. Now, this was written probably
a hundred years after our Lord, or less than a hundred years
after our Lord went to glory. That's been 2,000 years and they're
still saying the same thing. It says, for this they willingly
are ignorant that by the word of God, the heavens alone and
the earth standing in and out of the water and in the water.
They're ignorant, they don't even talk about the flood when
God destroyed the world, same for 8 souls. whereby the world
then was being overflowed with water and perished. But the heavens
and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in
store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. That's what's coming. They say
everything's the same. Since the creation nothing's
really changed. He said, but beloved, don't be
ignorant of this one thing. That one day is what the Lord
has a thousand years, and a thousand years is a day. Two thousand
years is like a day. And a day is like two thousand
years. What does that mean? Time is not an issue in God. He's
got a plan. He's got a purpose. He's got
a day when he comes around to this thing. I don't know when
it is, but the older I get, the more anxious I am for it to take
place. Even so, come Lord Jesus. He
said, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness. But He is longsuffering to us,
the children of God, the elect of God, according to what Peter
says in the first chapter, not willing that any of us should
fail. I'm not a slack-legged scholar,
they preach at peace, but the day of the Lord will come as
a thief in the night, to them, not to those who are of the people,
according to 1 Thessalonians, in the which the heavens shall
pass away. The great knowledge, the elements shall melt in the
firm heat of the earth, also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought it to be in
holy conversation in God? It's looking forward. There is
peace to be had in this world today, but it's not world peace. It's peace, the peace of the
heart and mind that knows God. And that peace was established
and paid for that were by that blood, the
enmity that was in our hearts against God was removed and we
were reconciled unto God by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The promise of his coming is that the enemies of the cross
will be destroyed, ultimately being cast into the lake of fire.
The scoffers declare that it's been a long time since he promised
and everything's still the same, be at peace, there's nothing
to worry about yourself. They steal his word. Thou shalt
not steal, but they steal the words of God. The Lord also made
it clear that there are things that can be less important in
this world than stolen. There are things that are possessed
of Him that can be stolen, and things that can't. He made that
clear under Matthew Chapter 6. Matthew Chapter 6. Verse 19, He says, Lay not up
yourself traitors upon the earth. Why? Because those things can
be stolen. Those things can be stolen. Where moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break in through and steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. So if you've got anything
here on this earth, Anything you can see, touch, taste, or
handle, it can be stolen. And before long, it will rust.
I was talking to somebody the other day. He talked about being
in the golden age, or the golden days of our lives. I said, it
feels to me more like the rusty days of our lives than the golden
days of our lives. But if you've got something,
I don't care what it is, and you look around this room at
all the people we love and cherish, they're not going to leave you
forever. They can't believe it. They can be stolen. Everything
you can see can be stolen. What's that talking about? Temporal
things can be stolen. Eternal things cannot be stolen.
What God has given you in His grace and by His mercy can never
be taken from you. Now He supplies your need in
this world and takes care of you in that sense. But He's given
you things that will never pass away. That you will actually
take with you when you go. Those are eternal things. You
see, what is of sight can be stolen, and that which is of
faith cannot be stolen. That's what he said. And though
stealing was a sin and a transgression of the law, certain thefts were
somewhat excused. And the punishment was tempered
with mercy. Turn over to Proverbs chapter
6. Proverbs chapter 6 verse 30 says,
Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul
when he is hungry. If a man is starving to death
and he steals something to eat. Men don't despise death. But,
if he be found, have him stolen, he shall restore sevenfold, he
shall give all the substance of his house. Now, Moses also
lives with Steve and Calvin, oxen, things like that, in chapter
22 of Exodus, which we'll get to later. But here, if a person is starving to death,
or his family is starving, and he steals something for his family,
men don't despise death. Now, according to the law, after
you make a sevenfold, that punishment is temporary and personal. You're
not going to lose a hand. You're not going to go to jail.
You're just going to have to pay it back. And Solomon, a wise
child of God, made a request for God that would prevent him
from stealing. In Proverbs chapter 30, verse 7, he says, there's two
things that I require of thee. Deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me, lest I be full and deny thee, saying, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and stingy,
and take the name of the Lord in vain. Just give me what I
need. Don't give me too much, because
I'm liable to forget you. I'm liable to forget you, so
look what I've done. Look what I've done for myself.
Don't leave me poor, because I'm liable to steal. And stealing
will take your name in vain. How? Because ultimately, I will
tell you nothing that's God. Ultimately, I will say it's God's
fault. Finally, the Lord admonishes
the children of Israel concerning him. He says, In the law thou
shalt not steal. What does he say to the children
of God? Over in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28. He says, Let him that stole, steal
no more. Rather, let him labor, working
with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to
give to him that needs. That's the final mention of that scripture. And it goes right along with
what Moses told the children of Israel that was a commandment
from God, and thou shalt not steal from them. Again, don't
steal, steal not only from your hands, but labor for your hands,
that which is good, that you may have in order to keep. Father, bless us to understand
it through him, bless us to obey him in the glory.