A Thief in the Light

Peter said to her, Why is it you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well. And she fell immediately at his feet and breathed her last.

And the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. No, verse 11. And great fear came upon the whole church.

I guess so. And upon all who heard these things. They had a quick huddle. They decided that it was in their best interest to be honest. What was the Lord doing? He is telling the early church the same thing he wants to tell us today. Dishonesty is not to be part of people who walk in the light. Welcome to this vintage broadcast of Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey.

If you're one of our regular listeners, you've noticed that Stephen sounds a bit different in this series. That's because he taught these lessons back in 1990. We're currently working through a series from Exodus entitled, Down from Sinai. We're looking at each of the Ten Commandments. Today we're commanded to not steal. But as Stephen's going to show us, there are more ways to violate this command than we sometimes consider.

Stay with us for this lesson that Stephen called, A Thief in the Light. A man saw an ad in the newspaper and a Mercedes was being sold for $25. And he couldn't believe he knew that it was some sort of hoax. But he decided to go ahead and call anyhow.

It was there week after week. And so he finally called and he got the lady on the phone and he said, lady, this is some kind of trick. Are you selling a current year model of a Mercedes Benz for $25? And she said, absolutely. And he said, ma'am, what's the trick? And she said, no, no trick.

I'm really selling this brand new, just hardly six months old Mercedes for $25. And he said, look, he said, how many people have called you? And she said, no one but you has called me.

I guess no one believes in it. And he said, well, I can understand why. She said, look, just come on over and see for yourself. So he said, well, listen, it'll be worth the trip even though I lose $25 just to find out what your scheme is. And so he got in his car and he drove over there and she wouldn't tell him anything until finally he said, all right, here's $25. And she handed him the keys to the car. They made out a receipt. And he said, now look, now it's mine.

I'm about to drive off. You tell me what is going on here. And she said, well, nothing really. She said, it's an honest sale.

But you see, my husband left me and he and his girlfriend are in the Bahamas. And he asked that I sell his Mercedes and send him the cash from the sale. Interesting story of theft, is it not?

This actually happened. A gentleman wrote the IRS. They had this sent to them. And I read where this gentleman said, dear sirs, I've enclosed a check for $150. I cheated on my income tax last year and I haven't been able to sleep since.

If I still can't sleep, I'll send you the rest of the money next year. We look at those and they're funny, but yet they are forms of deceit. They are symptoms of theft. And we come to the scriptures as we have been doing now, going through the book of Exodus, and we read the eighth commandment. If you have your Bibles, turn to Exodus chapter 20 and read with me. That command that is found in verse 15, a command that I hope by the grace of God will all discover that we are threatened with committing and by his grace avoid. Verse 15 of Exodus chapter 20 says, you shall not steal.

And again, a period, not a question mark, but a simple statement to be exercised, to be believed in, because it comes from the authority of scripture. Now, for you and me, we probably feel like this is not really our sin. You know, I haven't stolen anything other than a piece of gum way back in elementary school. Or we think of the most common ways that people steal, like the IRS, and we know we've been honest on our income tax returns. And yet, as I discovered this past week, throughout the Bible is precise, accurate descriptions of what we have failed to observe as stealing. They are synonyms throughout scripture that I think you'll find so accurate, and I hope by God's grace we'll discover them in our lives and excise them by his spirit. There are three words that are found throughout scripture that are all synonyms of this violation of the eighth command. Deceit is the first one. Let's turn in our Bibles to Romans chapter 1, and I'm going to unmask it for you as we look at characteristics of deceit. Romans chapter 1, verse 29. The first is this, that deceit is typical among unbelievers, and that's really where it ought to stay. The Bible tells us in no short terms, deceit is part of the unbelieving crowd. It is part of the society that is violating the authority of God. Romans chapter 1 tells us about a society that violates his authority, and by the time you come to verse 29, he begins listing all of the sins. Look at verse 28. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, and there's the word, deceit.

That is a misrepresentation of someone or something for the purpose of unjust gain. And that characteristic, ladies and gentlemen, is part and parcel of a society that violates the authority of God. We ought to assume that the society will be deceitful unless they follow Jesus Christ. There's a second characteristic. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

It is characteristic of false teachers. Verse 1 to 4, look with me. I wish that you would bear me just a little foolishness, but indeed you are bearing with me, for I am jealous for you, with a godly jealousy, because I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I'm afraid, lest is the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your mind should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Jesus Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles. What the apostle Paul is saying here is that one of the characteristics of those that will take from you all that I've delivered to you by the revelation of God, all that I've given you by God's inspiration through his scriptures, that I gave you by his inspiration of my own life, there will be false teachers who will come along to sap this out of your church, your personal life. And I want you to know that the characteristic whereby you can know these false teachers is given in verse 3. You will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. That is their teaching will focus your attention on something other than impurity and simplicity being devoted to Jesus Christ.

They will focus your attention on other things. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 23 and I want to show you one of the simplest ways of discerning false teachers. According to the prophets of old and in the Old Testament days, these guys were doing the same thing then and they do the same thing today and I want you to take note. Jeremiah chapter 23, I want to read just a few verses hurriedly.

You'll have to follow along, I'll skip around. Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 9. As for the prophets, that is the false prophet, my heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble. Verse 11, for both prophet and priest are polluted. Even in my house I have found their wickedness declares the Lord. Verse 16, thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.

They are leading you into futility. Note this, they speak a vision of their own imagination. Verse 21, I did not send these prophets but they ran. I did not speak to them but they prophesied. Verse 25, I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in my name.

They say this, I had a dream, I had a dream. Verse 28, the prophet who has a dream may relate his dream but let him who has my word speak my word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain declares the Lord. Is not my word like fire?

Is not it like a hammer which shatters a rock? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophet declares the Lord, note this, who steals my words from each other. I'll explain in a moment. Verse 31, behold, I am against the prophet declares the Lord who used their tongues, note this, and declare the Lord declares. Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams and related them and led my people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting. Yet I did not send them or command them.

Note this, one of the characteristics that is common among false teachers not only in that day but today is they in a sense represent the authority of God and somewhere in their ministry they will tell you, they will tell me that they represent the voice of God apart from the word of God. So the next time someone on that television or someone you're listening to closes their eyes and says, oh, I'm hearing a word from God. There's someone out there starting a business. There's someone over here that's sick. There's someone over here that needs advice. God is telling me right now that sounds familiar. It's pretty good, huh? I missed my calling.

Turn them off. They are declaring a vision from their own imagination. They are declaring something apart from the word of God. And anyone who says I have received revelation from God apart from the word of God, no matter how slick, no matter how conservative, no matter how flamboyant, is a false teacher. Now note the last part of that verse, verse 32. I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit.

That's powerful. You know why I just sat back in my chair and I tried to understand the prophet who said by revelation, they don't benefit the people in the slightest. And I think it's because of this, because the false teacher leads us to believe that God is as interested in us receiving his blessings than he is in us receiving his character. They turn our focus away from the person of God to the blessings, the gifts, the things from God.

And in reality, they do not benefit you or I in the least. There is stealing going on. There are thieves in the light. Third, deceit is essential to the strategy of Satan. And would it follow, obviously, logically, that false teachers have as their middle name deceit that Satan would be engineering it? From Genesis chapter 3 to Revelation chapter 20, Satan is called the master in a sense of deception. He is a deceiver.

Fourth, deception is a dangerous thing in the life of a disobedient believer. You know it is difficult to discern the counterfeit. If it were easy, men and women, Satan would not be Satan. In fact, out there in our society, in our world, are 12 Mona Lisa's, all supposedly signed by Leonardo da Vinci, all the owners claiming to have the original.

There's no way any of us could really tell them apart. That's why Satan is so dangerous. That's why his counterfeiting and his deceit is so wicked. And a believer who becomes disobedient falls into a form of deception called self-deception. James chapter 1 verse 22 says, be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding or deceiving your own self. I can become a thief, robbing myself of character and integrity and worship and obedience if I get to the point where I read the Bible and I hear it, I see it, and I walk away unchanged. I become a thief.

It's dangerous. An example of deception in the early church, and I want you to know this isn't new either, turn to Acts chapter 5. Quickly, Acts chapter 5. The first to count a deception in the light is Acts chapter 5.

You know the story Ananias and Sapphira? They had seen the Barnabas sell a tract of land and give the money to the apostles. And boy, they saw the celebration. People patting them on the back.

Oh, you're wonderful as people would often do. This is fantastic what you've done for this early church. So Ananias and Sapphira evidently saw that in the first verse of chapter 5 says, they sold a piece of property, but they kept back some of the price for himself or themselves with his wife's full knowledge. Men and women, this is premeditated deceit. And they brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, it wasn't wrong that they gave some of the money. What was wrong was they were coming in effect saying, this is all of it.

This is what we got for the entire piece. But yet they were lying. They were deceiving. Peter says in verse 3, Ananias, why has Satan, the deceiver, filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?

And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You've not lied to men but to God. And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all those who heard of it. The young men arose and covered him up. And after carrying him out, they buried him. Now, there elapsed an interval of about three hours and his wife comes in. Imagine you're part of the congregation there.

She walks in, not knowing what happened. And Peter responds to her, Saphira, tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price. And all of us would sit on the edge of our seats and say, say no.

Say no, Saphira. You don't know. They just buried your husband.

Tell the truth. Before you can get that out of your mouth, she looks Peter back in the eye and she says, yes, that was the price. Peter said to her, why is it you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well. And she fell immediately at his feet and breathed her last.

And the young men came in and found her dead and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. No, verse 11. And great fear came upon the whole church.

I guess so. And upon all who heard these things. They had a quick huddle. They decided that it was in their best interest to be honest in the early church. What was the Lord doing? He is telling the early church the same thing he wants to tell us today. Dishonesty is not to be part of people who walk in the light.

It is not to be a characteristic of those who walk after Jesus Christ. Not dishonesty, but honesty. Not deception, but truth. There's another word, defraud. That's to withhold something from someone to whom it is rightfully due. There are four ways I want to uncover this for you. First of all, withholding honest pay from honest work.

Leviticus chapter 19 says an interesting thing. If you're an employer, don't you go to bed, don't you go to sleep at night with the wages of that employee in your hand. You give it to him when it's due. In other words, what he's saying is don't put it in the bank or don't draw interest on it for the next 12 hours. You give it away right away, it's not yours. That's defrauding. Second, withholding support from parents.

You remember Mark chapter 10? It says don't steal, don't defraud, comma, honor your mother and your father. The word honor is a word that talks about giving respect, giving financial support. You withhold financial support from a mom or a dad who needs support.

You are guilty of defraud. That's the New Testament word there used in that context. Third, withholding physical intimacy from a spouse.

First Corinthians chapter 7 verse 5 uses the word defraud there, making it very clear. Physical intimacy is not a reward. It is not a favor.

It is not a weapon. It is something that belongs to someone else, the spouse. In fact, he says this is the foundation that may help avoid immorality. Don't defraud. Fourth, this is interesting, withholding a spiritual settlement from believers. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, just head right a little bit. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. If I told you this, you wouldn't believe it, so I want to read it to you. Chapter 6 verse 7.

This is an interesting way that defraud is used, an interesting context. Does any of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? I want you to just put your thinking cap on and think of the implications of this text. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law court? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more matters of this life, civil life? If then you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?

I say this to your shame. Is it so that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide, that is the legal term that could be translated, make judgment between his brethren? But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Actually then, it is already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourself wrong and defraud, and that your brother.

Now listen to this. He's saying that if a believer in the church has something against another believer, that is a legal right has been violated. He's saying don't take them to court, take them to church. It goes back to the Old Testament economy where the spiritual leader that was the king often made judgments. He's saying I want the same thing to exist today where there is civil disagreement, where there have been laws violated between believers.

This is a family matter. Take it to the church and allow the leadership of the church to reach a settlement. Fascinating implication. Imagine if we actually did it.

It would be a fantastic testimony to our society to settle differences, even in civil matters in the church. There's another word. Theft is the third category.

This is to take something for yourself that rightfully belongs to someone else. And this is the common way the eighth commandment is understood. They've forgotten all of the others, those applications that we've just made. We think of Ivan Boesky, you know, the guy who in 1985 said the little greed is not bad, everybody should be a little greedy. In 1984 he had made $115 million from two deals, and then in 1988 he was sentenced to three years for his greed.

We think of people like that. I've talked to two people in our congregation that have become victims of theft. One guy had his car stolen, another an investment that people spent. We often think of theft in these terms, and rightfully so, that does include that world. But I want you to consider biblically, because we're talking about people who live in the light, theft that occurs we may not even really be aware of and we need to be confronted with.

I don't want to give you one. That's stealing from God our worship. Stealing from God worship. That is declaring worth and honor to Him and only Him. The only way to explain this is to give you three illustrations of people who worshiped Him correctly. I think of Abraham who gave Him the worship of devotion. A man who would not allow even his son, his most prized possession, to stand between him and obedience. And he worshiped by way of devotion to God. Think of David who worshiped by way of repentance. A man who had committed sin.

The Scriptures tell us in 2 Samuel chapter 12, I believe it is, verse 20, that after God confronted him through the prophet Nathan and his son eventually, or baby was eventually taken by the Lord that had been born out of wedlock. It says that he put on new clothes and he shaved and he went in with a repentant heart and he worshiped God. You know whenever we are unrepentant we are stealing from God, worship, do Him. Whenever we are devoted to something else more than Him we steal from God, devotion, do only Him. I think of Lot, the worship of submission.

A man who lost it all and in chapter 1, the latter part of that chapter, it says he fell down on his face and he worshiped God. How about stealing from our families our time? Ever consider that theft? Is it startling to you that the average 5 year old spends less than 25 minutes a week with his father? Does it shake you up that school aged children spend less than 60 seconds a day communicating with mom and dad?

That's other than passive butter, go to bed, do your chores, you know. Christian kids were surveyed, nearly 70% of them spent less than 15 minutes a week with mom and dad. You can sit in a room and watch television as a family and never spend time together because the focus of your attention is something other than the family member. How about spouses? Did you know that the average spouse spends less than 7 minutes a week communicating other than, glad to see you, have a good day at work, pick up the dry cleaners, what's for supper? 7 minutes a week! How about stealing from church or gifts?

Financial? We could camp on that one. I have in my pocket, I've been carrying around this for 2 weeks waiting for a good time to tell you, this is fantastic. See these little Hershey kisses? Some kid over in Children's Church, the offering plate was passed, he made the ultimate sacrifice. I wish I could have been there to see the struggle. Oh, should I?

I'm gonna. And he doesn't know the pastor's gonna eat them after church. It's almost sacrilege, I don't know what to do with them, they're collecting dust on my desk. Acts chapter 4 talks about a church where not just kids but adults had that kind of sacrificiality among themselves. You read it sometime, it's fascinating, there are needs that arise in the church and somebody says, no problem, I'll sell my house. Imagine, as those who had need, they were all together and alive.

Is it any wonder, that kind of attitude, that they upturned Jerusalem? But I want to talk to you for just a few moments about something more devastating than stealing. Financial gifts, not becoming involved financially. How about stealing spiritual gifts? You know I view the church as a disabled body and more and more I am becoming vocal with those who come into our church fellowship and that candidate's class we spend 30 minutes to an hour on the subject of spiritual gifts. Because if we fill our church up with people who are spectators and not people exercising their gifts, we become a body without legs, without arms. If you have the gift of teaching, is your gift beneficial to the body?

If you have the gift of giving, helping, hospitality, does the church benefit from it? First Corinthians chapter 12 makes it very clear that together we as a local body, not universal but local, make up a body. Are we coordinated? Do we have it together?

You can answer that question on the basis of where you sit. Are you utilizing what God has given you and contributing it to the body? Stealing from God worship, stealing from family time, stealing from church gifts, forms of theft.

Let me tie it up with two thoughts. Violating the eighth commandment does a lot of things but let me just give you two. First, it blockades communion.

That's obvious. If I'm not what I ought to be before Jesus Christ, if I'm not worshiping him, if I'm not devoted to him, if I'm not involved with the saints in serving him, then there is going to be a loss. There's going to be a blockading of communion and fellowship. Secondly, not only blockades communion but it destroys credibility in the world because the world knows.

The world notices. We lose our credibility. The old English couplet referring to the deception of Judas who was supposedly a follower of Jesus Christ says this, still as of old, man by himself is priced.

For 30 pieces of silver, Judas sold himself, not Christ. Dare we have credibility in this society? It is determined by our worship, by our devotion, by our honesty and our integrity. Are there thieves in the light? May it never be.

What's the solution? Ephesians chapter 4, the apostle Paul wrote that early church and he said look, those among you that stole, steal no more. But work with the labor of your hands so that you may share with those who have need. In other words, what he is saying is that when Jesus Christ invades a person's life and when there is submission to him, he will take that person, he will take us and turn us from people who steal from him into people who share. Share worship, share devotion, share love, share gifts.

May that be the case of this body. Unless we give God what is due him, we are stealing from him and may that never be said of us. Thanks for joining us today here on Wisdom for the Heart. This is a message from our Vintage Wisdom series through Exodus.

Stephen called it a thief in the light. Visit our website which is wisdomonline.org. The complete library of Stephen's Bible teaching ministry is posted there. So if you ever miss one of these lessons, you can keep caught up on our website. That's wisdomonline.org. We'll be back tomorrow with the next lesson in this series, so join us then here on Wisdom for the Heart. You