Dealing Honestly

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Transcript:

Well, if you’ll go ahead and take out your Bibles and turn with me to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. We’re going to look at the Eighth Commandment tonight, and we may get through it fairly quickly because hopefully this isn’t a huge problem for anybody here, but you never know.

We’re going to cover it because it’s an important part of what God’s law teaches. The Eighth Commandment in Exodus chapter 20, verse 15. It says, you shall not steal. Four words, you shall not steal. And tonight we’re going to look at what we normally suppose that means, and see that God actually has a broader definition than what we might think of when it comes to stealing, and also see that it’s something God still requires of us.

When we think about stealing, I’ve not robbed a bank yet. and it’s important that I tell you that because I remember growing up and hearing stories on the news where the pastor of such and such church in Oklahoma City had been arrested for bank robbery I’m not smart enough to know how to do that I’m not gutsy enough to know how to do that and besides which it’s just plain wrong and as I tell the kids all the time your sins will find you out So I’ve never tried my hand at bank robbery. And I’m assuming everybody else in here has not been robbing banks either.

Otherwise, hopefully the giving would go up. No, that’s. .

. Okay, at least Kay thinks it’s funny. That was supposed to be a joke.

No, I don’t want anybody to go rob banks just for the tithing. I’m assuming, though, nobody in here has been robbing banks. And that’s what we think of.

We tend to think, okay, I’m all right. I haven’t broken this commandment because, look, I haven’t been out breaking into people’s houses. I haven’t been knocking over banks or liquor stores.

But there is more to it than that. That is part of what God is talking about here when he says for us not to steal. Those cases where people go in and take things by force or by coercion, he says not to do that. And another place that makes it very clear that God doesn’t want us to do that is in the book of Proverbs in chapter 1.

where the writer of Proverbs, King Solomon, is giving advice to his son and he says in verse 10, My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.

Let us swallow them alive like sheil and whole, like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil.

Cast in your lot among us, and let us all have one purse. He says, My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path.

So what he’s saying there is Solomon is telling his son that it is wrong, not only is it wrong, but it’s unwise if his son is to fall in with a group of friends who says, Let’s go lie and wait. I like that word, lurk. It just sounds like what it is.

You’re lurking. There’s something suspicious going on. And if your friends are saying, come on, let’s gang up on somebody.

Let’s lurk. Let’s hide and wait for them. And then let’s jump out at just the right time and let’s kill them if we have to.

Because you know what? We’ll get all kinds of stuff out of it. We’ll fill our houses with possessions, it says.

And we’ll have all one purse. Say, come on, we’ll divide it up equally. You’ll get your part.

He says, don’t go with them. Not only because it’s wrong. I mean, that’s an important part of it.

He says not to do it because it’s wrong, but also because it’s unwise. The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom. It’s unwise to violate God’s law in that way.

The kids and I have been talking in our Bible class this week about King Saul and then King David and some of the consequences that they’ve suffered. And the kids remember these consequences. Because we’ve had some issues with behavior in the last couple days, and I’ve asked them when they think they’re going to get away with something and don’t realize that mom and dad are pretty good detectives for never having any formal training at it.

And I’ll ask them, you know, you thought you were going to get away with this or you weren’t thinking about the consequences at all. Let me ask you, what happened to Saul when this, when he did this? What happened to Saul when he did this?

What happened to David here? And they, you know, they’ve been able to recount to me, oh, when Saul did that, God took away his dynasty when I taught them that word. What happened when Saul did this?

Well, God said he was no longer going to get to be king. What happened when Saul did this? God said he was going to die.

What happened when David did this? Turmoil in his family. they understand there are these consequences that aside from the fact of all these things being wrong, I think the biggest consequence is that we are no longer in the right fellowship with God when we violate his law.

But on top of that, it’s unwise from the standpoint of the consequences that we’re going to incur when we violate his law. And sometimes the consequences are way on down the road. You know, Benjamin asked me, why did this happen to David?

Why did it mess up his kids? I said, because sin, you can’t contain the consequences of sin. It spills out everywhere.

It infects everything it touches. And I said, if somebody was out driving drunk, could they have consequences for that that would affect somebody else? And he said, yeah, I said, that’s the way sin is.

But it was unwise, and they lost more than they ever gained by violating God’s law. And Solomon here says, if you’re going to go out with a group of thugs, a group of young friends that say, we’re going to hide and we’re going to wait and we’re going to rob these people, we’re going to take what they’ve got, we’re going to kill them if we have to, and our pockets are just going to be full, he says, not only is it wrong, but it’s unwise, he says, stay away. Don’t go with them.

Don’t be involved in that in any way, shape, or form. And I’m struck as I read it again by that phrase, we will all share the purse. We’ll all have one purse.

We’ll all split it evenly. when you fall in with a group of people like that you don’t know but the consequence may be that they turn on you also and so there’s just nothing wise about this kind of lifestyle and all through the Old Testament throughout the law we see different references to this kind of thievery this kind of robbing of people taking things by force or by coercion that God institutes punishments for because he says this is wrong and you’re not going to do it going to get away with it. And that’s the sort of thing we normally think of when we hear this commandment, thou shalt not steal. We think I haven’t robbed a bank.

I haven’t burgled anybody’s house. Is burgle a verb? Is it an actual verb?

I don’t know. I’m going to use it as one. We haven’t burgled anybody’s house.

I think I’ve mentioned before that when I was taught the Ten Commandments years ago in Children’s Church, many years ago, they used little pictures with the numbers that described what it was, and for the number eight, for the Eighth Commandment, it was two cookies sitting on top of each other to form the number eight, because of the thought as a kid, I’m going to go in and rob Mom’s cookie jar. Maybe you think, I haven’t even taken anything little like that. I haven’t robbed a bank, I haven’t robbed the cookie jar, I’m all right with God.

But there are some other things that are covered in what the Bible talks about with stealing that we need to look at as well. things that are not quite as spectacular, things that are not quite as dramatic stories, but that are stealing nonetheless that God wants us to avoid. And first of all, really this commandment is not just about avoid this one behavior.

You know, as long as you don’t go out and commit robbery according to the definition of the law, then you’re all right. What it’s really talking about is dealing honestly with one another, and we can see this throughout the scripture as it talks about stealing. It’s really not just taking a gun and going and holding up a convenience store.

It’s talking about dealing honestly with other people. See, every time we come to one of these thou shalt nots, it’s what’s known as a negative commandment. Yes.

But every time we come to one of these thou shalt nots, one of these negative commandments, there’s always a positive principle behind it. That it’s not just about avoiding this one behavior. It’s actually about something broader than that.

I don’t want to say something else, but something broader than that. For example, when we talked about adultery, it’s not enough that I just don’t go have affairs. God there is teaching us purity and faithfulness.

That’s the positive principle behind that negative commandment. It’s not just, well, I’ve never gone and had an affair with anybody, so I’m good with that commandment. Jesus said, keep your heart pure and be faithful to your spouse.

So we’re going to look at these tonight, a couple of other things that the Bible talks about for us dealing honestly with one another. We’ve already talked about stealing by force and coercion. We also, the Bible teaches us not to steal by deception.

Not to steal by deception. This is one that we would look at and say, okay, that might be a little easier to do. We might never think of going and robbing a bank, but we might easily do one of these other things.

Stealing by deception. Leviticus chapter 6 outlines some of God’s law when it comes to stealing. Starting in verse 1, it says, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, If a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or about a pledge, or about a robbery, or if he is extorted from his neighbor, or if he has found what was lost and lies concerning it and swears falsely in any one of these things that a man may do in which he sins, then it shall be because he has sinned and is guilty that he shall restore what he has, what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found, or all that about which he has sworn falsely.

He shall restore its full value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whomever it belongs on the day of his trespass offering. And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord, a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation as a trespass offering to the priest. So the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any one of these things that he may have done in which he trespasses. Folks, there is no concept of finders keepers, losers weepers found in scripture.

Now I’m not saying that if you find a dollar bill that has fallen on the ground, that you have to spend the rest of your born days trying to track down the person who dropped it. There are some situations where, and I think you just have to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit on each of these, there are situations where something is found and there’s no way we will ever know who lost it. But there are other times, and this is what it’s talking about, where something is lost and it turns up in my possession, but I’m going to lie and say I haven’t found it.

And the Bible says that’s stealing by deception because it’s treated the same way as if you’d gone in and robbed somebody. In all of these cases, the consequence is that not only do you have to go make a trespass offering, you have to offer a ram, but you also have to return the full value of what you took plus one-fifth. Whether you robbed somebody or whether they said, hey, I lost such-and-such.

I lost $100, and you found a $100 bill in the parking lot this morning on the way out. Somebody came in tonight and said, I lost $100. I don’t know what to do about it.

And you found that bill and it’s still in your pocket. And you say, I didn’t see it, but I’ll let you know if I did. Now, I can’t imagine anybody in here doing that.

But under the Old Testament law, you’d be required not only to offer a ram without blemish, a sacrifice, but you’d also be required to pay $120 back to that person. So whether we found something and claimed we didn’t, say somebody gave you something for safekeeping, and you said, well, I don’t know what happened to it. Julie’s not here tonight.

She’s had issues with the neighbor’s cattle. Say it got loose on her property, and she went and hid that cattle in her sheds and said, well, I don’t know what happened to it. Sold it or got rid of it.

That is stealing. Julie didn’t do that, by the way. That’s just an example.

Or say your neighbor brought you something valuable for safekeeping. They were going to go on vacation, and they brought something valuable to you for safekeeping because, you know, we want to be able to trust our neighbors and have somebody watch the house while we’re gone. And while they’re gone, you say, oh, it got lost. I’m so sorry.

I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to it. Or it got stolen from the house, and you pretend it’s gone, but you’re really keeping it.

That is stealing. about a pledge or a robbery, something he’s extorted from a neighbor. There are all these ways that we can steal by deception.

Without ever having to pull a gun on somebody, without ever having to take out a ski mask, we can still be just as guilty of this commandment because it’s about dealing honestly with one another. And even if somebody brought it, even if it came to you through no fault of your own, either they brought it to you for safekeeping or it wandered into your yard or you just found it out on the street, if you know who it belongs to and you refuse to let them have it back and you don’t tell the truth about it so that you can keep it, it’s stealing. It’s stealing.

And we’re told to avoid that. And as I look at that aspect of the law, I would just be glad after reading it that there’s not a death penalty attached to it in the Old Testament. If I lived during that time, that there’s not a death penalty attached to it as there were to so many other things.

But God took very seriously the idea that we were going to steal from, in ancient Israel, that they were going to steal from each other by deception. Now we are not under the law in the same way, meaning the civil aspects of the law, the ceremonial aspects of the law, have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The demands of the moral law, as far as our salvation, have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So there’s no longer a call that you or I would have to go make a sacrifice now and return 120% of what was taken. But at the same time, there’s still the moral principle where we recognize that God says this is wrong because his nature is honesty, so anything dishonest is a violation of his holiness, and it’s still one of those areas where we fall short.

There is still a moral law. We are not saved by following the moral law. But if we want to honor God, we do our best to live up to those principles as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

So we’re not supposed to steal by force or intimidation. We’re not supposed to steal by deception. And third of all, we’re not supposed to steal by cheating.

Now this is just a little bit different because it can take place right in front of somebody’s eyes. In Deuteronomy chapter 25, he says, You shall not have in your bag, this is starting in verse 13 of Deuteronomy 25, You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God. So this idea of having two sets of weights, two sets of measures.

The idea there is of cheating somebody, of using one set of measures to benefit yourself, and one set of measures that’s honest. So if you’re trying to measure out a pound of gold that you owed somebody, this is back before maybe coinage was as standardized as it is now, a pound of gold that you owed somebody, and you had weights that were normal, because if somebody owed you a pound of flour, you wanted to make sure you had an actual one-pound weight, so you would get all the flour that was owed to you on this scale. But say you’re trying to figure out how much gold you owe to somebody, you owe them a pound, you might have a weight that says it’s a pound, but maybe it’s about 14 ounces, just for example. So you actually, they think they’re walking away with a pound of gold, but you’re getting to keep two ounces for free.

This is one of those instances where nobody’s pulling a gun, and nobody’s verbally lying, but there’s still some cheating going on. Does anybody in here have a quarter? I promise I’ll give it back.

Do you have a quarter? Can I see it? I will give it back.

This is not a new way of taking up a collection. A quarter. Oh, you’ve got a few quarters.

All right. If you have another quarter, go ahead and take it out and look at it. But you’ll see, as you look at these quarters, there’s a little ridge on the side where it’s got little marks carved into it.

If you’ve ever wondered why they have those little lines carved into the edges of the quarter, it’s a practice that goes back a long time in history. I don’t know why all of our coins don’t have it, but where the coins were actually made out of precious metals. Now these, I think, are made out of copper or nickel, so it’s not anything that anybody’s going to stab anybody over.

But it used to, when coins were made out of gold or silver or something else valuable, What somebody would do is the value was by weight. And so whoever would mint the coins would mint a coin that was a certain amount of weight. But somebody might come along and say, well, I want to keep a little bit of the gold, so I’ll hang on to that.

I’ll spin that coin, but before I do, I’ll take a file and I’ll file a little bit of the edge off. So imagine if this was a silver quarter, made out of silver, that every time you’re going to go spend a silver quarter, you go file a little bit of the edge off, and you’re keeping a pile of silver behind at your house. Eventually the money’s going to get real small, and you’re going to realize, wait a minute, George Washington took a little off the top there, didn’t he?

Because you’ve filed it down around the edges. People used to cheat when it came to exchanging coins, and so they started putting these little ridges on the edge of some of the coins so you could tell if something had been filed off. It’s crazy, isn’t it?

Now, our money’s just, our money’s not worth that much. It’s just worth what the government says it is right now. So we don’t have that problem.

Here’s your quarterback. Yeah, they didn’t need to bother with the pennies or nickels. But that’s the kind of thing I’m talking about.

There’s a sense where you’d say, I don’t even have to use a gun. I’m just going to make it where a pound is not worth a pound, where a dollar is not worth a dollar, where I’m keeping some of it back without telling somebody. I’m going to have scales that the balance is just a little bit off and I know on which side so I can work it to my advantage.

Maybe I’ve got a file that I’m using on my coins. God says don’t do that. God says they were not supposed to have two sets of weights.

God said they’re not supposed to have two sets of measures, that they are supposed to have a perfect and accurate scale, that they’re supposed to have a perfect and accurate measure, that they are supposed to do things honestly. And he says that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. As a general principle, now this is not a promise that in every circumstance, if we’re honest, that God will give us long life.

Just like it’s not a promise that in every circumstance, if we obey our parents, God will give us a long life. Both of these things are principles that are taught. In general, I tell the kids, in general, obedience brings reward.

In general. Now, sometimes we still suffer for being obedient to God. As a matter of fact, we may suffer more at times because we’ve been obedient to God. But in general, obedience brings rewards.

You know what? I can think of one example here. If you’re honest in dealing with people, if you’re not cheating people, you’re not going to be as quick to make enemies who are going to want to come and rob you of that long life, right?

Especially in the days before they had law enforcement like we did, you settled your dispute sometimes with the sword. And if people find out you’re cheating them, you may not have that long life. But God says, you know what, if you’re honest, there’s a long life behind that.

Same with obedience to our parents. It keeps us from doing a lot of reckless things. Sometimes we may live longer just by listening to our parents.

So we’ve got where we’re told here not to rob people by cheating. In our day, we might say don’t keep two sets of books. I can’t even remember anybody’s names or where it happened, but an association of churches somewhere, I’m not even sure if it was in Oklahoma, but an association of churches somewhere where now they’re trying to straighten out the finances because the previous treasurer for the association had been embezzling for years and had embezzled something to the tune of $50,000 or more.

And when it was found out, evidently there were multiple sets of books. One set of books that showed money going one place and another set of books that showed where the money really had gone, which was into the person’s pocket. But what was wrong with that person skimming off the top?

I mean, they didn’t take a gun. They didn’t take a gun and rob anybody. They didn’t threaten anybody.

They were just keeping two sets of books. What’s wrong with it is it’s stealing by cheating. It’s keeping two sets of measures.

On top of that, you’re stealing from ministry. You’re stealing from the Lord’s money as well. So that’s not going to work out real well for you.

But people do that. And that’s not just in ministries. That happens in business.

That happens in, well, folks, we just saw the big news story about people getting into college by cheating. And maybe they weren’t putting their finger on the scales about cheating about money, but they were putting money on the scales to tip it in their favor. They were cheating when it came to scores and entrance things.

This goes on all the time. This goes on all the time. And some people have said, oh, what’s the big deal?

They cheated to get into college. Well, it’s not that big a deal. It’s not like they killed anybody. They were dishonest. Cheating by dishonesty is one of those ways in which we fall short of God’s standard of holiness.

Now, sometimes we’ll look at things in the Old Testament and we’ll say, well, that was fine for them, but that doesn’t apply to us anymore. Again, I told you, there is still a moral law. It’s not what saves us, but the moral law is an expression of God’s holiness.

It’s a goal that we strive for, and it’s really what delineates right from wrong. People want to get rid of the moral law because they don’t like what it says about marriage. They don’t like what it says about divorce.

They don’t like what the moral law says about how we treat each other. But God’s moral law hasn’t changed, And one aspect of that moral law is that we’re told to deal honestly with each other. Not just don’t steal, don’t rob, don’t go after anybody with a gun, but we’re told to deal honestly with one another.

Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19, Jesus dealing with the rich young ruler. Matthew 19, starting in verse 16, it says, Now behold, one came and said to him, Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?

so he said to him verse 17 why do you call me good no one is good but one that is god okay I’m going to stop right there and just say as an aside sometimes people like to take that verse out of context and say see right there jesus said he wasn’t god he questioned the rich young ruler why would you call me good when there’s only one who’s good and that’s god no jesus wasn’t denying that he was God. The rich young ruler is somebody who had not acknowledged that Jesus was God. And so for him to come to him and say, good teacher, Jesus is saying, oh, there’s only one sinless one, and that’s God, so think about what you’re saying.

It was not Jesus denying that he was God, it was Jesus asking the rich young ruler, do you really mean and do you really understand the things that you’re saying to me? Because he was apparently acknowledging Jesus as God with his words, but hadn’t really thought about Jesus as being God in his mind. He said, why do you call me good?

He says, but if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. And he said to him, which ones? Do I have to keep all of them?

Which ones? And Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal. Ding, ding, ding. It’s still something that God looks at and considers today.

You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, he lists all these and says, if you want to get into heaven, do these things.

And if you remember the story of the rich young ruler, he thinks, ah, I’ve kept these from the time I was a little boy, which was not true, was not true. And Jesus says to him right after that, well, then that’s great. One thing you’re lacking, go and sell all you have, give the money to the poor and come follow me.

Now that was not, that was not a new plan of salvation that we get into heaven by selling all of our things and giving the money away. What Jesus was doing when he told him, go sell everything, telling that man, go sell everything. Give the money away and come follow me.

The Bible tells us he walked away sad because he had a lot of possessions. What Jesus was showing was that he did not love God the way he was supposed to. He did not live a life where he had no other gods.

He did not have a life where he loved his neighbor as himself. In short, he did not live a life that lived up to God’s holiness because he loved all this other stuff more than he loved God and more than he loved people. When Jesus discusses with people in the Gospels, do this, do this, do this, if you look at those stories in context, he’s not telling us the way of salvation is found by being good enough.

What he’s doing is showing that if we want to get into heaven, if we want a relationship with God, we have to live up to God’s standard of holiness, and none of us do. It’s always that message, here’s the standard, you must be this holy to get in, so that we’ll understand we don’t meet that standard. For the rich young ruler to say, I’ve kept all the commandments, Jesus said, okay, well let’s talk about your money.

And he realized right then and there that no, he was so attached to his money, he had not lived up to the commandments. He had not lived up to God’s standard of holiness. Why does this story matter?

Because one of the many things that Jesus says reflects the holiness of God is this commandment not to steal. This commandment that we deal honestly with others. I want to take you last to the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5.

It says, But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession, and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and he brought a certain part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own, and after it was sold, was it not in your own control?

Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. so people in the church were selling their possessions and taking the money and putting it in common not as a form of early communism but as an outpouring of praise to God saying we’re going to take care of the people in our church and we know this wasn’t communism because Peter said why would you lie about it?

It’s your property. I mean it belongs to you. God gave it to you and once you sold it, the money was yours to do with as you felt God leading you.

Nobody was making you do anything because what Ananias had done was he’d sold a plot of land and his wife knew all about it. He’d sold a plot of land and he told the people, I’m giving the whole price of the land. So say, for example, he had sold a couple acres for $100,000 and he brought $75,000 to the church and said, I sold the land for $75,000 and here the church can have all of it.

Well, we’d think, wow, Ananias is really generous. That’s awesome. We might think a little better of old Ananias than we had.

You see, he wanted to be known as somebody who was giving everything, but he’d lied about it. When in reality, I think if he’d sold a piece of property for $100,000 and brought $75,000 to the church, I’d still think that was extraordinarily generous. There’s no reason to lie about any of this.

Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. He was so frightened by the realization that not only he had lied to God, but he’d been caught, that he fell dead.

Now about three hours later, when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened, and Peter answered her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? She said, Yes, for so much. Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?

Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out. Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. And so great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

The problem here was never the amount of money that was earned. It was never the amount of money that was donated. The problem here was dealing dishonestly.

It’s something that God looks at and says, no, no, don’t you do that. The world may do that.