This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Wintersprings, Florida, where Dr. Pete Owensen is our senior pastor. Today's sermon is by Dr. Steve Brown and this message is titled, You Shall Not Steel. It's taken from Exodus, chapter 20, verse 15. Now, here's Steve with today's message. I have a confession to make. I wouldn't make it except I may have been caught. One of the men in the narthex said, if you don't slow down, God's going to take your new hybrid away. For some reason, I got in my mind when I left the house that this service started at eight. And if there had been a policeman and they say there's no God, between my house and this church, Pete would be preaching this morning. I would be in jail. I hate preaching when Pete's here. First, it's intimidating. And secondly, I like coming to this church and being taught. We're going to be doing a lot of this. At Christmas, we're going to do together an Advent series. Now, he likes Christmas and I hate Christmas. You have no idea how hard it is to be a scrooge and look like Santa Claus at Christmas. Let's pray. Father, we come into your presence so thankful and knowing that we've got what we don't deserve freedom and joy, forgiveness, eternal life, and stuff. Father, in your presence, when we're not talking so much and we have to be still, we feel uncomfortable because you can't be conned and you know the secrets of our hearts, the sin, the stuff we planned and didn't even have time to do. Father, you know the times when you've told us to go and tell and we sat and watched the times when you called us to yourself and we ran, but you're gracious and you're kind and you're merciful. And we don't understand that, but we praise you for that. Father, you know everybody in this place and you know the stuff that's really hard, you know the sleepless nights, the demons that come when everybody else is asleep. You know the fear and the pain, the worries, you know the family problem. You know it all, Father, and we bring it before you. You're sufficient and you're good. And then as always, Father, we pray for the one who teaches this morning forgive him his sins. There's so many we would see Jesus and Him only and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to do something a little bit unusual. In fact it's really unusual for me this morning. I'm going to pick one of the commandments and we're going to look at some of the implications of that command. You don't even have to open your Bible. It's the 20th chapter of Exodus where the big 10 are given and the 8th command that is you shall not steal you. This could be one of the shortest sermons in the history of Christendom if you're stealing, stop. If you're thinking about stealing, don't you think about that? Amen. No, I'm a preacher. It's a dream in your dreams. We have a constitution in the Presbyterian Church in America of which this church is a part and in which Pete and I are ordained and a part of the constitution of the church is the larger catechism. Now for those of you who are ecclesiastically uninformed, a catechism is where a question is asked and an answer is given. I got out the larger catechism and read what it said about stealing. Let me read it to you. What are the duties required of the 8th commandment? The duties required of the 8th commandment are truth, faithfulness, and justice in contracts and commerce between man and man. They're sexist. Rendering to everyone his due, restitution of goods, unlawfully detained from the right owners thereof, giving and lending freely according to our abilities and the necessities of others, moderation of our judgments, wills and affection concerning worldly goods, a provident care and study to get, keep use and dispose of those things which are necessary and convenient for the sustenance of our nature and suitable to our condition, a lawful calling and diligence in it, frugality avoiding unnecessary lawsuits and sure it is shit or other like engagements and an endeavor by all just and lawful means to procure, preserve and further the wealth and outward estate of others as well as our own. And then it says, what are the sins forbidden by the 8th commandment? The sins forbidden by the 8th commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required are theft, robbery, man's stealing and receiving anything that is stolen, fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures removing landmarks and justice and unfaithfulness and contracts between man and man or in matters of trust, oppression, extortion, usually bribery, vexation, lawsuits, unjust implosures and depopulations, I have no idea what that is. Engrossing commodities to enhance the price, unlawful callings and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor what belongs to him are of enriching ourselves, covetousness and ordinent pricing and affecting worldly goods, distrustful and distracting cares and studies and getting keeping using them and being at the prosperity of others as likewise idleness, wasteful gaming and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God has given us. You think our forefathers were a bit uptight? Well, that just about covers it, you think about that. We have miles and miles to go before I finish and we're going to talk about stealing but I'm not going to say what you think. Before we get to look at the subject directly I'm going to go down a couple of side roads and the first side road is one I've been looking to say for a long time and maybe the reason that I'm doing this sermon. I've often said my political views are better than your political views but God has prevented me from sharing those political views to the congregations where I teach because I'm a Bible teacher. But I would have you note when God says thou shalt not steal it has a presupposition to it. What's the presupposition? The presupposition beloved is private property. You can own stuff, nobody can take it away from you. God gave it to you. I don't know about you but I was really angry in June of last year when the Supreme Court of our nation decided that by imminent domain a government can take our private property and use it for a commercial enterprise to bring in more taxes for the government. And you may think this is far fetched but it isn't because I am personally involved in the church where the town government is trying to take their property away and to create a part. After we've done all that we've done in this church for this new building winter springs can legally take our property away and build a shopping mall on our land. I don't know about you but that ticks me off. Now I get ticked off about a lot of things. A psychiatrist said I've never seen anybody who lives so close to the edge of hostility but in this case they tick off God and you don't want to do that. This presupposes private property. You've heard it I'm sure that communism is when you have two cows. You milk both cows, you give both cows and the milk to the government and hope you will find something when you get to the end of the line. Socialism is when you have two cows, you give one to the government, you milk the other and give the milk to the government and then you stand in line for rancid meat and sour milk and capitalism is when you have two cows, you sell one, use the money as a down payment on a boat and then you put both the cow and the boat in your wife's name and declare bankruptcy. I don't want to go too far with that because capitalism without faith is a very, very dangerous thing and that's where we are in this country. I do want to make the point, one I rarely get to make and that is that private property was not an idea thought up by our forefathers, it was thought up by God Himself. And then another side road, I'm going to go down before we look directly at this particular commandment and that side road is that it is very important that we understand the biblical and I might say reformed use of the law when we talk about the law. Galatians 3.13 says Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. That means I like to sin and God likes to forgive. No, that's horrible attitude but if you keep digging there's a pony in there. There's something where the truth is that we are free of the condemnation of the law but we are not free of the law. Now I'm going to make you feel guilty a little bit this morning. It's okay. As long as you understand that you are not condemned, that you are forgiven and that you are forgiven forever, you hear about the little boy that went up to the police officer who was a part of the K-9 Force and the German Shepherd was in the back of the police car and the little boy said to the officer, Mr. is that your dog? And he said, yes, that's my dog and the little boy said, what did he do wrong? I have a German Shepherd Thor and I did not name him Thor. It would be inappropriate for a reverend to have a pagan name for his dog. He came with that name. He is a dog that simply does not understand grace. I have never hidden. I don't even speak harshly to him. I am kind to him. I feed him. I am sweet to him. And he follows me around and he puts his head in my lap and every time I touch him he wins. He shakes. What is that? He's the best behaved dog ever had. He doesn't understand grace. He thinks that playing is sin and some of you think that too. And I can't get into play but he is totally obedient to everything I say to him. Except when I touch him he winces. What is that? The residual memory of the old master. Some of you have a residual memory of your old master. Some of you are so excited about the law that you can't even think about it. That when you open your bulletin and you see Brown is going to be talking about the law. Oh my, I don't need any more guilt. I got you should not have any guilt except for the instant when he convicts you and sends you to his throne of grace. And so we can measure ourselves by the law. And we can say, Lord, I want to be like that because that pleases you. Make me more and more like Jesus and hug me when I'm not. And so as we talk about a commandment, it's very important that we understand that the law was not meant to condemn you. It was not meant for you to use to condemn anybody else. It is your tutor and it is the very thing, the great gift of God that drives you to the throne of grace. All right, enough about that. I suspect when you saw it in the bulletin, Brown is going to talk about stealing. I have done that. You say, I'm not a thief. I would prefer another subject because I'm in pain. But at least I don't have to sit here thinking that I've robbed a bank or anything like that. I love it when the preacher preaches on something about which I'm not guilty. And the only thing that he can preach on about which I'm not guilty and he never does is booze. Would you do a total abstinence sermon sometime? And then I'll sit in the back and say, you go, brother, you preach it because I'm a teacher, man. I'm from a family of alcoholics. I have never let demon rum touch these pure lips, but that's it. Not about thevery. One of the interesting things in the Bible, especially when you read the sermon on the mount, is the importance of the heart for the people of God. Remember what Jesus said about adultery? He said, those guys told you you shouldn't commit adultery. But if you have lust in your heart, you've done it. Remember when he said, those guys told you you shouldn't murder, but when you're angry, you've done it. What was Jesus doing? He's talking about the heart. And so you may not have robbed a bank, but you may have thought about robbing a bank. The truth is, it starts with the heart. And the tenth commandment is the heart reflection of the eighth commandment which is doing the deed. The tenth commandment says, thou shalt not covet that goes on inside. I wish I had his Mercedes, his house, his wife. I wish I had her looks, her hair, her beauty. I wish I had his church, I wish I had his or her ministry. That's in the heart. But on the outside, you look pure and wonderful and sweet and kind. But in the eighth commandment, you decide, what the hey, I'm going to do it. And you do it. When we get home, I'll introduce you to Dick Wood. You'll like him a lot. He's a thief. He was the purchasing agent for the city of Coral Gables. And he stole $200. Well, he didn't really steal the $200. They were going to sell some cars they had taken. And his daughter needed a car and he knocked the price down from $500 to $300. There were at that time in the city of Coral Gables, some major, big time, big buck thieves. And he got caught up in that. They had stole hundreds of thousands of dollars and he had stolen $200. And his name got hooked with theirs and included in the newspaper. And the day before it was to be printed, he came to me. He was a deacon in our church. And he said, Steve, I don't want you to be surprised by what you're going to read tomorrow in the newspaper. I'm so sorry. Here's my resignation from the deaconate. If you want me to leave the church, I will. I said, whoa. First, a sinner can repent, but stupid is forever. If you're going to steal, steal a million. And then I said, resign from the church. I've been teaching you for 15 years that the church is the place for sinners. What I want to do, Dick, is use you as an example to all the new Christians in our church so they can see how God's people deal with sin. And we did that. He confessed before the congregation and we stood with him in court. He was found guilty. The others who had stole the hundred thousands were yelling and saying it was unfair and unjust. And there were 50 members of our church surrounding Dick Wood. And we were on our knees in the narthex of the Miami Courthouse praising God for his kindness and his goodness. And he went to jail and then he came back. And then he was restored to the deaconate and the congregation applaud. And he worked on my staff until the day he retired. And I loved him a lot. But here's the interesting thing. On the night before his name was going to be in the newspaper, I had been at the airport, been speaking somewhere, had parked my car, had come back that evening, drove through the little booth, and the girl in the booth charged me for a day less than I deserved. I pulled off and thought, God, it's good. And then I thought, I can't do this. And I pulled back and I said, young lady, I think you charged me a little bit too much. She looked at the dick and she said, thank you so much. That would have come out of my salary. And as Dick was telling me about his sin, I thought about what I had done. And just a little twist. And I would have driven off. It starts in the heart. It really does. And so I thought, I know what I am. I'm just talking about price. Have you ever not given your employer the best job that you could give him or her? You say, oh yeah, I always have done that. Have you ever thought about not doing it? Have you ever played solitaire at the computer at your desk on his or her time? Have you ever think about it? We know what we are. We're just talking about price. You ever think about cheating on your income tax? And you say, but I wouldn't do that. But I mean, in an area where nobody would ever know, and you always had a cover story if they jacked. We know what we are. We're just talking about price. Have you robbed your kids of the time that you owed them or your wife? We know what we are. We're just talking about, what about your time? And if you do, have you often thought, you know, I could spend this money better than the church could spend this money. I think I'm going to hold back. Even if we're talking, we know what you are. We're just talking about price. Have you ever cheated anybody or thought about cheating anybody? We know what we are. We're just talking about price. Have you ever robbed somebody of their honor by putting them down and public and making them feel lower than dirt? That's robbery. That's slavery. We know what we are. Have you ever gossiped? We know what we are. We're just talking about price. Have you ever? That's all I can stand. I'm not going to go any further. Let's look at the good news. I think God would say to his people, and I've prayed about this all week. God would say, look, you don't have to steal. I'm sovereign. Just be still. Kathy was in Connecticut this past week. That's where she grew up. She went to the hundredth birthday. It's ADB, right? Of ADB. ADB was her Sunday school teacher when she was a little girl. And another side, Ruth Bingham, who's in our church, Ruth was led to Christ by ADB. So Kathy showed up. When she was there at the time before, Andy B said to Kathy, you know Kathy, I told the Lord, I didn't want to be a hundred. Kathy shielded the birthday party, and she said to ADB, I guess the Lord doesn't listen to you. He never does. We don't get a vote. You didn't choose where you were born. You didn't choose the cancer. You didn't choose the abuse. You didn't choose the loss. You didn't choose the pain. But God did. He's sovereign. And you don't get a vote. When I was a young pastor, we had a young lady in our church who had diabetes, and nobody knew it. When she delivered the baby, she went into diabetic shock, and she died. She was from an Episcopal church, and we did the graduation service at Trinity Cathedral in Boston, and I assisted as a young pastor. I remember the priest, the rector, when he got up, he said, I worship a good God, and a good God would have nothing to do with this. And I was sitting off to the side, and I remember thinking, and I didn't know Jesus in those days. I was a liberal this side, a graduate of Boston University, a graduate school of theology. I didn't believe anything. But I'm not stupid, and I was sitting off to the side, and I was thinking, if God doesn't have anything to do with Sally's death, then we've got a bigger problem than Sally's death. Until God says, you don't have to steal. I'm in charge of this mess. I don't remember when a guy stole $75,000 from me, or from a ministry in which I was involved. On Friday, I said, I'm going to kill him. Saturday, I was convicted, and I said, Lord, I can't do that. You kill him. On Sunday, I struggled with it, and on Monday, I went for my friend. And I know the tears were from him, and the teaching was what goes to my bone, that that $75,000 belonged to God. God was sovereign. God is in charge of this mess. You don't have to steal. And then the second bit of good news is not only is God sovereign. God is also good, so you can relax just a bit. If he's sovereign, and he's not good, he's a monster and a child abuser, and he'll kill you. I know what you guys are going through, and I get the prayer things from Charlene, and every time I pray about it, some of you guys are going through heart stuff. And it's really bad, and you wonder, how could a good God do something like this? Let me tell you, he's good, and you know it. In your heart of heart, your spirit witnesses with my spirit when I say, God is good, and he is good all the time. And the Christians even with their tears, and their pain, and their cancer, and their loss say, amen. You know why? Because the heart answers questions that the mind has not even posed. We went through Andrew. I'll never go through a hurricane like that again. If I'm that scared, I can outrun that sucker on foot before it hits the house, the roof blew off. I thought we were going to die. It was just all, we lost a lot of stuff. Kathy lost all her stuff, and so did some other people here. And it was just an awful time. I mean, everything changed. And one day after we had driven some hundred miles to try to get some kind of resolution on $50,000, a contractor had stolen from me to build the house back. My wife and I were sitting in a little one-room apartment where the windows looked out on a brick wall. And she looked like she was going to cry, and I looked like I was going to cry, and then for no reason whatsoever, we started laughing. In fact, we started laughing so hard that the tears were rolling down our faces. You say, Steve, that's neurotic. No, I'm the neurotic one, not Anna. She was laughing too, and while we were laughing, because we knew that God is good. Even in the loss, he's good all the time. Tell him, you know that, that you don't like what you're going through, but that he's good. You don't have to steal. Because he said, if you think of it, pray for Joseph. He's a little boy and he's dying. His parents, Omar and Marvette, are here from Lebanon to study at Rathorm Seminary, and their little boy has just been... He could die of leukemia anytime. He's not responding to the treatments, and it's just awful. It's been going on for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. We had dinner with Marvette the other night and I... And I said to her, oh dear, that's awful. I hate this for you, and she said me too. She said, when they first told me what he had and what could happen, I railed against God. And I said, God, you can't take Joseph from me. She said, that lasted five minutes, and I thought, but God is my God, and he's good. And I put Joseph on the altar, put it on the altar. I've talked too much and I'm running out of time. Did you all know that Doug waves those big signs with how many minutes that I have left? That's intimidating. I had a friend on Cape God, you know, the little Cape God churches, and they ring out the hour, and at noon he was preaching and it bell started ringing, and he stopped, waited for all 12, and he said, do you know what that means? And everybody looked at any bank, and he said, it doesn't mean a thing. God is sovereign, God is good, God is sufficient to Willie Sutton, and you've heard that quote a lot of times. Did you know that in his biography about him, he was the bank robber. Somebody said he was a gentleman, when he robbed you, you felt like you were at the movies, but the usher had a gun, and somebody said about Willie Sutton, why do you rob banks? And he said, because that's where the money is. No, that's not where the money is. The money is God's. He fixed his things. He knows your situation, and he's sufficient. Cleve Bell, my beloved brother in Miami, hit a riverside house, was one time praying. He said, Lord, it'd be nice if you'd put $10,000 in my bank account. And the Lord said, Cleve, how much you need. And Cleve said, I need to point, Lord. It'd be nice to have him. You worried about your kids. You wish you had an assurance that everything would be all right. And God says, are they walking it now? Yeah, Lord, but that ain't the point. And what about my mortgage? What if I can't make it this month? And God said, do you make it this month? And you say, yeah, Lord, but that ain't the point. God is sufficient for every need that you have, every pain that you experience, every doubt. You don't have to steal. He knows. And he's where the money is. And then he's gracious. So you don't have to steal. I still a book about CS Lewis when I was a young pastor. This is the first time I've told anybody. Actually, I didn't steal it. I was going to return it, but the day's blended into weeks and the weeks and the months. And then it was years. And I thought, every time I looked at it on my shelves, I thought, uh-huh. See, I've never preached on stealing until this morning. So I got to tell you what I'm telling you. I said it back, anonymously. I didn't tell him. The other day I was standing in front of my library and I have a beautiful library. I have every book that CS Lewis ever wrote and every book that anybody ever wrote about CS Lewis. And the Lord and I were discussing it and he said, you know, I didn't give in you all this anyway. I said, I know. I sent it back, okay. And he said, I didn't give in you all of this. And I said, but I was kind of worried because I don't deserve it. And God said in Hebrew, duh. There's something that's neurotic about the people of God. Everything we've got, we feel we don't deserve, duh. Luther said, he knows that God is good and wants us to have a good time because he gave us beer. Well, I don't know about that, but let me tell you something. He gave you what you have and he says, enjoy it. Rejoice in it. You don't deserve it, but he's a gracious God. I'm sure you've heard about the note that the IRS received. With a cashier's check, the note said 20 years ago I cheated online, come tax. Here's the cashier's check, PS. I haven't been able to sleep for 20 years. If I still can't sleep, I'll send you the rest. Now listen to me. If you listen to what I taught you this morning, you know that it was more about sleeping than it was about stealing. And if you listen to what I taught you this morning, you ought to sleep better tonight. You think about that. Willow Creek Church is associated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Our website is www.willowcreekchurch.org and our phone number is 407-699-82-11.