Thou shalt not steal
Exodus 20:15
(Part 2)
Jeremiah 7:8-12
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal [take something that belongs to another], murder [take away a life, a right that does not belong to you], and commit adultery [steal from another man or woman that which is not yours; or give your body to someone when you do not belong to one another in marriage], and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
[then] come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.
But go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel.
The Philistine army came and attacked Shiloh, stole the ark of the tabernacle, and the high priest and both of his sons died in the same day. The event was so devastating that
(You can read about this in 1 Samuel chapter 4).
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There are other ways of stealing, like taking from God what belongs to Him:
Jesus repeated this about the den of robbers, when He saw people buying and selling in the temple...
Matthew 21:12-13
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
A den of thieves. . . because they bought and sold in the temple, taking the focus away from the One whom they were supposed to come to worship, and put it on buying and selling and getting gain.
It sounds like a lot of places that are supposed to be dedicated for worshiping God today, yet they have put more focus on income, buying and selling products in order to bring in money to pay for church expenses instead of worshiping the Lord God and Him alone. Now there are those who put their focus on how much money their “church” is making rather than reaching out to the poor and afflicted – instead of preaching the good new of Jesus Christ and the Truth about what it means to be saved.
We find that Jesus, after He threw out those money-focused people from the temple, did this in Matthew 21:14 - And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple; and He healed them.
The blind are those who cannot see, and Jesus said there are many who do not see, though what they should see is right in front of them. He was not talking about those who are physically blind as much as He was talking about those who are spiritually blind. (See also Romans 2:17-29)
The physically blind, if they have Jesus, they have it made! The spiritually blind do not have Jesus. They have no light and the light they think they have is not light, but great darkness.
Matthew 6:23 - But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
John 9:39-41
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
Jesus is willing to heal their blind eyes so they will see and understand exactly what He was talking about when He said they had made the temple of God into a den of thieves. He will open their eyes, if they are willing to come to Him and ask Him. When they truly understand, they will want to repent, having understood the gravity of their offense against God.
Jesus healed the lame who came to Him. The lame are not only those who are unable to physically walk, but those who are spiritually unable to walk. They have been incapacitated whether by injury or from birth, but those who come to Jesus (even if they remain physically incapacitated) they will be made able to walk. People in that situation fall prey to others who want to take advantage of them, but if they come to Jesus, He will strengthen their spiritual legs and make them able to walk again.
Isaiah 35:3-6
Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
The cause of spiritual paralysis in many situations is sin.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:11-12
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Jesus said this is why He had come.
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Luke 4:18-19
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Many people focus on the outward appearance, the outward being, but Jesus left no stone unturned when He spoke, because God looks on the heart. He made it very clear that the commandments of God were given in order to transform the heart. God's way is True, His Word is Truth, and all that He does is done in Truth.
John 10:1-2
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
John 10:7-10
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
There are those who have taken the scriptures in the word of God to mean many different things that stray away from the gospel of Truth. Topics such as prosperity, healing, authority, love, freedom in Christ (other topics as well) – time and time again have been misconstrued to mean something other than what the Lord our God is saying; this because men and women do not always seek the Lord in order to understand but have leaned on their own understanding. In doing so, they have taken away from God that which belongs to Him.
Malachi 3:8-12
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
What tithes and offerings?
Psalm 29:1-2
Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto His name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
And the promise is the same as was said through Malachi:
Psalm 29:11
The LORD will give strength unto His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace.
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Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness – not in self-gain, not to get attention for oneself or for monetary gain, but holiness. To love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength, leaves no room for self-seeking or vainglory, but Him alone. If any man or woman tries to put the focus of worship and praise on any one (including themselves) or any thing instead of God, they are guilty of robbing God because He alone is worthy to be praised. People may say they are worshiping God and say with their lips that they are drawing near to God, but actions speak louder than words and God is greater than all of that. He sees directly to the heart of the matter and knows perfectly if their lips are speaking truth or not. It is time to examine our hearts now to ensure that there is no double-mindedness in us and to be sure that we are not guilty of robbing God.
God will forgive a thief and we see this in the testimony of Jesus when He was put to death unjustly by crucifixion,
Matthew 27:38
Then were there two thieves crucified with Him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
Here, in Luke we will see the mercy of God through forgiveness:
Luke 23:39-43
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him,
saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying,
Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:
but this man hath done nothing amiss.
And he said unto Jesus,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee,
To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.
If anyone repents of their sin, the Lord will forgive them.
Do you need to repent? If so, please do so now. The Lord is waiting to hear from you.
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Luke 15:7
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… I say unto you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner that repenteth.
Luke 15:10