What Does My Stealing Say About My Soul?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | What does my stealing say about my soul?

00:00:08.640 | Stealing manifests in a lot of different forms.

00:00:12.160 | It could be looting, could be shoplifting,

00:00:15.840 | could be cutting corners at work,

00:00:17.880 | could be fudging on tax forms.

00:00:20.280 | But what is this impulse to steal, this urge inside of us?

00:00:23.360 | What does it say about us?

00:00:25.160 | That was the question Pastor John took up

00:00:27.160 | in a 1986 sermon on Ephesians 4.28,

00:00:31.680 | a text where Paul writes this, quote,

00:00:33.880 | "Let the thief no longer steal,

00:00:35.920 | "but rather let him labor,

00:00:37.420 | "doing honest work with his own hands,

00:00:40.020 | "so that he may have something to share

00:00:41.980 | "with anyone in need," end quote.

00:00:45.220 | That word on stealing was given to Christians

00:00:49.320 | in a local church.

00:00:50.440 | That's right, two Christians who are members

00:00:54.280 | of the local church in Ephesus on stealing.

00:00:57.940 | Here's Pastor John to explain.

00:01:00.160 | In the wilderness, Jesus was tempted by the devil.

00:01:03.800 | You remember what he said?

00:01:04.760 | The devil said to Jesus, "If you're the son of God,

00:01:08.880 | "turn these stones into bread because you're hungry."

00:01:12.160 | What he really said was, "Look,

00:01:16.280 | "why don't you just short circuit the way of the cross?

00:01:21.580 | "Why don't you just do an end run around self-denial

00:01:26.020 | "and hard suffering work?

00:01:28.800 | "I mean, you have the power, it would be easy."

00:01:32.980 | And Satan comes to you and he says,

00:01:37.940 | "Look, why don't you just take it?

00:01:41.760 | "Why don't you just run an end run around hard work

00:01:44.820 | "and honesty and labor?

00:01:47.320 | "Just take it.

00:01:50.000 | "You can have it.

00:01:50.920 | "Nobody would know."

00:01:53.500 | Satan tempts us to steal from our employees

00:01:57.820 | with unjust wages.

00:01:59.860 | He tempts us to steal from our employers

00:02:03.260 | with shoddy work and with long coffee breaks.

00:02:08.260 | He tempts you to shoplift at the store.

00:02:13.340 | He tempts you not to report all your income

00:02:16.420 | on your income tax.

00:02:19.140 | Where does stealing come from?

00:02:21.480 | Jesus said, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts,

00:02:24.840 | "murder, adultery, fornication, and theft."

00:02:27.360 | That's where it comes from.

00:02:28.600 | It comes right out of the heart.

00:02:29.720 | It didn't come from the moon.

00:02:31.160 | It came from my heart.

00:02:32.280 | That's why I steal.

00:02:34.160 | My heart is corrupt.

00:02:36.040 | And why is it corrupt?

00:02:37.240 | My desires are bad.

00:02:38.480 | And why are my desires bad?

00:02:40.120 | Because I'm blinded and hardened in my sin

00:02:43.200 | and Satan has free access and he deceives me

00:02:45.920 | about what is valuable in the world

00:02:47.600 | so that I really believe it is more valuable

00:02:50.200 | to have this little pleasure in security

00:02:52.320 | than to have a clear conscience and to obey God

00:02:54.400 | and to love people.

00:02:56.320 | Awesome deceit in the world.

00:02:58.560 | If we could see things clearly, we wouldn't steal.

00:03:03.480 | That's the first thing we can say about stealing.

00:03:05.440 | It's part of the old deceived self.

00:03:07.160 | Second, stealing, brothers and sisters, can be forgiven.

00:03:12.160 | It's so plain here in verse 28.

00:03:17.280 | "Let the thief no longer steal."

00:03:20.320 | He's talking to thieves at Ephesus.

00:03:23.360 | There are thieves in the church at Ephesus.

00:03:26.080 | There are thieves sitting in the pews

00:03:27.840 | listening to this letter being read

00:03:29.800 | by the elders at Ephesus.

00:03:32.360 | And he's saying, "Now guys, ladies, don't do that anymore."

00:03:37.360 | Which clearly implies you're saved, you're forgiven.

00:03:44.620 | You don't have to go on stealing.

00:03:47.180 | There's possibility of being a new kind of person now.

00:03:51.140 | And I can imagine an old recent convert

00:03:55.500 | from a life of debauchery and thievery

00:03:58.620 | standing up in the service and say,

00:04:00.540 | "Wait a minute, elder.

00:04:02.700 | All my life I've stolen and I think it's too late for me.

00:04:07.500 | I can't shake it.

00:04:09.500 | I can't get it out of my conscience.

00:04:11.900 | I find it almost impossible to resist

00:04:13.780 | in the stores and marketplaces.

00:04:16.340 | I think it's too late for me."

00:04:18.500 | And you know what that elder is gonna say to him?

00:04:21.700 | He's gonna say, "Don't you remember the story

00:04:24.540 | the apostle told us when he came through here

00:04:27.380 | just a few weeks ago

00:04:28.380 | and what happened to Jesus on the cross at the end?

00:04:31.660 | There was this thief.

00:04:33.300 | All his life he'd been a rotten thief

00:04:35.900 | and he got killed for it.

00:04:37.180 | He got hung for it.

00:04:39.220 | And in the last breath of his life,

00:04:41.220 | he looks over to Jesus and he says,

00:04:44.500 | "Have mercy upon me.

00:04:47.340 | When you come into your kingdom, remember me."

00:04:50.740 | And in the twinkling of an eye

00:04:53.340 | by the authority of God and the power of his cross,

00:04:57.340 | he says, "Today you will be with me in paradise.

00:05:04.180 | It isn't too late."

00:05:07.660 | Thieves can be forgiven in the eleventh hour.

00:05:12.260 | Stealing must be conquered,

00:05:14.540 | not by your own willpower merely.

00:05:18.340 | That makes Pharisees,

00:05:20.980 | people who boast,

00:05:23.020 | who rise up above sinners and say,

00:05:26.460 | "I thank you God that I am not like this publican."

00:05:29.700 | Pharisees are produced by willpower.

00:05:32.820 | Broken and humble saints are produced

00:05:35.220 | by grace through faith.

00:05:37.780 | Now, what truth must you have faith in

00:05:40.580 | to conquer stealing?

00:05:43.020 | Well, you could tell me the promises

00:05:45.540 | that will kill stealing in your heart.

00:05:47.700 | Listen to this one from Hebrews 13.

00:05:49.780 | "Keep your life free from the love of money

00:05:52.940 | and be content with what you have.

00:05:55.820 | For He has said,"

00:05:57.780 | and here comes the truth

00:05:58.820 | that you must believe to conquer the stealing,

00:06:01.700 | "I will never fail you or forsake you.

00:06:05.660 | Hence, we can confidently say,

00:06:07.500 | 'The Lord is my helper.

00:06:09.140 | What can man do to me?'"

00:06:11.180 | Now, do you realize what this text says?

00:06:13.540 | This text says,

00:06:15.300 | every time you steal,

00:06:17.900 | you are an unbeliever in this promise.

00:06:21.980 | The Lord of lords and king of kings

00:06:25.340 | who is strong enough to rule the world,

00:06:29.980 | wise enough to design the DNA and the Milky Way,

00:06:34.780 | and sovereign enough to govern the drop

00:06:37.740 | of every dead bird in Bangladesh,

00:06:41.380 | has said to every one of His children,

00:06:44.580 | "I will never leave you.

00:06:46.580 | I will never fail you.

00:06:48.060 | I will never forsake you."

00:06:50.820 | Can you believe that and steal?

00:06:54.540 | No.

00:06:56.060 | You have to be a disbeliever

00:06:58.940 | in the promises of God to steal.

00:07:02.980 | That's why it's so horrid.

00:07:05.620 | That's why Paul said,

00:07:07.140 | "Thieves do not enter into the kingdom

00:07:10.220 | because they don't believe God

00:07:13.500 | in their day-to-day walk.

00:07:15.700 | They don't believe His promises."

00:07:18.620 | Now, let me give you an illustration

00:07:20.340 | of how this week I was tempted to steal

00:07:23.500 | very genuinely,

00:07:25.900 | and how I fought the fight of faith.

00:07:28.980 | Mid-September, I got in the mail

00:07:31.820 | a bill from the Minneapolis Water Works

00:07:34.700 | and Sewer Department.

00:07:36.260 | And the bill was $84.20.

00:07:40.860 | And at the bottom in a little box,

00:07:42.580 | it says, "After September 30, pay gross."

00:07:47.460 | And then it said $88.41.

00:07:51.860 | $4.21 more.

00:07:56.020 | And I said, "I'll pay that."

00:07:58.180 | And I laid it in a pile

00:08:00.060 | and forgot about it until Friday.

00:08:03.220 | Friday.

00:08:04.340 | That's October 3rd.

00:08:07.900 | I was writing my check for all these bills

00:08:10.060 | that I had to pay, and I got to this one

00:08:11.820 | and almost just listened to the voice

00:08:14.940 | that was saying,

00:08:16.540 | "You always pay your bills.

00:08:18.540 | You're a good citizen.

00:08:20.660 | If you date your check September 30,

00:08:23.740 | they'll let it go.

00:08:24.740 | They won't give a hoot.

00:08:26.580 | You won't lose four of God's dollars."

00:08:30.060 | And then another little voice,

00:08:32.660 | the new John Piper who struggles to stay alive

00:08:35.900 | and fights for his breath at these times,

00:08:40.740 | said, "It's your fault for not standing it.

00:08:44.260 | And it's not unjust of them to require

00:08:47.620 | more for delinquent payments.

00:08:49.900 | And the Spirit of Christ is always submissive

00:08:52.700 | to the governing authorities

00:08:54.340 | when no sin is involved.

00:08:56.900 | And a clear conscience is more valuable than $4.

00:09:01.460 | And your Master has bidden you not to steal.

00:09:05.180 | And He will never leave you nor forsake you.

00:09:09.580 | And He will work all things together for your good."

00:09:13.180 | And the thought came to my mind

00:09:14.460 | as a specific illustration of that,

00:09:16.700 | if God thought it were good for you,

00:09:18.580 | He could heal the cavity in your tooth

00:09:20.340 | and save you $40 anyway.

00:09:23.140 | There are a thousand ways

00:09:24.540 | God can take care of His children

00:09:26.900 | when they're honest and obedient.

00:09:30.140 | And a thousand ways He won't if they're not.

00:09:34.740 | So I fought what I believe

00:09:37.660 | is the typical fight of every day of our life,

00:09:41.220 | the fight to believe the promises of God.

00:09:44.900 | "Will He take care of me if I do right?

00:09:48.500 | Will He make my life better if I give up $4

00:09:51.620 | instead of keeping $4?

00:09:53.300 | Of course He will, He's God!"

00:09:57.700 | And God won the victory.

00:09:59.420 | And I feel good and clean about that now.

00:10:03.740 | Two days' worth of a clean conscience is worth $4.

00:10:08.140 | Always bringing the application down

00:10:09.940 | into the simplest everyday decisions of life.

00:10:14.460 | That was John Piper and his sermon

00:10:15.940 | preached on October 5th, 1986,

00:10:18.700 | entitled "Don't Steal, Work and Give."

00:10:22.660 | You can find the entire sermon right now

00:10:24.100 | at DesiringGod.org.

00:10:25.660 | This is a clip that I like.

00:10:28.420 | It's one that I found while listening

00:10:29.980 | to John Piper sermons on my walks.

00:10:31.900 | Sometimes I do that.

00:10:32.900 | And if you have a favorite sermon clip

00:10:35.780 | of Pastor John's, send it to me.

00:10:38.420 | Give me the title of the sermon

00:10:39.940 | and the timestamps and the audio

00:10:42.380 | of when the clip begins and ends.

00:10:44.820 | And tell me why it's impacted you.

00:10:46.420 | What is it about this clip that resonates with you?

00:10:49.860 | Give me your name and the closest city to you.

00:10:52.620 | Email all that information to me

00:10:54.620 | at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.

00:10:57.820 | That's an email address, AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.

00:11:01.820 | Put the word clip in the subject line,

00:11:03.380 | if you would please.

00:11:04.660 | Be a little easier for me to find it.

00:11:06.740 | I appreciate it.

00:11:08.180 | Well, Friday is 8/28, August 28th.

00:11:13.100 | The date reminds me of Romans 8, 28.

00:11:16.700 | And it makes me think about all of the emails

00:11:19.300 | that have been sent in from you, the listeners.

00:11:22.660 | Those of you who especially have been

00:11:24.460 | enduring unspeakable suffering.

00:11:28.100 | There's a lot of you out there, I know it.

00:11:30.380 | And on Friday, we're gonna look at one of,

00:11:32.860 | I think, the most heartbreaking emails

00:11:35.620 | maybe we've ever addressed on the podcast.

00:11:38.200 | I'm not even gonna preview it.

00:11:41.140 | Just join us, be with us.

00:11:42.780 | I'm Tony Renke.

00:11:44.340 | We'll see you back here on Friday

00:11:45.940 | with Pastor John and studio.

00:11:47.240 | Thanks for listening.

00:11:48.300 | (upbeat music)

00:11:50.880 | (upbeat music)

00:11:53.460 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

What Does My Stealing Say About My Soul?

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