DUMB CROOKS
Revised by Pastor Jim May
(This sermon was adapted and quoted in part from a sermon I read on the internet. I have modified it greatly as well. I cannot give credit to the original source because I have been unable to find it again. If anyone knows the original writer, please inform me.)
The devil loves to make fools out of men. He uses every trick in the book to deceive us and make us believe that we can get away with sin. In the end, he just makes us all seem like a bunch of dumb crooks if we fall for his lies.
I read a few stories of some really dumb crooks. Here are a few of them.
A pair of Michigan robbers entered a record shop nervously waving revolvers. The first one shouted, "Nobody move!" When his partner moved, the scared and nervous first bandit shot him.
A police officer in Georgia pulled over a drunk driver. After this guy failed all of the sobriety tests, he was told to stand by his car for minute. Instead of doing this, he kept saying he was not drunk, opened the car door and got in the car. He then rolled down the window and called the officer over and said, "Officer, I would like to report a crime... Someone stole my steering wheel". The officer told the drunk that nobody stole his steering wheel because they do not have steering wheels in the back seat. The confused drunk then took a ride to jail in the back seat of the officer’s car.
One really dumb crook attempted to rob a bank but he kind of went about it in the wrong manner. After putting on his mask, he walked around the lobby, checking out the cameras, the guard and just "casing the joint." Several people noticed his mask and so they called the police. He could clearly be seen in security cameras, walking around with his mask on. He was arrested a short time later with the mask and the holdup note in his possession. All the while he declared, "it wasn’t me, it wasn’t me."
While the foolishness of these crooks is apparent to us, I wonder how foolish all of our sins are to God. He tells us not to give in to temptation. He commands that we put off certain evil things and put on the character and nature of Jesus Christ.
Paul says in Ephesians 4:22-28, "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth."
That brings me to the main point of the message this morning. I want to talk to you about stealing.
I find it strange that God would bring this message to me today, for I know of no one in this congregation who is guilty of stealing, but I have learned long ago, not to question where God leads me and the message He gives. I don’t know everything and never will, but God does.
Since we are entering into the Holiday Season, and then the tax season after that, perhaps God just wants to remind us that we are to be honest and have integrity in all of our ways.
Paul, of course, wasn’t the only source of teaching against stealing in the Word of God.
Jesus, in Matthew 19:18, said to the Rich Young Ruler, who came searching for the way to eternal life, “Thou Shalt Not Steal”.
And remember that The 8th Commandment declares: “Thou shalt not steal”.
There are many things that we can “steal” and maybe we don’t think of some of these things as stealing but they are nonetheless.
The Book of Romans warns against stealing the glory that is God’s and giving it to man.
Other verses warn against stealing someone’s reputation or good name by way of slander.
The 7th Commandment prohibits stealing the affection of someone else’s spouse. Adultery is one of the most widespread sins in the world today, even in the church.
We are not to steal from a store – that’s called shoplifting.
We are not to steal an undeserved grade at school – that’s called cheating.
We are not to steal from an employer, whether its tools, goods, money or in the time that we owe them.
We are not to steal from the government by not paying one’s taxes or making false claims for refunds.
And we are not to steal money from God by not giving and paying our tithes and offerings.
LET ME GIVE YOU A FEW STATS CONCERNING STEALING.
Approximately 23 million people -- ten percent of customers -- steal from retail stores each year. Shoplifting is the number one reason small retail stores continue to fail.
According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, employee theft in its various forms accounts for fully one third of all business failures. Having said that, it’s a known fact that retail employees steal four times more than does the public through shoplifting.
Every year approximately 500,000 grocery carts disappear from supermarkets and department stores. These carts range in price from a couple of hundred dollars to nearly a thousand dollars each! Let me remind you that according to our present laws, any theft in excess of $100 is considered more than a misdemeanor; it’s a felony.
It is also estimated that over half of the businesses overcharge their customers trying to recoup their losses due to theft, so that makes shoplifters and cart stealers, and those who steal from the company, also responsible for many of the high prices that all of us have to pay for everything we need.
Let’s look at another form of stealing called cheating -- stealing a grade that one has not earned nor deserved.
The latest reports that I have notes that 87 percent of students surveyed admitted to cheating on written work and 70 percent cheated on a test at least once. As I was working on this part of the message, I came across a web site on the Internet called LazyStudents.com. It advertised: “Term paper due? Research paper due? Can’t find the research you need? Don’t type so well? So much to do yet so little time? Have no fear, LazyStudents.com is here!” Another web site that sells pre-written term papers so you can get your grade without doing the work, calls itself: “Cheathouse.com - The evil house of cheat.”
Another word for stealing is “Larceny” and it is being practiced in our country, not only in practically every profession, but also by every kind of person. Not just the poor, but middle class and rich people steal. Not just the ignorant, but literate, intelligent people steal.
In fact, I heard one Evangelist say a long time ago, “An uneducated thief will rob the train, but an educated thief with greater resources will steal the whole railroad.”
You might be thinking to yourself this morning, “is stealing something that is relevant this morning to us. We are all God-fearing, law abiding, born-again Christians?”
Let me remind you that the biggest portion of the New Testament was primarily written to the followers of Jesus Christ, to the church, to God-fearing, law abiding, born again Christians.
When Paul was writing his letter to the Ephesians, he was writing to the Church at Ephesus. Evidently both Jesus and Paul felt that the believers needed to be reminded of this commandment on occasion.
Christians aren’t immune to falling into the sin of stealing, in fact I heard of one pastor that was caught shoplifting a while back. As should be the case, the man lost his church over the situation. It is a sad truth, though, he went across town, started up another work, and the majority of his former church went with him!
In at least two incidents that I know of personally, the pastor of the church took every penny that came into the church as his own personal income. Everything that was bought for the church was purchased in his name and not the church’s name. Then when they left the church, they took everything with them claiming it was theirs and left the church penniless and with almost no equipment to operate with, and in great debt. Oh, and by the way, neither of them ever claimed one dime of the church income with the IRS.
Yes, the topic is relevant!
Someone said that the question is not, "DO YOU TRUST GOD?" The real question is, "CAN GOD TRUST YOU?" The answer had better be YES, if we intend to serve Him and be in Heaven when we leave this life.
We all know that the devil is a liar, but let me remind of what John 10:10 says, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” The devil is a liar, but he is a thief also, and he loves to teach us how to do what he does so we can spend eternity with him.
Lets now look at several reasons why people steal.
GREED
Greed cries out that what is mine is mine and what is yours is mine and if I have half-a-mind to take it, I will if I can. In fact, not only is it mine, God was not fair in having given it to you in the first place. I should have had it! This is the logic behind many extra-marital affairs.
Greed cries out that what we have is not enough. We need more of this and more of that. It places a person, money or things ahead of God thus it violates the 1st of the Ten Commandments by establishing another god ahead of the One True God.
Greed is wrong for it is a violation of the Second Commandment, for greed is idolatry. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
Greed is wrong for it brings a reproach upon the name of the Lord in violation of the 3rd Commandment, causing people to look at Christians who have greed in their hearts and then discounting the power of God that is supposed to live in them. Exodus 20:7, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." You don’t have to speak the name of Jesus in cursing, or joke about God to take his name in vain, just let sin reign in your life and your life is an example of using God’s name in vain.
Greed is wrong because it brings disgrace instead of honor upon one’s father and mother in violation of the 5th Commandment.
Greed is wrong because it provides the foundation for many a murder in violation of the 6th Commandment – “Thou Shalt not Kill”.
Greed is wrong, like I said earlier, because it is often tied to a violation of the 7th Commandment –"Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Greed is wrong because it violates the 8th Commandment – “Thou shall not steal.”
Greed is wrong because it is cloaked, or disguised, or hidden in a lie in violation of the 9th Commandment -- "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
And, last but not least, greed is wrong because it causes us to desire that which belongs to another person in direct violation of the 10th Commandment –"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."
It is no wonder then that Jesus warns us in Luke 12:15, "… Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."
The world says that greed is good. God says that greed is sin. Who are you going to believe?
Another reason that people steal is because they are discontented.
We live in a world of things:
We drive fast things; We sleep in comfortable things; We live in expensive things; We listen to loud things; We have things for the winter; and things for the summer; We have big things; as well as little things; Electrical things as well as wind-up things; We love things. We surround ourselves with things!
It is not so hard then to see how one’s love for things -- even the things that belong to someone else -- can take root in a person.
A recent study by MasterCard International found that shopping was second only to dining out as the primary way that people reward themselves. Adding things to things is fun, rewarding!
Discontent, though, was the sin that led to Eve’s downfall in the Garden of Eden. She wasn’t content with all that God had given her; she had to have more. She had to have that which belonged to God Himself!
If we were to ask juveniles caught shoplifting, "Why did you do it"? The most frequent reply would be "I don’t know". Facts show though, that like adults, these young people simply were not content with all that they had. They had to have more and nicer things therefore they turned to stealing.
Remember that Jesus said, “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Look at the blessings of the Lord that have been given to you. Has God not been faithful? Has God not blessed us even more than we deserve? Has the Lord not promised to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory?
A little poem I read says it this way, “Fret not for want of earthly things, They’ll never satisfy; The secret of contentment is To let the Lord supply.”
Someone said that discontentment makes rich men poor while contentment makes poor men rich. What a true statement!
Paul said in Philippians 4:11, "… I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
Contented people do not steal.
Another reason that people steal is that they are filled with IMPATIENCE.
Impatience cries NOW! Don’t wait! Go get it!
If Eve’s sin was due to her lack of contentment, the Prodigal Son’s sin flowed out of his impatience. GIVE IT TO ME NOW!
There is an axiom that says, "All good things come to those who wait." The thief can’t wait. He must go for the thing, whether it’s the grade, the money, or whatever – and he can’t wait to earn it, he has to have it now.
Someone who truly born again has learned that he can trust God for what is best for him; but the thief moves without faith, in doubt and fear that he will never have what’s truly his.
A thief believes that he must take in order to get what he wants or he may never have it.
One day a biology teacher made his class watch him feed a live white mouse to his pet four-foot boa constrictor he kept in a cage in the classroom. When the students gathered around the cage, the shiny emerald green serpent was laying casually one corner of the cage.
The teacher dropped a five-inch mouse into the cage. Totally unafraid, the mouse ran all around the cage, up over the snake, over the folds, and right in front of his face. It seemed to be having a grand old time. Then slowly but surely, the serpent began to move. It moved so slowly that the only way you could tell it was moving was to watch the lines of print on the newspapers at the bottom of the cage disappear beneath its head. The mouse noticed the movement, but it didn’t seem to bother him.
Then, as the snake got closer, the mouse became fascinated. And as the snake moved stealthily, the mouse came to attention. Its tail wasn’t stirring; it was totally engrossed in this moving green thing. It even sat up on its hind legs, holding its little paws in front of it like human hands. With its whiskers still twitching, the mouse sat there watching the snake come closer. Suddenly, there was a blur of green, and before anyone knew it; the snake had wrapped itself around the little mouse. The mouse quickly became history rather than biology.
That’s the way sin works. Its power lies in its ability to fascinate and mesmerize.
I doubt that many people plan to leave the ways of righteousness to walk that crooked and wide path that leads to destruction. Yet, the truth of the matter is, many do.
They compromise their character, they loosen up on their morals, they destroy their integrity, maybe they begin to tell little “white” lies, maybe they begin to lose their temper more often, and then they begin to steal in one form or another.
Slowly, but ever so surely, the serpent called “evil”, or the “serpent”, or the “devil”, fascinates and mesmerizes his prey until it is too late.
The Bible, knowing the wiles of sin, says to put these things off. Die to them. Don’t let them get a foothold in your life.
Another reason that people steal may be that they like to feel as if they are able to get “something for nothing."
IT IS A PAYBACK for all that they have given to others, the government or whatever. They are simply taking that which they feel they justly deserve in the first place.
SADLY, THERE ARE A LOT OF THIEVES WHO DON’T SEE THEMSELVES AS STEALING. They convince them-selves that they are merely borrowing something. If caught, they would only admit to taking something with the intension of returning it later. Sadly, though, they don’t return it unless caught.
THEN, FOR SOME, STEALING IS A "RELIEF MECHANISM" for anxiety, frustration, boredom or depression. For example, several studies have found diagnosed depression exists in approximately one-third of the shoplifters studied. Depression was the most frequently found psychological problem. This helps to explain why so many shoplifters steal from stores on their birthday and around holiday times.
Regardless of the reasons, Paul says work and earn what you get, don’t steal it.
Paul himself was an example of a hard worker, for while he was establishing local churches, he labored as a tentmaker.
The men that God called in the Scriptures were busy working when their call came.
Moses was caring for sheep; Gideon was threshing wheat; David was a shepherd boy; and the first four disciples were either casting nets or mending them. And don’t forget that even Jesus had a trade. He was a carpenter. You will not find a lazy godly man or woman in the Bible.
The Jewish rabbis used to say, "If you do not teach your son a trade, you teach him to be a thief."
Unlike the greedy, discontent, impatient person, Paul notes that the Christian works not to get but in order that he or she might have something to give to others who are in need.
The answer for getting rid of greed, and stealing in your life, is to repent and then have integrity in all that you do and all that you are.
Some of you may remember a man named Richard Dortch. Dortch was, at one time, the President of PTL under Jim and Tammy Bakker. Due to his role in that tragic situation, he was sentenced to eight years in a federal penitentiary. He served eighteen months during which time he not only battled his own guilt, but life-threatening kidney cancer as well.
Dortch is now a free man. He has been reinstated into the ministry with the Assemblies of God and currently serves as president and founder of Life Challenge. This is an agency that serves and cares for professionals in crisis.
In his book titled, "Losing It All & Finding Yourself", Dortch writes:
“Almost every person that I can think of who has fallen -- whether layman or minister -- did so because they believed they were the exception. They thought they could pick and choose when and how to sin. They could sin -- even if only occasionally and for a good cause -- and it would make no difference. Their public image portrayed what they wanted everyone to believe was true about them. They convinced themselves that no one would ever see the other side of their life.”
Dortch’s words are right on target because he points out the deceptive power of sin.
Richard Dortch simply believed a lie.
Jim and Tammy Bakker did too.
Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton, Bill Clinton and many others bought the same line of the devil; hook, line and sinker. In fact, I believe that, at times, maybe we all bought the devil’s lies.
Every one of thinks these thoughts at one time or another: I won’t get caught. I am too smart. I am too important to God’s work. I am different. No one would believe anything evil about me. God will understand; look at all of the good that I am doing.
Friends, these are lies, all lies!
With many people, the question is no longer, "Is it wrong?" (that doesn’t seem to matter), the question is "can I get away with it?" and in some strange way, they convince themselves that they can.
Yet, the Bible is quick to point out in Numbers 32:23, "…be sure your sin will find you out."
Sadly, most don’t realize what is going on in their lives -- until it is too late; until the hook is set, the trap is sprung, and they have been snared in their sin, to be exposed to the whole world for just what they really are.
They don’t sense how deep they have sunk. They don’t realize the truth until the lie has brought them to the very brink of disaster.
Dortch did not think he would or could get caught-up in a national scandal -- but he did.
He certainly did not imagine that he would serve time in a federal prison -- but he did.
He never dreamed that his name would be smeared and mocked by every comedian in print and on the TV screen -- but it was.
He thought that Richard W. Dortch was the exception -- but he wasn’t! Oh that we would be wise and learn from the tragic mistakes of others!
Were Richard Dortch, Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton, and so many more just "dumb crooks" like those in the examples I gave you in the beginning? They didn’t think so, but they were, because they allowed Satan to make fools out of them too.
Satan will do the same to each and everyone of us, if we let him. Don’t give him any place, or any ground in your life. Put off every sin – including any form of stealing. Put it off now, before it’s too late.
