Sunday, December 3, 2023 PM

Little funny up there to point out the fact that I had the number seven stuck in my head. Mark 14, see I'm talking about seven and you're picking up on that. So Mark 14, we're talking about the eighth commandment, do not steal.

The Eighth Commandment and God’s Provision

And we've thought about it from the way it was written down, how it sits with the other commandments. We thought about the provision of God and creation and how although he gave so much to Adam and Eve to be stewards of and to enjoy, that there was something he said, you are not allowed to have this.

This does not belong to you, it is not under your authority, it is not for you to have. And so Adam and Eve deceived and Adam rebelling took that which would not belong to them, which we call stealing.

And that was part of the fall, the sin. And we talked about how the theme of God's provision stands as a constant rebuke of the sin of stealing. You can't steal from your neighbor without complaining against God.

You didn't give me that, so I'll take it anyway. You didn't give me something else, so this will have to do. But in the act of stealing and theft, you have to reject God's provision and his sovereign care for us.

Well, we talked about the way in which God showed his faithfulness to Noah and Abraham and Israel. And a brief word on David, just as his son Solomon and his message to his son in Proverbs chapter 1, told his son not to run with thieves.

Don't run with those who lie in wait and say, let us lie and wait for travelers unbeknownst and we will attack them and all have one purse. And Solomon says, no, no, this is not for kings to do that and to steal.

But in a passage in Jeremiah, as Jeremiah is reflecting as well about the condition of Israel near the end, before Babylon comes and destroys Jerusalem and so forth, he reflects upon the condition of his country, of his nation, and very carefully connects the worship of idols to all manner of sins and trespasses as they worship these images rather than God.

All manner of defilement comes into their nation, including theft and stealing. And he goes on to say that those whom they were listening to, the prophets who preached peace, peace, though there was no peace, just a popular thing to say, everything's fine, everything's going to be okay, you just keep on doing you, all those prophets, he said that they were stealing their sermons from each other.

And well, if the prophets were stealing their sermons, what were the people doing? They were stealing each other's stuff. And the whole of the nation had become one, did not trust in the Lord's provision, did not trust in the Lord's Word, did not trust in what the Lord gave, and so they had become a nation of thieves.

That's good to remember when we begin reading some of the things that Jesus has to say. And we're thinking about the eighth commandment, do not steal, but we're thinking about it in the context of the image of God.

Why is it wrong to steal? Because of who God is. Because of who God is. He's the standard. And he has made us in his image, that we would love him supremely, love others rightly, steward everything he's entrusted to us in righteousness.

And stealing, of course, goes against all three of those relationships. We're denying God, and wronging our neighbor, and not being good stewards of what God has entrusted to us when we steal. And that, of course, is expressed in God's covenant with Israel in the commandments.

Christ as the Generous Giver in Mark 14

Now we turn our attention to the New Testament, we turn our attention to Christ, and think about how it is that this word, the eighth word, do not steal, how is this ultimately designed by God to get us to think about his son Jesus Christ?

So, in Mark chapter 14, a familiar passage, but one in which we should think a little bit about. And verse 22, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, take, eat, this is my body.

Then he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Now, why is this important?

As we think about who Jesus Christ is, what does he do in this passage? What does he emphasize in this passage about his coming sacrifice? He gives himself, he gives himself to us, freely, doesn't he?

He says, I'm giving this to you, I'm giving myself to you. He brings about the new covenant in his death, and his crucifixion, the shedding of his blood, and this is something that he gives. It's not something that can be earned, it is not something that that lies about that someone may come and steal, it is something that Christ gives.

He is the creator, giving himself for the new creation, he is the heir of all things, giving himself to us, and that is the kind of generosity that should stun all desire or thought of stealing completely.

Hang on a second, hang on a second. Christ has given himself to us, God has given us his Son, how will he not also freely with him give us all things? The very gift of Jesus Christ, in the full weight and measure of that generosity, should stop us from ever finding any merit at all in stealing from our neighbor, stealing from someone, taking which does not belong to us, being deceptive, and taking something.

The Door, the Shepherd, and the Thief in John 10

Let's go over to John chapter 10, an emphasis of this truth that he gives himself, John chapter 10. Let's think about who our Savior is, and how he talks about himself in contrast to others. Jesus says in verse 1, most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

Now I don't know if shepherds scrounging for stone on Judean hillsides were very interested in building perfectly square sheepfolds, right? They wanted a hedge, something high enough to protect their sheep from what?

From the wolves, from different predators who would come, and maybe high enough to deter folks climbing over the edge to come in and try to steal. But let's just say that they built themselves a sheepfold.

Now there's a door, and Jesus says, you know, he says it's a stone wall and all the sheep are huddled together for the night. They're all one big mass, they've gotten together. And the one who does not come in by the door, but comes in some other way, is obviously a thief.

Especially if he comes from that side, because that's the side that threw all the sheep dung over. That's where they took the sheep dung. Usually they would build one sheepfold and it wasn't big enough, so they'd build another.

They'd build another. And then they'd build one over here, and they'd build one over here. There's a line in Deborah's song, Judges chapter 5, the tribes who would not go to war and deliver their fellow countrymen from the oppressors.

And she has a line, I think it was about Reuben, the tribe of Reuben. And she said, where's Reuben? Why isn't Reuben out here on the battlefield? Where are his troops? What is he up to? Oh, he's lying down between the sheepfolds.

If you want to get out of work, you want to get out of work, you've got to have a pretty good hiding place to be out of work. You know one place that nobody wants to hang out? You want to know one place where you can hide out?

You can lie down in the sheep dung and nobody comes searching for you. Jesus said somebody comes over on that side, comes over the side, that is not the shepherd. The shepherd doesn't go wading through sheep dung and climb up the backside of the fold to get in.

He comes in through the door. So Jesus says, verse 2, he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

These are pretty big folds. Sometimes the folds that were built are centralized location, and you know, not all the sheep in here are of the same flock. But there's a shepherd. Oh, it's time to get the sheep out and go give them some water, lead them by the still water.

It's time to lead the sheep over to a green pasture. So here comes Shepherd A. He walks up and there's the doorkeeper. He recognizes him. Ah, you're the shepherd. It's not a thief. The thieves come over the side.

Here comes the shepherd and the shepherd says, I'm here for my sheep. What does he do? Well, it says in verse 3, he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. They know his voice. They know his voice.

Shepherds to this day have the same practices and they'll use different whistles or different instruments or different calls. And those sheep know, they don't have to be branded like cattle. They know their shepherd and they hear the voice and they follow him.

And that's how you know whose sheep belongs to whom, because those sheep follow their shepherd. Verse 4, when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.

We have pictures of those flocks in New Zealand and there's these great herds in the green fields and the shepherd is standing over on the side and he's whistling for those border collies and they are moving those sheep and driving them forward.

That's not how this works. Here, the shepherd walks in front of the sheep, calling to them, singing to them, speaking to them, and the sheep know the voice and they just follow that shepherd wherever he goes.

Verse 5 says, they will by no means follow a stranger but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. I mean, the stranger could say the exact same thing, sing the exact same song as that shepherd, but they, the sheep know, not gonna have anything to do with him.

They don't know that voice. They're not gonna follow him. Verse 6 says, Jesus used this illustration but they did not understand the things which he spoke to them. Now, at this point, the Apostle John has his tongue all the way in his cheek.

What did he just say? What did he just say about those who heard what Jesus said? Were they hearing his voice and following him or they're like, I have no idea what you just said. So, what were they? Were they his sheep or not?

Now, notice what Jesus said to them again. Verse 7, most assuredly I say to you I am the door of the sheep. Now, he changes illustration a little bit, doesn't he? Before, he speaks of a shepherd coming up to the doorkeeper and calling his sheep out.

Now, he's gonna take that metaphor, he's gonna turn it just a little bit, he's gonna build on it, gonna build on that images, all the sheep images in your head, all the idea of the shepherd and sheep relationship, those pictures are there.

Now, Jesus is gonna take that, turn it just a little bit, and build on it. He says, I am the door of the sheep. Well, that makes sense. Shepherds would often sleep in the opening of the sheep fold as a way of protection.

He says, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. Now, who came before him? Well, on the one hand, there were several people who came before Jesus claiming to be Messiah, and they were not.

The decades leading up to Christ's birth and ministry were full of people claiming to be the Christ, and they were not. And they tried to bring up all kind of political revolutions and all kinds of mess, and Jesus is clarifying, they're all thieves and robbers, for sure.

Others who would make claim to who he is are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone hears me, he will be saved. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

He's the Good Shepherd, and he's the door, isn't he? The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep, but a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

The hireling flees, because he's a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by my own, as the Father knows me, even so I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.

Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them I also must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. And listen to this, verse 17,. Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, I have power to take it again, this command I have received from my Father. I read all of that, and there's a lot there that we could meditate on for months.

I want you to see, though, Christ is emphasizing one of the reasons why he is a Good Shepherd, is his giving of himself freely. As has been noted before, it wasn't those nails that kept Jesus on the cross, Jesus kept himself on the cross.

It wasn't those soldiers, the mob, that came to arrest him, that constrained him to the path of suffering and crucifixion. Jesus leveled them all by simply saying, I am he, and he made note of the fact that he could have called just one angel, and legions more, to deliver him from any kind of trouble that he found.

It was not the mob that constrained him to the crucifixion, nor the nails that held him there, but it was Christ who willingly laid down his life for us, and so he pleased the Father. And he said he laid down his life for his sheep.

Indeed, he is a Good Shepherd. He contrasts himself to hirelings who would not sacrifice themselves, but he would give himself. So, there's the thieves and the hirelings, and the thief does nothing but to steal, kill, and to destroy.

You see how he contrasts himself to that? I have come that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly. So, when we look at Christ, is there any... there are many things that are, you could say, are un-Christlike, totally not like Christ at all, and one of those is being a thief.

Do you see how he points that out? Jesus does not steal us, does he? He gives his life for us. He gave himself for us, and he didn't have to steal us because he laid down his life and gave himself for us, and thus we are his sheep, right?

He didn't steal us, he gave himself to us, and that's why we're his. Inexorably his. No way, no way anyone's gonna snatch us out of the Father's hand who gave us to Christ, and no way anyone's gonna snatch us out of Christ's hand who died for us.

So, when he saves us, he doesn't steal us, he gave himself for us, and we are bought with a price. So, we ought to glorify God in all who we are, for we have been purchased by Christ. So, when we're thinking about who Christ is, we can see that he's the complete opposite of a thief.

He's the good shepherd. It's not about taking what wasn't really his. He's not stealing us from the devil, is he? Right? He's not stealing us from Adam. He's not snatching us. He has given himself for us, and he has saved us, and we are taken out of the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of his marvelous light.

Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Den of Thieves

Now, when we have this contrast where he's saying, I'm not like a thief, I'm not like a hireling, I am the good shepherd. You know, we notice every once in a while Jesus would sometimes, he would stop, and he would look upon the condition of the people, and he would consider the condition of Jerusalem.

And when he did that, what would he generally find? Would he be encouraged by what he saw, or would he be discouraged by what he saw? He'd be discouraged. He lamented and wept over Jerusalem. If only you knew the things that made for peace.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, those who kill the prophets, stone the prophets, those who were sent to you. Yeah. And when he looked upon the people, he had compassion on them. Why did he have compassion on the people?

What was it that compelled him towards compassion? They were like sheep without a what? Shepherd. Sheep without a shepherd. Well, what happened to the shepherds? Well, I think in John 10 he tells us, they were all hirelings who kept on running off, not protecting the flock.

Or maybe they were the wolves who were devouring, was it devouring widows? Yeah. That's how he saw, they were harried, the people were like sheep without a shepherd, and those who were supposed to be the shepherds were actually the wolves, and the thieves, and the hirelings.

And that is language straight from Jeremiah. That's the condition that Jeremiah saw. Jeremiah's day, boy, they thought a lot of their temple. In fact, they had a chant back in Jeremiah's day. It was not very creative, but it went like this, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

And why would they chant that? Because that was their great hope, you see. As long as that temple was there, they thought, we're always gonna be here. As long as that temple's there, we will never, this city will not be taken, we'll always have this land.

That's what they thought. And Jeremiah got into a lot of trouble telling them otherwise. A lot of trouble. Well, Jesus picks up on that language from Jeremiah, and in Luke chapter 19, in Luke chapter 19, in verse 45, after he's been weeping over the city, we'll back up to verse 41.

Now as he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you, and your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground.

And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation. Jesus could not have spoken a more perfect summary of the historical record written down later by Josephus and Tacitus.

It's exactly what happened. To the letter. Could not have said it better. Verse 45,. Then he went into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, It is written, My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.

A den of thieves. Interesting? So what does he call, what were they after? What were they doing? Were they shepherding the sheep? No, they were not. All that came before him were what? Thieves, robbers.

They were preying upon the sheep. They were fleecing the sheep. They would take a widow's last two mites, if it would put a little extra polish and shine on the gold that they had lately put on top of their gold, because they sure thought a lot about that temple.

They loved that temple, and they believed that the more beautiful the temple was, the more acceptable to God they were, the more blessed they would be as a people. The more beautiful the temple got, the more their hopes soared that this would be so pleasing to the Lord that they would be delivered from their Roman oppressors.

Which is why, of course, when Jesus spoke against the temple, that was one of the main charges they brought up at his trial, was it not? When Stephen spoke against the temple, they stoned him in the streets.

You remember that? Because they idolized that temple. That's all they could think of. That was their great hope, their great desire, their great passion. And yet Jesus looked at it and said, this is a, this was supposed to be a house of prayer, but they were thieves.

For they were taking deceptively. That was the meaning of the term, steal, that we looked at the very, very beginning, to deceptively take. They were deceiving the people and taking their income, taking their earnings, taking whatever the widows had, lying to them all along.

So that's why Jesus said it was a den of thieves, to the thieves, and shows that he is very, very different. Next time, what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at, what does that look like in the life of a Christian?

Given the fact that Jesus puts himself forward as the one who gives, not as the one who steals, he contrasts himself and says he's the good shepherd. Putting himself before us as the one that we are to follow, then what's it like?

What's it like to follow a good shepherd that gives himself for us? What does that look like in our lives, and how does that root out all manner of thieving and deception, and how does it bring in all manner of generosity and compassion?

So that'll be our focus next week. For now, let's close by singing the doxology together. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We're dismissed.