Thieves Do Not Inherit Heaven
September 13, 2006
Pastor Matt Black
Midweek Service
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Discipleship: [Quote 10 commandments]
Introduction: Open your Bible to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. The title of tonight’s message is “Thieves Do Not Inherit Heaven”.
We read, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
The essence of what Paul is telling the Corinthian church is that those who do not have the Spirit of God, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, are controlled by the lusts and passions of the flesh. Thieves don’t inherit heaven because thieves demonstrate by their lives that they do not need God. They are stealing their way through life. Those who do not know God will rob God.
Christians inherit Heaven because they have found God sufficient and satisfying. When a person finds Christ His all in all, He is a Christian. How do you know if you are a Christian? He finds Christ is sufficient to supply his needs and wants. Christ is his provider and his recreation. Why does one need to steal when he has all he needs in Christ? Why does one need to be covetous or turn to drink? We who know Christ “hunger and thirst after righteousness” and we are filled!
Paul names several marks of unbelievers here in this passage. He says first broadly, “the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God”, but then he begins to get specific with several categories of unrighteousness. Tonight I want to zero in on one of them. Thievery. Thieves do not inherit heaven our text says. My goal is to define and expose what this sin is tonight. It is essentially what we find in the eighth commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” This commandment tells us something. You may steal from man, but ultimately, you are stealing from God! Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
I own nothing. God owns everything! Say it with me: I own nothing. God owns everything!
We know this, but our wicked heart wants to act as if everything is ours. We deserve it. We need to expose the enemy of God, and the enemy is ME!
I. First we need to Expose the Roots of Theft. Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?To steal is to not trust God.”
Thomas Watson said,
“to steal is to knock on the devil’s door and get a job at his company. He’ll teach us all how to live off of stolen goods instead of trusting in God if we let him.” To steal is to go to the devil to make a living and to get through life.
The path of the one who steals from God is like a river. A river is crooked because it takes the path of least resistance. If you steal, you may gain materially, but you will be crooked eternally. 1 Corinthians 6:10 tells us that people who steal will in the end lose everything: “thieves…shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The unbelieving Israelites while wandering in the wilderness asked the question, “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” (Psalm 78:19). Stealing begins by questioning what God can do. So can God put a table—a four course meal out in the wilderness? The answer is: God can do whatever He wants to do. God will provide for you! God gave manna to those in the wilderness. God provided. The problem was, they thought it wasn’t good enough.
Any time you say “it’s not good enough”—any time you complain—you are saying in your soul—God’s not good enough! He’s not good to me. If God were good, then He would… [FILL IN THE BLANK]. This spirit of complaining and doubting will lead you to steal in one way or another from God. The problem is not that God isn’t good. God is good!!! He is good!! Are you in hell today??? God is good! Is grace abounding today? God is good! The problem is not that God isn’t good. The problem is that we want to redefine goodness to suit us. We want to form a God in our image. We must
If you don’t have faith that God will take care of you, then you will steal. Instead of doubting God, you need to say, "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14).
Application: The heart of unbelief says, yes—My situation is too hard for the Lord, so therefore,
o As an employer, I’m going to steal from my employees with unjust wages
o Or as an employee, we steal from the company with shoddy work and extended breaks,
o We can steal from the store by shoplifting,
o or from the government on our tax returns, or by not reporting all of our income.
II. Understand the Realm of Theft
Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
So based on this verse, everything belongs to the Lord. The earth, the world, and all of us who dwell on God’s earth. God owns you!! Your body is not yours. Your mind, your hands, your feet all belong to God.
Keeping the Sabbath Holy: Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Hebrews 10:25 tells us not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another”
We owe God our worship!
1. Tithing: Tithing is not a form of the OT Law that was done away with in the NT. How do we know this?
a. Melchizedek: In Genesis 14:20, we read that Abraham tithed to Melchizedek before the Law. The Bible says “he gave him tithes of all”.
b. Law: Leviticus 27 tells us that the “tithe is holy to the Lord.”
c. Withholding is Robbing God. Malachi 3:8, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 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. 11 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. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.”
d. New Testament:
Ø 1 Corinthians 9:13-14: "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? 14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." Pink says:
‘The emphatic words there are, "Even so" in the beginning of the fourteenth verse. The word "tithe" is not found in these two verses but it is most clearly implied.’
It was the tithe that supported the Old Testament ministers. That’s Paul’s point. Verse 14, “Even so” Paul says, in the New Testament time “the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.”
Ø 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
The “in store” is the storehouse in Malachi 3:10, “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.”
2. Paying Taxes: Romans 13:7, “Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom” Jesus said give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s.
3. Borrowing without paying back: “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again” (Psalm 37:21). It is stealing to borrow money from others and not to pay them again.
4. Purchasing or Receiving stolen goods. The receiver of stolen goods is an accessory to the theft. We must be extremely careful in this, especially in software, music, and items sold on the internet. We cannot know where everything came from, but if there is any hint whatsoever that something is stolen, we must not receive it. Once I purchased a software CD on an internet auction site. When I received it, I found out that it was pirated. What should we do? Call the authorities. Take it off your computer. Do right. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
5. Credit Card Debt: We steal from God by making unwise purchases, and then we must pay the ungodly instead of using God’s resources for God’s purposes.
6. Bankruptcy: This is ultimate theft. To declare you can pay no one back, and legally, you may steal from credit card companies and other indebtedness by never having a legal responsibility to pay it back. You may not have a legal responsibility, but you do have a moral and a spiritual responsibility. You are to “owe no man anything”, and though the courts have forgiven you of your debt, in God’s eyes, you still owe! Bankruptcy court does not wipe out your obligation to God.
Not only must we look in the area of finances, but also in the area of work.
We have time for everything but God! What did you read today?
1. How about God’s Word?
Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
If you do not take in God’s Word, your soul will rot! Your life will be filled with rottenness and dryness and struggle and frustration. A person who calls himself a Christian, but does not read God’s Word is nothing more than a Christianized heathen and no Christian at all. If there is no delight for God’s Word in you, then Jesus Christ, the Word, and the Spirit of the Word is not in you. Hunger and thirst after righteousness!
The Word of God is our two edge sword!
It is our comfort in affliction! Psalm 119:50, “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.”
His Word is “settled in Heaven” (Psalm 119:89).
His Word is truth! (John 17:17).
Rob God by neglecting the Word, and you are ROBBING yourself!!
2. Prayer. How many people have you talked to today? God ought to be the first you talk to every day! Do you worry? You are robbing God! Luther said, “Pray, and let God worry.” Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
We say we cannot pray because we do not have time. John Wesley said,
“I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.”
Do you worry? You rob God! Do you have little time to do your tasks? You must PRAY more, not less! God can multiply your minutes!
Turn over to Proverbs 9:13. We see here that stolen waters are sweet! But they lead to hell! “A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. 14 For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, 15 To call passengers who go right on their ways: 16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.”
III. The Victory over Theft. Turn over to 1 John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Thievery is a lack of faith in God. Faith is the only way to keep someone from stealing.
Martin Luther said this:
“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”
A. The Law is the Battle Map. The Law brings us to Christ. It points to Christ. The Law is the school master that brings us to Christ. It tells us our problem. It tells us we love ourselves. It exposes the fact that we don’t think God is good. We don’t trust Him. The Law exposes us! We’ve done things our own way. We have proven that we are all willing to defy God and hurt others for our own gain. We have all lied, defrauded, stolen, lusted, blasphemed, and coveted. We’ve been utterly defeated by it. What must we do? There is only one answer.
B. Faith is the Victory—it rests in God!
We must have faith in God! Faith is the victory! Faith seems like a very abstract concept. Let me tell you: it’s not abstract. It’s not mystical. It’s not subjective. It is concrete, objective, and solid. Here it is. God owns you. If you believe that (thereby having faith), then you will live like it. Faith is different than knowledge. We all agree that God owns us. But many have a heart of unbelief. You steal from God and sear your conscience. You have time for everything but God. You have time for all kinds of entertainment, but you will not rest in the Lord. Christians will be stirred by this.
Conclusion: Thieves do not enter into heaven. Neither do the covetous. Adulterers don’t enter heaven. But let me give you some encouragement. Thieves can be forgiven. Look back at our text in 1 Corinthians 6:11. What does it say? “11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Christians enter heaven, because Christians understand and believe and act on the fact that they are owned by God. They are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God! Are you living totally dependent on Christ? 1 Corinthians 6:20, “ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” You are not your own! You are God’s. He’s all you need!! Trust in Him tonight!!
Closing Hymn: 410 ‘Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus