The Thief Jesus Warned You About

Of course, if you look on your bulletin, you can see that the title of today's sermon is the thief Jesus warned you about. The thief that Jesus warned you about. Were you ever a thief? I don't want you to raise your hand. It could have been your past life.

But I'm sure everyone in this room at one time or another has stolen something. Otherwise, thou should not steal would not be one of the commandments.

But hopefully, it's not a way of life. And I say, stolen anything? How about even a pen from your bank? Done that before? Didn't... wasn't my intention, but I got down the road and had it. Right? And I had 15 to 30 minutes in traffic down the road, and I decided not to turn around and go back. Have you known many thieves in your life? Besides politicians. Right? I was 16 to 17 years old. I can't remember exactly how old. And there was a guy a couple years older than I was. His name was Kevin. He developed a friendship. He had a car. A nice car compared to my old junker. And we ran around together. I kind of looked up to him. I was still in school. He was out. He had a job. He had money. He liked nice stuff. And he told me about handling some hot merchandise, which was new to me back then. And so he said, well, this guy sold it. And I'm giving. So he was very kind and gracious about giving things. It just happened to belong to other people. Stop! I guess I could be that too.

But it took about six months. And then I got the phone call from his girlfriend that he had been arrested. And he had a sales job during the day. That was a commission sale. So if he didn't sell anything, he didn't make anything. And come to find out, he wasn't making anything. He wasn't really selling anything. He was stealing things. He would actually spend his day casing out the houses and would find out when people were gone to church on Sunday night, Wednesday night, bowling, whenever people might be gone, where the dogs were.

And he and another friend of his went in and stole a lot of stuff. 20 or 30 houses before they got caught. He spent a couple years in jail. I went and visited him one time in prison. He got out. I saw him, and he hadn't changed. Not really. And it was years later that he actually got in trouble again for working at a major car company and actually stole some plans and served some more time. Hadn't really kept up with him until I looked him up on the internet just as I was preparing the sermon. He died three years ago and still has the records out there of everything he had done.

Well, one thing that he did that was unique, he told me because when you're 16, 17, 18 years old here, you're always driving too fast, right? Right, Bill? Bill's a policeman. You know, well, young guys just drive too fast. And so occasionally you'll see the police lights and you'll decide to turn down the road. Now, some of the women in here are looking like, why would you do that?

We're guys. Why we do things like that? We just turn down and hope the guy didn't see me, and then we would speed around. Right? Most of the guys in here, if you all admit it, it was no different. Of course, hopefully you don't do that now. But Kevin said, I have a unique car in that he put a toggle switch. Most of you know what a toggle switch was.

He put a toggle switch by his dash so that at night he said if a police comes after him, he can flip the back lights off and say, you can't read his license plates and you can't see his tail lights. And he said, you know, I said, well, why do you do that? Well, just in case, you know, I don't need another ticket.

I've already had a couple. Well, no, that's not why he was doing it. He was doing this as he would leave somewhere so they couldn't see who the thief was as he did this. Yes, he thought he was a good thief, but most get caught. My very first promotion I had almost 30, oh, 35 years ago, the job of a foreman, and it was my job to hire. I was young. I thought I was mature. I was 24 years old, I guess. My first promotion and so my job, it was to hire the people who would be working under me.

And so the very first person I hired was named Reginal. And I hired Reginal because he was a big basketball star. When I was in high school, he was a senior, I was a sophomore, he was it. And so here, six years later, whatever, eight years later, he came in looking for a job. And I kind of had this, wow, you know? So he's the very first person I hired, and he's the very first person I fired.

He only lasted a week before I had to fire him because Reggie stole stuff out of our warehouse and took it over to a metal place where they bought scrap metal and sold it. And so when that became part of his job, to do that for me, the guy calls back and says, this guy's been over here a couple times. And so I said, are you sure?

I said, yeah, I'll send you back. So sure enough, it was a guy. And so he had been stealing part of this. And I remember calling him in. I'd never fired anybody before. I had never been fired. I didn't know how you handled it. Well, I only remember what I said other than, you know, you did this, we found out, and we can't have a thief working for us.

And I've got to let you go. At which time he's, you know, begged me not to do it. And so for all, Chuck, you know me, I just, I was desperate, I got this and so forth.

I'll come find out he had a drug problem because two nights later, he stuck up a store with a gun, and they got it. And he served quite a bit of time after that. So as I think about these two thieves that I have known, and you have known people like that, is this the kind of thief that Christ is warning us about in the Scripture? First mention is in New Testament. Let's go to Matthew 24, if you will. Matthew 24, verse 42 through 44. I'll read from the New King James.

Verse 42 says, Watch, what does it say? Watch, therefore, for you do not know what hour the Lord, your Lord, is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour when you do not expect him. Watch. Talking about the end time. Watch.

Except they're not really talking about world events here, are they?

But wait a minute, does Christ compare himself to a thief? Really? Really? I'd like you to look at that first word in verse 42. Watch. Watch. The actual Greek word for watch is Gregorio. Gregorio is a Greek word for watch, and it's used all through the New Testament when you see watch. And it actually means sleepless.

It actually means to be alert, to be ready, to stay on alert.

Not so much as most people say, watch, me watch. Watch. No. Watch. Stay alert. Chris works security. You can't fall asleep, can you? You try not to. Because you work nights. It's tough, because we're programmed, our bodies are programmed, to be up when light is in sleep during the night. But stay alert. So this is actually saying, watch therefore, for you do not know. So it has nothing to do with world events, and the proof is in the context. Let's just go down a couple verses after this. Verse 45. Because 44 said, therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him. Verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has made ruler over his household, to give them food and do season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Tying into Christ's return, crying into, how about servants? Right? What are we to be? Servants? Stewards? Okay. When Christ returns, He finds us so doing. 47. Assuredly I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all his goods. Reward for doing good. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the what? Drunkards? The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him. At an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him into and appoint his portion with the hypocrites, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hypocrites, actors, frauds, pretenders, he is talking to us. That we are good servants, and we are looking after the goods that he has given us. He is not just talking about physical, he is talking about some other goods that he puts in us for us to use. Gregoria is used. Go with me to Luke, Luke 21. Luke 21, verse 34. Here the heading earlier in the chapter said, The Coming of the Son of Man. Okay? He is talking about the end time, the last days.

Could he just be talking about your last days, too?

Let's read. But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with what? Corrusing. What does that mean? It means to party, right? We are going to party. You hear it all the time? Hey, let's go out. Let's party. Right?

Corrusing. Drunkenness. Just what he had talked about in Matthew, isn't it? And cares of this life, and that the day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare or a trap on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. So let's come at a time no one is really expecting. So we can watch, if you want to say, oh well, let's do this, and let's watch world events, and let's see if we can figure it out. How many people tried to figure it out, and all they did was figure it out wrong? Right? Even when Christ said, you don't know, why do you even try to know? The watch is about us. Watch our lives. Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down. What does it mean? You want to do these things. Oh, I've got all kinds of time. I can repent at the end. I can just, you know, I want to party. I want to have a great time.

By verse 36.

New King James, watch! Gregorial! Gregorial! Watch, therefore, and pray always, that you may be counted, what? Worthy! Worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man!

Hmm!

He doesn't say your hearts are weighed down with watching CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, you know, all this stuff so I can know exactly what's going on. No! It's watching you. It's watching your spiritual life. It's watching how you live. You're staying alert. You're not going to sleep. Well, well, you know, I'll worry about that. You know, I know at least, you know, that the two witnesses says they're going to be proclaiming for three and a half years, and I don't see anything there, and we don't have the temple built. So, you know, I've got five years, at least, maybe ten. So why should I really, you know, why should I really be doing as much Bible study as I've been doing? Let me just lay back. Let me just, yeah, let's just relax and, you know, have a little party.

To be alert. To watch ourselves. To watch our spiritual condition.

Isn't that something?

Okay. Christ spoke about, and there was a sermon given not long ago about it, by one of the guys here. He gave a sermon on the ten virgins. Remember? And you have five wise and five foolish. Right? And it actually says, it's in Matthew 25 and verse 13, it actually says, to watch. At the end of this, he tells us that we need to watch, for we do not know the hour in which he comes. Watch what? What was he telling them? To stand out on the street and watch the news or whatever and find out who might be coming? What might be happening? No! To watch themselves, because what? Half of them did not have enough oil, which is symbolic of what? God's Holy Spirit. Right? So they needed to watch. The Holy Spirit is God's essence in us. And what are we doing with it? Are we helping it to grow? Are we feeding it? Are we becoming more Christ-like every day in our decisions, in our hearts, in our minds, in how we treat other people? Well, have you ever checked under your hood? Right?

You ever checked your dipstick? Anybody know what a dipstick is? I started to bring mine in out of my car, but I was afraid I might leave it here and drive off without it. Right? My dipstick is about that long. It goes way down into the engine block, right? And you pull it out and you check to see how much oil is in there, right? How about your spiritual dipstick? Have you checked it? Right? Because God kind of wants it. You know, we have the four Holy Days that are coming up. They are a time for us to check our dipstick, to see spiritually how much oil is really in there, how much oil we have, how much of the Holy Spirit.

Do you ever lift the hood? It means do you ever check yourself? Maybe as often as you need to. You know, Peter warns us about this. So let me ask you this. Has your oil light come on anytime this year? If you drive a car, you know exactly what I mean because, you know, there's this oil light that comes on and guess what? Will you pay attention to that? Right? Because that's a serious matter for us, right? And that warning light is a warning for us to act. You got to do something!

So these Holy Days, four in a month, four in 30 days, they help us gauge, they help us to check the spiritual dipstick. They help us to see where we're at from the very first one to that call of the mighty trumpet to the time of being at one with God.

To eight days of refreshing, getting oil changed from eight days of food during the Feast of Tabernacles. I think I was, before I started dating Mary. In high school, I took auto mechanics one year. I was a senior. It seemed like I gave me class I wanted to take. I only had to take a couple classes that senior year.

So I took auto mechanics. I never was a good mechanic, you know, but there were certain Mary shaking her head, oh yes, you were not a good mechanic. I love it to have a supporting wife in front of the entire congregation. She could have said, you weren't that bad, but no, she's like, no.

At least she tells the truth. She usually can't hide it on her face either. But I was about 20 years old, and during the time, the one thing that I did do back then was change my own oil. And, you know, you would have the oil filter. You'd have to crawl under there and release the, you know, take this. So I got to where I did mine every three months, and it was something I was rather good at.

Of course, I was 35 pounds lighter, and so I could slide under the car a lot easier than I can now. But we would just do it, and you had the, you know, the wrench that you would put on the filter, right? You would put the drain on, and you would tighten it up. I did this so many times I could do it in my sleep almost.

Well, one night I was going to go somewhere, and so I needed to change my oil and said, well, I better do it now. So I slid under the car. It was getting dark. It was almost dark, but I could still see.

And I didn't really need to see because I had done it so many times before. I drained, pulled that drain off. It drained out. I grabbed the filter wrench, turned it, wouldn't turn. So I, of course, you know, did what you do, hammer and a screwdriver, and drive it through, and then turn it, and I got it off. Okay? And then I quickly put the drain back on, and then I put the new oil filter on, screwed it on, and then filled it with oil, and took off.

And I made it about six miles, and I ran out of oil. And the light came on. I said, I just put new oil in this. What could be the problem? So I drove a little bit further, and I blew the engine. It was disaster because I ran out of oil. My dad used to tell me, son, don't worry about the gas.

You run out of gas, it's no problem. Worry about the oil. So I was like, man, how did I do this? I had to take my car in, how did they have rebuilt the engine? I said, well, what happened? Well, when you have an oil filter, there's a little gasket. And I didn't pull the old gasket off.

It was dark, and I knew everything anyway, right? And I put the filter with the gasket over the other gasket, and it just flowed out. How about us? Do we think we've got it all figured out, and that we can change our oil anytime we need to, and that we're fine, we're experts on this oil that God has given us?

That way, it's become kind of old hat like it was to me. I've done 50 oil changes, so I know. Brethren, it's time for us to look at ourselves and examine ourselves. Watch Gregorio. You know 2 Peter 3, verse 10, 11. Peter says, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. A thief in the night? Most thieves work at night, don't they? Why? Yeah, and not likely to be seen.

Right? Verse 11, Therefore, what manner of person ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? It has nothing to do with watching world events. When he says, watch, or the thief in the night, he's saying, what? We need to watch ourselves. We need to be examining ourselves, looking at ourselves, and make sure that we have oil, and we have plenty of it, and we're not getting a little low.

Our gasket's on right. You aren't kidding. Never forget that one.

Therefore, what manner of person ought you to be in holy conduct? This is talking about how we live, and how godly we are. Not talking about two witnesses, a red heifer, or a CNN, or a fox. It's not talking about that as watch. We must get our act together. We must make sure that our oil level is where it needs to be. Do many of the women here, you ever check your own oil? No. Mary never does. No. Yes. No. Most men do, right? And when you pull it up and so forth, because we used to have an old guy, where our company used to buy stuff, and it was a full service. And when you'd pull up, they'd check under the hood. They'd put the gas in as full service. And I got to checking because this guy was putting oil in. And I said, man, they're fairly new trucks. I don't know why they're burning. I don't know why he'd be using that much oil. So I went there and pulled it up myself, and then checked before I took it in. And then after I came out, he put the oil in. I went and checked the oil, and it was way past full. So what he did was he would pull the old thing out, and then clean it off, and then put it back in. But he would hold his thumb just a little bit there, so he doesn't go all the way down. So it looks, and then he comes back and goes, well, you're about a court short. He's selling, just making little oil there. And come find out, he wouldn't use the whole can. He would just use a little bit in yours. And then he had four or five like that, and then he got the money. You know? But you can't fool God with oil. You can't fool Him with the Holy Spirit. It doesn't work that way. He knows you can't hide it from Him. And you know, most of the time, you can't hide it from each other. You're either what? You're either acting godly or you're not. For us, right? It's hardly any middle ground. That's why it's so important.

This thief says he will come as a thief in the night.

That we should be watching, watching ourselves, because he could be coming at a time we do not expect. Maybe, you know, in Revelation 3, Christ warns the church. Revelation 3, 3 says, repent. If you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, telling us we need to watch. Because Christ's mother, Eleanor, didn't see Christ return. She died.

The day of the Lord, she will see sin when He returns, and she awakes from the dead. None of us know. None of us know. When will be our last day? Jeff was telling me how close he came this week. Shot, shocked everybody. It was on the interstate.

Guys on these interstates know you better be praying.

You better be praying.

As a thief, here is another warning of Christ I'd like to talk about. Warning by Christ our Redeemer. Turn over to Revelation 16. Revelation 16. I'll read from New King James. Revelation 16 verse 15. Behold, I am coming as a thief. Who Christ is saying? He's comparing himself to a thief. I'm coming as a thief. Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see a shame. What? What is he talking about? Walk around naked? Wait a minute. Is he talking about the church in Revelation 3? Where the church members thought they were rich spiritually? They thought their oil was full. Yet he said, you are miserable, poor, blind, and what? Naked. Naked. They thought they had clothes on, but they did. Physically closed, but spiritually naked. Yes, and that's given for us to read to make sure that we what? We make sure we have the linen, righteous acts of the saints that it talks about in Revelation. This is a way for us to check ourselves, to watch ourselves.

But you know a very... well, it could be that that he's talking about as a thief in the night. But there may be something more to the story than this. As I wrap this up today, I like to go through because we can easily go back to a well-known... go back thousands of years ago to a well-known Jewish idiom. Well-known Jewish idiom. Thousands of years old. An idiom, for those who need to ask, I looked it up to give the proper definition. I know what I would say. An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its words. Is that clear as mud? An idiom is a term, as I say, that we use, but actually most people know it means something else. If you were to say, well, you know, she kicked a bucket. It's an idiom. Did you mean this woman went over and kicked a bucket? No. What does it mean? She died. She did. We all know that idiom, right? We understand that. There are many, right?

Bite the bullet. We know what it means. You just got to go and do something, right? Don't beat around the bush. Does it mean you're standing around those bushes and... Bush? No. We know what it means, right? That's an idiom. And every country has them. All people have various ones. We use one here quite often. In Florida, it's called raining cats and dogs, right? It means it's pouring rain. It's a flood, but you could even say, we'd actually use that as an idiom because it's raining hard. You said, man, it's a flood out there. Well, no, it's not. But it's terms like that that we use. So all of you use them. I reminded Mary this morning of one that she uses quite often. She reminded me of one that I will use because they're a part of our speech anymore. Oh, can you hand me my Bible, the New Living Translation? I'd like to go, if you will, go with me to Leviticus 6, verse 8 through 13. This is a New Living Translation. You don't have to read yours. I'll just actually read this because I think the New Living Translation puts it pretty well here. Okay. Whoops, I got to turn over to Leviticus. Leviticus 6. Leviticus 6, verse 8, said, Then the Lord said to Moses, Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on top of the altar until the next morning, and the fire of the altar must be kept burning all night. In the morning, after the priest on duty has put his official linen clothing and linen garments, undergarments, he must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar. Then he must take off the garments, change back to his regular clothes, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning. It must never go out. I think we got that. I would. Sounds kind of like my dad used to tell me about things five times in a row, and say, You got that? What? Let's do it again. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the burnt offering on it. He will then burn the fat of the peace offering on it. Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must not go out. Got it.

It was very important, so important, that that fire be kept burning. Now, you can imagine, this was the priest who was on duty. This was his job. Sometimes the wind blows, right? It does here. Sure it did out there. Sometimes it rains. Well, what are you going to do? You're going to have to make sure you put a covering somewhere that keeps that fire burning, right? So you can have rain come. You can have wind come, but most of the time you don't have anything much. And so the priest would just like throw wood on. And then he would sometimes think, well, in the middle of the night, maybe I need to check it. Or he would even on a different night, the wind's blowing a little bit, he might set out there by the fire just to make sure. This was something they did. Because it was his job! But occasionally, Chris could tell us this too, you know, you're going to do what?

Just a little, oh, it's burning fine. I think it's going to be fine. But you doze off. And at the time that this was done, it was the high priest, Aaron at the time, L'E It was their job in the middle of the night to get up and walk around and see if he could find the guy sleeping. And the high priest was known at that time as a thief in the night. The high priest will come as a thief in the night. Is it any wonder, brethren, that our high priest wants us, since Jesus Christ knew that idiom well, and who is our high priest now but Jesus Christ, that he knew that and he wants us to stay spiritually vigilant. He wants to keep us alert. He wants us as part of the royal priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood. He wants us to be on our toes spiritually. He wants us to watch Gregorial ourselves, watch ourselves, watch that oil level, watch where we are, to charge up our batteries during the next 30 days. That's what's beautiful, about four holy days and 30 days. We get to check under the hood, check our dipsticks. Let's go to the last verse as we wrap this up today. I'd like you to go with me in the New King James Version, 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 2. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 2. Said, For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. The day Lord comes as a thief in the night.

Verse 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this day should not overtake you as a thief. This is not going to catch you unawares, because why? Because you're oiled full. You're prepared. You're ready for the coming of the kingdom of God and the Savior of the world to return. 2 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch Gregorio. Let us watch and be sober. And sober means self-controlled. It is about us. It is about us. So, brethren, let's check our oil levels. Let's make sure we top off our oil if we need it as we prepare for these holy days. Let's get a little extra study, get a little extra prayer. Let's get fired up for these holy days, because they're special to him. He so special, he puts four of them in one month. It used to be an old song by Kenny Rogers in the first edition. The song is, See what condition your condition is in. You remember that song? I barely remember it, but I thought about it. Brethren, what kind of condition is your spiritual condition in? Always, brethren, be ready for the day of the Lord. Always be ready for a thief in the night, because we are ready at any time for his return, because we are spiritually full.