Jesus shared much with his disciples on the subject of thieves and robbers. I ran across this remarkable story of the prayer life of Rev. Thomas Bradbury, who successfully overcame some robbers. It turns out that Rev. Thomas Bradbury was remarkable for punctuality in the time he devoted to family worship. One evening when the bell had rung, the servants went up to prayer and forgot to shut the area door near the street. Some men observed the door open, and one of them entered the house to rob it. Creeping upstairs, he heard the old gentleman praying that God would preserve his home from thieves. The man was thunderstruck and unable to persist in his plan to rob the house.

He returned and told the circumstance to his companions, who abused him on account of his timidity. Still, he was so affected that, sometime after, he related the incident to Mr. Bradbury, and gave his heart to God. ¹ Isn’t that an exciting story? That’s our great God at work. How to deal successfully with thieves and robbers, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Thieves and Robbers Jesus Style

• So in a previous podcast, we dealt with the subject of shepherds and sheep as seen in Jesus parable in John ten.
• In today’s episode, we are going to look at another component to that parable, thieves, and robbers.
• So, let’s go to the Word today.

John 10:1–6 (ESV) — 1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Bad Guys and Good Guys

• This Jesus parable has a bad guy in it.
• You know Sharon, and I like to watch, the ‘good guys get the bad guys’ kind of shows when we are trying to wind down before we go to sleep.
• We prefer the older shows of the last century because they don’t have a bunch of graphic junk in it.
• If you have wade through a mound of muck to relax, it’s just simply not worth it.
• And, so there is a bad guy in this Jesus story, this parable.
• The prison yard spotlight identifies him as a thief and a robber.
• With that thought, here’s the historical background of the day.

Thieves and Robbers Historical Background

• Today’s historical background comes from the Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary by Craig Keener.
• In his commentary, Craig says the following about thieves and robbers.

Thieves were typically those who broke into homes, whereas robbers accosted wayfarers. With regard to assaulting a sheepfold, there would be little difference… One could summarize thieves and wolves together as the greatest collective danger to flocks.

• Craig goes on to say.

Thieves and robbers proved costly to property owners. Thieves became so common in Egyptian villages that villagers appointed unpaid representatives from their number to guard their threshing floors at night. Robbers likewise became a severe danger in Egypt, where toll charges often supported desert police to protect caravans against bands of robbers. Villagers would try to beat a thief; a homeowner could kill him if he came at night or armed. Ancient Mediterranean laws generally demanded harsh punishment for thieves, sometimes even death.

• So, that’s our historical background for the day.
• Notice the interchangeable terms for this bad guy thief in verse one of John ten.
• He is designated as a thief and a robber in verse one, and a stranger in verse five.
• Who is this thieving, robbing, stranger type bad guy?

Identifying the Thief and Robber

John 10:10 (ESV) — 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

• For centuries on end, the church has recognized this thief in 10:10 as Satan.
• Satan comes to steal; he comes to kill and destroy.
• And, that’s scripturally and historically true.
• He comes to do all of those things.
• But, you are going to miss something of real critical importance, if you walk off and leave John 10:10 just like that.
• You see, Satan stays in the shadows; he doesn’t make many public appearances.
• Instead, he uses deceived and unsuspecting people to do his misdeeds.
• With that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.

A dropped handkerchief: a surprising end to the career of California’s most colorful stage-coach robber. “Black Bart” had terrorized stages for six years, committing twenty-eight robberies between 1877 and 1883 in the rugged foothills of the Sierras. Dressed in a long, linen duster with a flour sack over his head, he would brandish a shotgun while demanding, “Will you please throw down your treasure box, sir?”

Finally, near Copperopolis, Bart was wounded while escaping a holdup and dropped a handkerchief with the laundry mark “FX07.” This was traced to San Francisco, where police made one of the most surprising arrests in the city’s history. “Black Bart,” the highwayman, turned out to be Charles E. Bolton, one of San Francisco’s leading citizens with close connections in the police department. Bolton had a reputation as a non-smoking, non-drinking, God-fearing man with big business interest in the gold mines. Amid much publicity he confessed his crime and was sentenced to six years in San Quentin for his deception.²

Deception and Devils

• Deception, that’s the devil’s forte.
• Here’s a man walking around in plain sight all honest and innocent, yet the truth is that, behind the scenes, he is a thief and a liar.
• Robbers walk around in plain sight throughout the geography of planet earth.
• They are bad people, even though they try to pass themselves as good.
• That’s how Satan works.
• He tries to convince people that he doesn’t exist, that he really isn’t the force behind all that is corrupt.
• But, he is a liar and the father of them.
• Satan acts like a puppeteer, but he also acts like a chameleon.
• Chameleons can change colors in response to outward situations.
• What they look like is based on what’s going on externally.
• They fluctuate based on light and heat conditions.
• They become different depending on their emotional state.
• Satan acts just like a chameleon.
• He is a completely changeable being.
• Whatever he tells you today will change tomorrow.
• His version of the truth can never be depended on.
• You will never be able to say concerning a word from Satan, ‘Yes, but you said.’
• You can do God that way, but you can’t do Satan that way.
• He has no integrity.
• Satan does not keep his word.
• He is a liar and the father of it.
• Every word which comes out of his mouth is a bold-faced flat lie.
• Even the little bit of truth that you think you might hear in some of his conversations is laced and mixed with enough venom to bring down a bull elephant.
• You cannot stake your life on any piece of information he brings your way.
• He has no guiding standards.
• No moral compass or principles.
• He has no value system.
• Satan is entirely unlike God, the Father, in this regard.
• He always changes.
• Satan always lies.
• He is a thief and a robber.

The Lord Changes Not

• God, the Father, never changes and never lies.

Malachi 3:6 (KJV) — 6 For I am the Lord, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Numbers 23:19 (KJV) — 19 God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

How Satan the Master Puppeteer Works

• Paul talks about how Satan influences in the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV) — 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

• Can you see from this passage that Satan is the master puppeteer pulling the strings of evil behind the scenes?
• Satan works through people who unknown to them are mere puppets under his influence.
• So again, in John ten, the thief, the robber, the stranger is not Satan directly, but one of his’ directly influenced’ puppets.
• How do we know that?
• We know it first because Satan works through people.
• That’s how God works.
• And Satan is always trying to emulate God because he still wants to be God.

God Works Through People

• God works through people.
• To every miracle, to every move of God, for every operation of the Spirit, there are two parts: a God-ward part and a man-ward part.
• It is the willing cooperation between God and man that establishes the Kingdom of God on planet earth.

2 Corinthians 6:1 (ESV) — 1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

• God and son, working together – that has always been the plan.
• So Satan, trying to copy God, uses men.
• How else do we know that the thief of John 10:10 is not Satan ‘in person?’

Jesus Uncovers the Thief and Robber

• Jesus uncovers the identity of the robber for us in verse one.
• Listen to John 10:1 again.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. — Jesus

• Who is the robber?
• He is a person who tries to gain access to the sheepfold some other way.
• This is the same robber who comes to steal, kill, and destroy in verse ten.
• The context is the same.
• Listen to Jesus’ words in John 10:7 and John 10:11.
• We read verses 1–6 already, it will help us here.

John 10:7 (ESV) — 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

John 10:11 (ESV) — 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus is Both Shepherd and the Door

• So, Jesus is both the Shepherd of the flock and the door to the sheepfold at the same time.
• The thief is trying to climb up some other way into the sheepfold then going through the front door, which is Jesus.
• Now, listen to Jesus’ words in John 14:6, go over just a few chapters, and it will also help us here.

John 14:6 (ESV) — 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

• Once again, who is the robber?
• He is someone trying to get into the sheepfold some other way than Jesus – who is the way and the front door.
• This is a false somebody – it has to be.
• This person is an evangelist of a different way into the sheepfold.
• He is a proponent of a different way to God: A different way to become a sheep.
• Here we have a false prophet – here we have a false teacher – here we have a pretender of a different way to God the Father, then the Lord Jesus Christ.
• This person is a thief.
• Why is he a thief and a robber? — because he is stealing the way of salvation from people.
• He is plundering the words of eternal life.

False Prophets Are Soul-Stealers

• The thieves Jesus is talking about here are ‘soul-stealers and mind manipulators.’
• This false person is a thieving lying rascal because he is hindering precious souls from entering into the Kingdom of God.

2 Peter 2:1–3 (ESV) — 1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

• False prophets, false teachers have abounded throughout the human eons of man.
• You think you are hearing the voice of God when you are listening to them, but in reality, it’s the voice of the Master puppeteer.
• How do you recognize false prophets?
• Can you tell if a message is coming from the voice of God?
• How do you deal successfully with this kind of thief and robber, these changelings who are just like their father the devil?
• They camouflage their dark hearts by spewing pretty flower words.
• With all of these thoughts, here is the illustration of the day.

Illustration of the Day

In The Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen retells a tale from ancient India: Four royal brothers decided each to master a special ability. Time went by, and the brothers met to reveal what they had learned. “I have mastered a science,” said the first, “by which I can take but a bone of some creature and create the flesh that goes with it.” “I,” said the second, “know how to grow that creature’s skin and hair if there is flesh on its bones.” The third said, “I am able to create its limbs if I have the flesh, the skin, and the hair.” “And I,” concluded the fourth, “know how to give life to that creature if its form is complete.” Thereupon the brothers went into the jungle to find a bone so they could demonstrate their specialties.

As fate would have it, the bone they found was a lion’s. One added flesh to the bone, the second grew hide and hair, the third completed it with matching limbs, and the fourth gave the lion life. Shaking its mane, the ferocious beast arose and jumped on his creators. He killed them all and vanished contentedly into the jungle. This is the fate of those who dabble in false religion. They end up creating something that destroys them and eats them up.

Jude and False Prophets

• The Book of Jude speaks of false prophets and teachers most sternly and shows us how to deal successfully with them.

Jude 1:3–4 (NKJV) — 3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

• What can we learn about these false ones from these verses in Jude?

False Teachers Creep In

• False prophets try to slip in some other way unnoticed among the fellowship of God’s people.
• They are not just found in cults.
• The words ‘have crept in unnoticed’ is all one word in Greek.
• It means to slip or to sneak into an area secretly.
• How do we successfully deal with robbers and thieves?
• Understand their MO.
• To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
• Remember, Jesus said these robbers are trying to get into the sheepfold some other way.
• The sheepfold is where you find them.
• These ‘false ones’ act like they are real.
• So much so, and so secretly that you don’t really know they are false right away.
• They say Amen every place you say Amen.
• They’re hard to spot just by what they say.
• Don’t judge people just by what they say.
• Look at what they do.
• These people have an agenda.
• They carry out the devil’s hit-list against a body of believers.
• They are not just people who happen to see a verse of scripture a bit different than you do.
• You will always have ‘interpretation’ disagreement.
• We will never one hundred percent have an accord on scriptural matters.
• Some don’t believe in divine healing.
• Others don’t believe in the pre-tribulation Rapture of the church.
• Some don’t believe in water baptism, total immersion style.
• They believe in sprinkling.
• You will never totally see eye to eye.

False Prophets and Teachers Are Out of Control

• This is how you pin the tail on the donkey.
• False ones trying to climb up some other way are rebellious, unbelieving, irreverent, without fear of God.
• They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness
• That’s what the Bible says.
• Let’s define the word lasciviousness.
• It’s not a common word to use in the 21st century.
• The word means no restraint, shameless greediness, bestial pleasure, and pure self-gratification and enjoyment.
• This is a person completely strung out and out of control in their personal life.
• God wants you to enjoy life but within the confines of balance.
• Balance is the key.
• Some refuse to allow themselves to enjoy anything.
• That’s out of line with scripture.

1 Timothy 6:17 (KJV) — 17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

• On the opposite end of the scale, you have those who do nothing but live for the moment in total self-gratification.

Holy Leisure is the Ticket

1 Cor. 7:31 (NLT) — 31 Those in frequent contact with the things of the world should make good use of them without becoming attached to them, for this world and all it contains will pass away.

• Richard Foster coined the phrase ‘holy leisure.’

“Holy leisure” refers to a sense of balance in the life, an ability to be at peace through the activities of the day, an ability to rest and take time to enjoy beauty, an ability to pace ourselves.

• Take the time and smell the flowers but become captive to nothing.
• You should be able to put anything down which you have picked up.

1 Timothy 6:7 (KJV) — 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

Thieves and Robbers in Context

• One final point as we get ready to close to kind of seal the deal on the identity piece.
• We can know for sure that false teachers, prophets, or leaders are the distinct type of person Jesus is referring to when He says that these are the ones who try to climb into the sheepfold some other way.
• We can know it because John ten is a continuation of John nine.
• John ten does not start a new thought.
• The chapter break naturally causes a break in one’s thinking.
• If you go back and read the last verses of John nine, here’s what you have.

John 9:40–41 (ESV) — 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

• The last comments Jesus made in John nine refer to the blind religious-minded Pharisees and in John 10:1.
• And the very next statement Jesus makes is the one we’ve been looking at today.
• Read it all together now.
• Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
• It’s blind folk trying to climb up into the sheepfold some other way.
• And if the blind lead the blind, both end up in the ditch.
• That’s why they are thieves and robbers.
• You guys have a great God week, and we’ll see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

Why You Can Learn from Rabbis about Being a Doer of the Word

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