Is There a Thief in Your House

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends.

...to Jeremiah chapter 48. Just a very practical message tonight, which I am calling, entitling, Is There a Thief in Your House? Is there a thief in your house? And when you see where I'm coming from, you'll know that it's a very practical message, even though the title may indicate something else. But Jeremiah 48, 10, and 11 says, Cursed be the one who does the Lord's work with negligence.

I'm reading from the New American Standard. I believe the King James says it's lax. Deceitfully.

Well, the proper translation would be negligence or lax. And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood. Moab has been at ease since his youth.

He has been undisturbed. He has been undisturbed on his leaves. Neither has he been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into exile.

Therefore, he retains his flavor, and his aroma has not changed. Now, you probably, leave your Bibles open there. We'll get to that in a moment.

You probably don't know it, but there may be a thief in your house or stalking your footsteps. Now, in some cases, some of you are dealing with a very small time theft or thief. A fellow who pilfers from you occasionally.

This sneaky, annoying thief is not a gun-toting, high-crime fellow, this particular one. He's a smooth, little, slick, petty thief. You hardly notice he's been around.

But he does show up once in a while, and he takes something from you unbeknown to you. And because of the subtle way he operates, you're not generally alarmed. You do notice from time to time some things are missing, but you say to yourself, well, maybe I just misplaced them.

There are others who are being robbed blind by this particular thief that I'm referring to. He is into doing big-time stuff, a career criminal. He comes right into your living room, right into your bedroom, right into your house, right into your apartment, right into the church.

He follows you sometimes right here to the church, and he rips off some very precious and valuable things. And he keeps doing it with some of you over and over again. And you tell yourself, one of these days I'm going to catch this thief and put a stop to his thievery, but you can't stop him until you catch him.

There's a third type of thief that few of you are or have dealt with who is a part of organized crime. He not only wants your possessions, he wants your life. He operates with helpers with high-powered equipment, and he will, if necessary, hold you hostage until he gets what he wants, and then he'll try to kill you.

Now, what am I talking about, and who am I talking about? Now, this may surprise you, but I'm talking to him. Now, his name is Procrastination. Procrastination.

Now, he goes by other names as well. One of them is Manana. Manana, tomorrow, or some other time, or later for that, or I'm not ready yet, or I've got plenty of time.

Honey, I'll do it for you tomorrow. I promise you I'll do it. But whatever name he goes by, one thing is for sure, he's a thief that will sneak into your house, he'll follow you to church, he'll dog your footsteps wherever you go, and whenever you're going to do something of eternal value, whenever the seed of God's Word is planted in your heart, he'll come along and he'll say, Manana, or you've got time later for that.

You see, procrastination is a cause for spiritual delay and spiritual ruin of many a well-intended soul. The procrastinating man is ever struggling or on the brink of ruin. Now, by now I think I may have identified a few of you who have either or occasionally been a victim of what I call this man a thief, or regularly he shows up at your home or wherever, or worse, you may be held hostage by this rip-off artist.

Probably the most classic case in the Bible is in Acts, don't turn there, but Acts 24-25, and it says, As he, Paul, was discussing righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come, Phoenix became frightened and said, Go away for the present, and when I find time, I will summon you. The King James says, In a more convenient season, I will call for you. Another example is Luke 9-61.

It says, And another also said, I will follow you, Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home. A procrastinator. Now, procrastination is defined by Webster's Dictionary as belonging to the morrow, or tomorrow, belonging to tomorrow, or to put off doing until a future time, and it has particularly to do with putting off something burdensome or something that is unpleasant.

It also has to, it refers to postponing such actions habitually. Now, this describes what procrastination is, it does not describe who it is or who is behind it. John 10-10 tells us, The thief cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

Now, this thief is the one who is always right beside us. For example, he'll say to you, You're too tired tonight to read the Word. You're too tired to have prayer manana.

And he's the one who finds other things for you to do to divert your attention away from spending time with God. How many of you know that as soon as you try to spend time in prayer, the devil will remind you, you could forget all day long what your responsibilities were. As soon as you go to prayer, he'll remind you of it immediately.

If you've forgotten something, go to prayer, you'll remember it. I've outwitted him because I keep a pad right near me all the time. I just write it down and say, Alright, later for you devil.

But procrastination comes in many ways. You know, for example, I've seen people who have had some chronic physical problem. They know they ought to look into it.

They know they ought to maybe even go and see a doctor. But for whatever reason, they'll just put it off, and put it off, and put it off. And finally it gets so serious, that they go and they find out that it could have been prevented if they had not procrastinated.

And what applies in the physical is so in the spiritual realm. Many a Christian is aware of some spiritual malady or some spiritual sickness. And they may not always be sure what it is, but they know something is wrong and yet they do nothing.

And one day they wake up to find themselves spiritually weak or sick or even dead. And then there are those who know exactly what is wrong with them morally and spiritually. They know that they ought to go to Dr. Jesus.

They know they ought to lay it down. They know they ought to take care of it. But they find time for everything else and everybody else and do nothing about their spiritual need.

You know I've talked to people and I know that our workers that work in the altar room could verify this. But I often talk to people here at the altar or in counseling and the conversation goes something like this. I know and they'll tell me what's wrong.

They'll explain to me what's happening in their life, what's wrong, the things that are wrong, the habits they're into, the sins that they're into. They'll even sometimes tell me what they ought to do about it. They know from God's Word.

They'll quote God's Word and here I'm supposed to be counseling them and I'm just listening. And in the end they lay it all out. They lay it all out.

They say this is what's wrong with me. This is what I ought to do. And then they finish.

And I don't have nothing to add to it. And I look at them. There's silence.

And finally I say well what are you waiting for? Go and do it. You know many people in the church are like people sitting in an airline terminal. There are people that are boarding this plane, boarding that plane.

They're going off to this destination and that destination and they sit there and they never board. They never go purchase a ticket. They never take the flight.

You see Satan is a thief that comes first of all to steal. And if he can steal then he's able to kill. Now if Satan can't keep you away from church or away from the altar or if he can't keep you from hearing the truth he'll do the next best thing.

And that is to get you to put it off, to put off obeying the truth. Haggai 2.19 says, Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree hath not brought forth. Why? Because the seed's still in the barn.

The farmer has not gone out to plant it. And that's what happens to many of us. We leave the seed in the barn and in the church.

Augustine stated this, he says, God has promised forgiveness to your repentance but he has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination. Apostle John wrote that the man who does not commit sin is the one whose seed remaineth in him. 1 John 3.9 says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God.

And you see Satan, as soon as you hear the truth, Satan wants to come and steal it from you. And he'll do it simply not by disbelief but just by postponement. And he doesn't care if you sing, he doesn't care if you shout.

He doesn't care if you pray, he doesn't care if you read your Bible. He doesn't care how many times you go to this altar. He doesn't even fight your belief because even he believes.

But he doesn't want you to act on the seed. He says just lay that seed on the wayside for just a little bit. And as soon as you do that, of course, he comes along as the parable says and he steals the seed by the wayside.

And so the thief in your house is robbing you of seed. Procrastination is Satan's open door of invitation to steal seed to lay it aside for manana or more convenient season. Now the pages of Bible history are littered with casualties and near casualties due to procrastination.

I believe that this problem is second only, listen to me. It's second only to outright rebellion as a cause of backsliding and spiritual weakness. And yet the end result of putting off and putting off and delaying is the same thing as if you were an outright rebel against the truth.

Nobody said amen but it's true. I gave you time. The ten virgins went out to meet the Lord.

Only five were ready to meet the bridegroom. The five foolish virgins expected the Lord to come. They believed he was coming.

They went out to meet him but they were not ready at the appointed hour. They had not turned away from following the Lord in the sense that the prodigal son had gone out away from the father to spend in riotous living. But the tragedy of the five foolish virgins is a tragedy seen too often within the church.

Christians who pussyfoot around. Who get caught up in this and that and have no oil when the bridegroom comes. They reason, they said I've got time.

They were procrastinators, a thief took their oil. And they wasted time and opportunities to buy oil and to keep their lambs trimmed. I don't think they were out shooting dope.

They weren't out drinking or carousing or partying. They were simply neglecting to watch and to pray. And there was no discipline in their lives.

You see, procrastinators are the spiritually lazy. And the spiritually lazy, you know what they do? They major in minors. They always manage to get down the unimportant things.

And they put off the important things till tomorrow. They live by, here's what Mark Twain, here's Mark Twain's philosophy. He said never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

And a lot of people live that way. But you know, isn't it amazing that we can get done what we want to get done? Myself included sometimes. But put off matters of eternal value.

Listen, God is going to bring us into account for how we use all of our resources. Not just our finances. But our time as well, the discipline of our lives.

And I'm convinced that the reason that more Christians are not walking in victory. Is because they've not brought their own personal lives into order. They waste time, all the time wasted by some Christians.

And you know, the thing that the Lord convicted me, I've shared this before. But probably the thing that the Lord convicted me most about television. As much as the corruption that was on it.

And I, for the most part, avoided watching that. But sometimes you couldn't even avoid that. But apart from that, the thing that the Lord convicted me most.

And I look back, when I think back on it. There's probably a ten year period in my life when I think the time that I've spent. I grieve, I go into repentance again.

And say, oh God, the time that I've wasted. I'll never be able to redeem that time. Having wasted time.

2 Thessalonians 3.11 says, We hear that some among you are idle. Hebrews 6.12 says, We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. Now, look here at Jeremiah 48.

Because a procrastinator usually has an unused sword. An unused sword. The new American standard here says, Cursed be the one who does the Lord's work with negligence.

And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood. Another translation goes like this, A curse on him who is lax in doing the Lord's work. A curse on him who keeps his sword.

He keeps his sword from bloodshed. You know what that's talking about? That's talking about the lazy warrior who turned aside from the battle because they were taken up in other interests. The man who keeps his sword from bloodshed is a picture of the spiritually lazy and complacent.

They're taken up with garden tools instead of a sword. They're into calculators and computers and to cassettes and VCRs and hammers and nails and pots and pans, etc, etc. Not that there is not a time and place for some of those things.

But you see, they had laid down their sword. They were not involved in the battle. There was no blood on their sword.

They were not going to war. Last week, I spent three days down in the Dominican Republic. Another young man from the church and another brother, we went down to lay some groundwork for hopefully the future of raising up a drug program down there.

And we traveled many miles through the Dominican Republic. And I noticed everywhere I went that the men walked around with these tremendous swords, machetes. And I'd see them carrying, some of them would have it on their shoulder.

Some of them would be, they'd have it in, I don't know what you'd call it, what they'd put it in. Sheath, they'd put it in a sheath. They'd be walking down like this behind them.

Or they would have it sticking out their side or whatever. But everywhere I looked, men walking with machetes. And the reason is because it's absolutely necessary in a productive land such as that which is rich in bananas and coconuts and pineapples and other vegetables.

They fed themselves and their family. They worked for a living in the fields. There was a sharpness to every sword that I saw, evidence of frequent use.

And my friend, you and I ought to carry such a sword. One that's been used in spiritual warfare. And you see, Moab was under a curse because they were lax in doing the Lord's work.

And you see, the Lord's work involves diligence. It involves discipline. It involves people who are wide awake.

It involves people who will give God the best hours of their day. It involves people who know how to fight the good fight of faith. And who are good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

There's blood on their sword because they have been wielding the battle against the enemy. Hallelujah. Blood on the sword.

Blood on the sword. But see, procrastinators have no blood on their swords. Oh, they've got the sword.

They know it. They know it. It's just not used.

Jeremiah, in describing Moab, gives a further vivid portrayal of many in the church today. Verse 10, it says, Moab has been at ease from his youth. And he has settled on his lease.

What that means, they have been at ease from his youth. Meaning that they grew up to youth and never went any further. They grew so far, but grew no further.

They were spiritual youth, but they were not spiritual adults. Do you know something? I'm going to say something, and I believe it's the truth. Do you know that the work of God is held back not by bad men or bad women, but by good ones who have stopped growing? Let me say that again.

The work of God is not held back by bad men or bad women, as much as it's held back by good people who don't grow. And this is a tragedy of slothfulness and procrastinators. They reach a certain point of growth in the Lord, and then they ease off.

They come to their youth, and they don't go any further. They don't know any more than they knew in Sunday school. And listen, I know, I've seen it, I've traveled, and I've seen young children, I've seen young teenagers who have no more of the Word than their parents do.

I traveled for years ministering from church to church. And you know what a typical reaction would be to a challenging message was this. Don't disturb me.

I'm at ease in my youth. I'm comfortable. I've got just enough truth to keep me out of hell.

Don't ask me to go any further or any deeper. You know, they're like a beautiful humble. They're like a beautiful humble.

You know, one of these, is that what it is? You know, one of these nice ornaments. A lovely ornament in the house of God. Basically a good person.

But good for nothing more than decorating a pew. The New American Standard says, more has been undisturbed. Undisturbed.

Someone has said, truth is violated by falsehood, but it is outraged by silence. Let me say that again. I don't know who said that.

I read that. Truth is violated by falsehood, but it is outraged by silence. That's why I thank God.

Let me tell you. After traveling in all those churches for so many years. You can't tell, I can't tell you what a blessing it is.

And we pastors have talked about it. Because every once in a while, the Lord lets us go out and preach somewhere, a place else. So that we can learn to appreciate you folks.

After we've been away a while. Or someplace else. I can't tell you what a blessing it is.

Because I see people who are not at ease. You don't mind being disturbed or provoked to righteousness. Because you know that as soon as we let up.

As soon as we let up on giving a strong word. There is something about the flesh that immediately begins to relax. It's something that's in me, in every one of us.

Unless we're provoked to righteousness, we just settle down. And just about the time you begin to be at ease. The Holy Spirit will come to you and do what it says.

Listen to Zephaniah 1.12. Don't turn there. It says, and it will come about at that time. And it was speaking of a time of procrastination and of backsliding.

He said, about that time I will search Jerusalem. I will search the church. I will search Times Square Church with lamps.

And I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit. Who say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good or evil. In other words, they were at ease in their youth.

And then there's something else. Look at it here in Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 11. It says, neither has he been emptied from vessel to vessel.

Now, I didn't understand that and so I had to look up something regarding wine making. And to better understand the meaning of this, you have to know a little bit about wine making or the process of it. You know, when the grapes are first picked from the vine and crushed.

It is a dark discolored fluid or juice. It then ferments and it passes through a process that separates the impurities. And then those impurities settle as leaves at the bottom.

If it's left that way. If it's left at ease. And if it's left in the vats.

The wine will not reach its intended texture or grade or sweetness. And if it's left at this stage of the wine making process, the juice becomes coarse. The leaves or the impurities in it become a part of the wine itself.

And it degrades or lowers the vintage. And to separate those leaves and thus to soften and improve the quality of the juice. It is decanted or drawn off into separate jars or skins.

And after a while it's down again and again. It's emptied from vessel to vessel. And each time you see a little more of the leaves or the impurities settle down to the bottom.

And finally all the sediment in it is cleared. The crude flavor is gone. And the scent and the taste is refined by that process.

And it becomes a perfect character. What they call a perfect character. And you see that's exactly what God wants to do with his people.

He empties us from vessel to vessel. And some of you just about the time you think that you're ready. He shows you that there's a little more leaves in the bottom.

There's a little more sediment in you. There's a few more impurities. And so he comes along and he has to empty you into another vessel.

And oh thank God that he empties us from vessel to vessel to vessel. Until he can make us what he wants us to be. Hallelujah.

But here he said you have not been emptied from vessel to vessel. You have settled on your leaves. You've settled on these impurities and they're in your life.

And then Jeremiah has one more graphic picture of the type of person I'm talking about. Look in verse 11 again it says, Therefore he retains his flavor and his aroma has not changed. And this refers to wine that does not age or mature.

It's therefore weak. It tastes the same as it always does. There's no aroma to it.

And you see that's what happens to Christians who keep putting off and putting off what God is speaking to them to do. Whether it means to have greater discipline in your prayer life. Greater discipline in the word or whatever it is.

When you put that off you become an aroma. A taste remaining. His scent is not changed.

Now let me show you just for a few more minutes what God does in calling the procrastinator. They're God's call to the procrastinator. This is the end of side one.

You may now turn the tape over. You say you may be sitting here tonight and say, Brother Don you must know something about me because I'm a procrastinator. But how do I deal with it? Well first of all the Holy Spirit tells us in his word that God not only judges us for our sins of commission but he judges us for our sins of omission.

You see not only do we sin when we do what we're commanded not to do. We sin as well when we do not do the things that we ought to do and we put them off or postpone them. And James 4 17 cannot be any clearer that procrastination is a sin.

Listen to it. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. You see it is not only sinful to do wrong.

It is also sinful to lose an opportunity of doing good. You know the slothful servant who hid the talent in a napkin. He did no wrong with it.

He didn't gamble it. He didn't go out and buy booze with it. He didn't go out and buy a prostitute with it.

But nevertheless he was condemned because he had failed to do good. You see God requires of us not merely that we should cease to do evil but also that we should learn to do well because him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. And so the first step in dealing with procrastination is to recognize that it is a sin.

Luke 11 42 says but woe unto you Pharisees for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and Passover judgment in the love of God. Those ought ye to have done and not leave the others undone. And many people fail not only because of outward sin but they fail because they leave things undone in their lives.

And if you're an undisciplined person if you have bad habits of procrastination or spiritual laziness and leaving undone the things that ought to be done you need to see that it is a sin and confess it to God and say God bring order and discipline into my life. And secondly to deal with procrastination you need to be quick to obey before the devil steals your seed. Turn to Psalms 119.

Psalms 119 verse 60. Psalms 119 and verse 60 says I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments. I hastened and did not delay.

You know something the sooner and the quicker that you obey God when he speaks to you the quicker that truth is sealed in your heart. But if you delay if you procrastinate it gets harder and harder and harder to obey. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

And you know when some people come and they say oh this sin has such a grip on my life it's so hard to lay it down. I ask the question is it because of the power or strength of the sin or is it because you've made it harder because you have not been hasty to keep his commandment. When God spoke to you a long time ago at that moment if you had obeyed it would have been the easiest point in your life to have dealt with it.

But when you postpone it it becomes harder and harder and harder. Psalms 119 look at verse 57. He says the Lord is my portion.

I have promised to keep thy words. I entreated thy favor with all my heart. Be gracious to me according to thy word.

I considered my ways. I considered my ways and turned my feet to thy testimonies. And all of this is in the context with a one who did not delay and then he ends up by saying I hastened and did not delay to keep thy commandments.

Oh God give us that kind of a people. Deuteronomy 9.3 says that know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over with you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and he will subdue them before you so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly.

Destroy them quickly just as the Lord just as the Lord has spoken to you. And you know it grieves me it grieves some of us as pastors. When we hear that God has spoken to people a message will come forth and people will confess yes God spoke to me yes I know that.

And then they come back a week later two weeks later a month later and they're still struggling with it because they have not been quick to obey. When God speaks to you do it quickly do it quickly. And God is calling some of you tonight to get rid of the thief in your house.

He's robbing you of time he's robbing you of opportunity he's robbing you of the seed of God's Word by which you are to grow up unto him in all things. And in closing there's just a few things that God's put on my heart I'm going to close in just a few more minutes. But there's just a few things that I want to say tonight to this body and say to you isn't it about time.

Isn't it about time for example for some of you to fulfill that promise that you've made to God. That you're going to begin to give him the best hours of your day not leftover time. You've made promises you've made commitments you've not fulfilled it you said God I'm going to give you the time.

I'm going to begin to establish a regular time before you and with the Lord and I'm going to give you my best hours not my leftover hours. Now for some people the morning hours are best hours some people they're late people their best hours are night. Some people are best at noon or what however whatever your best is to you give God the best that you have to give to him.

Isn't it time some of you sent that letter that you've been meaning to write to somebody to encourage them. And God's spoken to you and said write that letter or what about going to I told you this was going to be a very practical message tonight. What about going to speak to that brother or sister in the Lord and asking forgiveness.

You put it off long enough do it and do it now because the longer you put it off. The more difficult it's going to become and the more conviction you're going to have a more condemnation that you're going to have. Or there's the pledge or promise you made to God to give to give some money or to give some resources to a brother or sister and God spoke to you.

I remember when I was about 12 years of age. In a youth meeting they were giving pledges to to missions and I remember I jumped up and I was a big spender and I said I'll give $25. Everybody clapped you know and I felt so great and so good I'd made a pledge for missions for $25.

I never paid it and years later the Lord spoke to me about it years later he spoke to me about it said what about that up in I still remember the church in Hamlin Pennsylvania. At a youth rally and I it was years later God said what about that pledge and you wanted to know by then the Lord had added so much interest to it. It cost me a lot more than the $25 I should have paid it back then.

God spoke to you and said do something or give some resources you've made a commitment but you put it off pay that pledge whether it be financial or otherwise. Maybe there's a husband here tonight you've been promising your wife you're going to do something you're going to paint the room you're going to do this you're going to do that. Hey listen isn't it about time you did it.

That's right I got a good amen down here from a sister when he finally does it come and tell me all right we'll rejoice together. I thought about this a long time before I said what I just said you know in case there's something my wife would hit me with I can't think of anything. But I'm sure she will or there's that unsafe person God's been speaking to you about and said talk to them go talk to them somebody on the job.

Some relatives some friends somebody that God's spoken to you and said speak to them that you've held back you've been procrastinating it's time to do it. But most of all God's been speaking to some of you about laying certain things down in your life you know it you've heard clearly from the Lord. And you know sometimes sometimes you talk about it we talk about it too much we just talk about it too much and don't do it and God has spoken to you to do it.

But you know there are probably represented in this crowd tonight hundreds of undone things. Unfinished tasks and unfinished business that have been procrastinated I was thinking about that as I came. What is represented here my goodness some of us could make out a list you'd need a pad and several pages to write it all down.

Some of you maybe it's just one or two things. But if this message stirs up even a small percentage of you the kingdom of God will have been strengthened and Christ will be honored. Listen to Matthew 25 45 he said I tell you the truth whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me.

Oh my goodness that is I don't know about you but that's convicting listen let me read it again. I tell you the truth whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me. And then there's one last verse one last verse in Zechariah don't turn there 821 it tells us what happens in a time of revival and renewal and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

You know what happens here's what happens. And the inhabitants of one will go to another saying let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord and I will also go. A mark of revival is not just glorious truths that are preached or sung.

A mark of revival is people who begin immediately to say yes God yes and begin to implement it into practice in their life. Quit procrastinating and to say let us go at once to not only entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord but to obey the Lord. To be quick to obey and if you're a procrastinator tonight that's the thief that may be in your house robbing you.

Robbing you of doing what you know you ought to do. Him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin and some of you need to confess that sin to the Lord tonight. Let's stand together.

Eat. Listen you and I have a place to eat continually at the King's table. There is never a need.