Once There Was A Man Who Robbed A Bank...

 

Once there was a man who robbed a bank. I will not go into details, but the result was $100,000 in his briefcase. Five minutes later, he was walking down the street with the briefcase (and the $100,000) when he encountered an evangelist preaching on the street. He stopped to listen to the gospel proclaimed in love and power. He was convicted and converted. In his new-found joy, he talked with the evangelist and asked him what all this joy meant. The evangelist explained to the man that his sins had been forgiven.

“All of them?” he asked.

“Yes, all of them,” answered the evangelist.

“Oh boy, now I can enjoy this $100,000!”

“What $100,000?”

“The $100,000 that I just removed from the bank over there.”

“OK, let’s take it back.”

The story is fiction, but the principle is true. Being forgiven does not mean you get to keep the money. You may think that is obvious. There are two reasons it is obvious in the story:

            1. It was $100,000 (grand larceny).

            2. It was ten minutes ago.

However, suppose it was two dollars twenty years before your conversion. Does the principle still hold? If it doesn’t, where is the cutoff point? Is restitution required only in great and recent sins?

Let’s take a look at what the Bible says.

The LORD said to Moses: “If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the LORD by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him or left in his care or stolen, or if he cheats him, or if he finds lost property and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that people may do¾when he thus sins and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, or whatever it was he swore falsely about. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day he presents his guilt offering. And as a penalty he must bring to the priest, that is, to the LORD, his guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for any of these things he did that made him guilty.” (Leviticus 6:1-7) 

There are several things to notice about this passage. First, the Lord spoke it. Second, a sin committed against a neighbor is unfaithfulness to the Lord. Third, God specifically mentions deception, stealing, cheating, lying about finding lost property, and swearing falsely, but He adds the all-inclusive “any such sin that people may do.”

All of this is based on an “if.” “If anyone sins,” he becomes guilty. Read the passage again. Notice, “if anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord,” and “if he commits any such sin,” and “when he thus sins and becomes guilty.” Look at the list of the things that happened to this “anyone” and see if they have happened to you.

Two things are necessary for forgiveness: 1) restitution and 2) a sacrifice for the sins committed. We know from the New Testament that the sacrifice is still necessary, but it has been provided by the death of Jesus Christ:

But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:12) 

As Christians, we know that Jesus completely fulfilled the guilt offering. But what takes the place of the restitution in the New Testament? We have been conned into thinking that because we have received Jesus, restitution is not necessary. But repentance that keeps the money is not repentance. Repentance includes restitution, and if restitution has not taken place, that is why your conscience still hurts. You can plead that the batteries shoplifted from the drugstore in junior high were taken ten years before your conversion, and your conversion was five years ago. But the batteries were not yours then, and they are not yours now. Even though you were truly forgiven when you became a Christian, when you deliberately choose to not to pay for the batteries now, you are in effect stealing them again.

Whether the sin was shoplifting, plagiarizing on a paper, lying on income tax returns, or something else, there are reasons people do not want to make restitution. Disgrace and lack of money are two of them. Flunking is a third, and “losing my Ph.D.” is a fourth. But even if all of these apply, it is worth it to be clean. You have not truly repented if you have not given back what you took. Do you want to be forgiven? Make restitution!

Paul and John the Baptist both made strong statements about repentance:

John: Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matthew 3:8)

 

Paul: I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. (Acts 26:20b) 

One of the great salvation statements Jesus made was about a wealthy (and dishonest) tax collector: "Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost'” (Luke 19:9-10).

Jesus was responding to what that tax collector, Zacchaeus, had said to Him: "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount" (Luke 19:8).

Zacchaeus proved his repentance by giving back four times the amount he had cheated people out of. He also bore fruit that matched his repentance—he gave half of his possessions to the poor.

People object to returning stolen property because the amount was hundreds or thousands of dollars, and they do not have enough to pay it back. Others object because what they took was so small that they think it can’t possibly matter. The excuses go on and on.

Some people come to me in a quandary because they stole things years ago, and they do not remember the name of the place, or the stores have closed, or the people they stole from have died or moved. How do they make restitution?

The answer is in Numbers 5:

The LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged. But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for him.’” (Numbers 5:5-8)

If the money cannot be returned to the original owner, give it to the Lord. You do not get to keep it! It is not yours. If you do not remember how much you took, make a high estimate and add 20%.

Restitution is one of the normal occurrences in a spiritual awakening. It may even be a contributing factor. It is also one of the greatest unapplied truths of the Christian life. We may fail to apply it out of ignorance, fear, or pride, but whatever the case, it is a major hindrance to our growth in grace and to revival in the church.

Leviticus 6 tells us how to rectify the situation toward God, our neighbor, and ourselves. It is very simple: return what we have stolen (plus 20% interest) and offer a guilt offering to the Lord. These two things are to be done on the same day. The result is that “he will be forgiven for any of these things he did that made him guilty.”

Forgiveness is the opposite of guilt. It is very real. The pain of guilt is gone.