Exodus chapter 20, verse 15. Hear the word of the living God. You shall not steal. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that in this brief time, these four words of Holy Scripture would be expounded in such a way that we see both our need for Christ, his complete satisfaction in our stead, but that we might also see a way of thinking about how to rightly live our lives for you as believers with increasing godliness and holiness. And we pray this now in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. I'm going to re-deliver a sermon on the Eighth Commandment. We looked at this as a church several years ago, but we have been following in our Lord's Day evening services the Heidelberg Catechism. And this week's installment reads as follows. What does God forbid in the Eighth Commandment? And the answer is this. Not only such theft and robbery as are punished by the magistrate, but God views as theft all wicked tricks and devices whereby we seek to draw to ourselves our neighbor's goods, whether by force or with show of right, such as unjust weights, bells, measures, wares, coins, usury, or any means forbidden of God. So moreover, all covetousness and all useless waste of his gifts. Next question, but what does God require of thee in this commandment? That I further my neighbor's good where I can and may, deal with him as I would have others deal with me, and labor faithfully that I may be able to help the poor in their need. Stealing, a breaking of the eighth commandment is taking for yourself. what the Lord has allowed another person to have, or it's not valuing the property of others. Let me say that again. Stealing, what is prohibited in the Eighth Commandment, is taking for yourself what the Lord has allowed another person to have, or not valuing the property of others. If we were to trace these four simple words of Exodus 20.15, you shall not steal. If we were to trace those throughout the pages of Scripture, we would see that they are everywhere. And if you recall, we've seen before that the Ten Commandments are really a summary of God's moral law. And so when we follow these commandments from the pages of Genesis to Revelation, we see how they are further fleshed out in a host of ways. And the main two ways that they're fleshed out are, each of the commandments come with something that we're not to do. But, by way of implication, each of the commandments come with something that we are to do. So, as seen in the Catechism, we are not to do something. We're prohibited from doing something. What is that? Taking of others' property. But we are also, in this prohibition, to see something that we are to do. We are to work for the good of others by upholding their property and their goods. Now, I want to make a few points tonight as we walk through the pages of Scripture and look at the Eighth Commandment. The first is this. Stealing assumes that God is wrong in how He handles what is His. Stealing assumes that God is wrong in how He handles what is His. All things belong to God. He has created all of them. Psalm 50 verse 10, For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. And we see expression of the 8th commandment in the New Testament. I don't think in this crowd tonight I have to convince you that the commandments are not just an Old Testament thing, but just by way of finding these commandments and their expression in other parts of the Bible, turn to Jesus' words in Mark. Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, verses 18 and 19. Jesus, when asked, about what is good, and the inheritance of eternal life refers to the law of God. Notice what he says in Mark 10, verses 18 and 19. So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. You know the commandments. And then notice what Jesus quotes. Do not commit adultery, 7th commandment. Do not murder, 6th commandment. Do not steal, 8th commandment. Do not bear false witness, 9th commandment. Do not defraud or steal from others. Honor your father and mother, 5th commandment. Jesus upholds these commandments. He calls them as such. But Paul also does as well. Look at Romans 13 and verse seven. Romans 13 and verse seven and following. When asked about submitting to the government, Paul writes this, render therefore to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor, owe no one anything except to love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, and then notice what he says, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in the statement, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So Jesus and Paul, uphold the Eighth Commandment. But what is the heart of the Eighth Commandment? What is the heart of the Eighth Commandment? And for that I think we find Proverbs 30 verses 7 through 9. Proverbs 30 verses 7 through 9. Look there with me. And I know that we're flipping from page to page, but I want you to see that those four simple words in Exodus 20, verse 15, are everywhere in the text. Proverbs 30, verses seven through nine. Two things I request of you. Deprive me not before I die. Remove falsehood and lies far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food allotted to me. lest I be full and deny you, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God." Now notice the connection. Lest I be full and deny you, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God. Stealing comes with a much larger connection than just taking with our hands. You see, the 8th commandment really is God upholding property. It assumes that God owns all things and gives property to others. And to steal it, to take it, or to seek to diminish it, is to assume that God is wrong. and that you must correct God's wrong. See, all of the commandments really reveal to us our own hearts. When we steal, we are assuming that God is wrong in how He handles what is His, and it's a profaning of God's name. If I take your property, I do sin against you. But in stealing what is not mine, I'm making a statement about God. I'm saying something that's in my heart about God. I'm assuming that God has somehow erred in what He's given. He hasn't given it to me, He's given it to you. He should have given it to me, so I'll correct the wrong. Stealing assumes that God is wrong in how He handles what is His. But secondly, stealing assumes that God is holding out on you. If I steal, it's me assuming that God is holding out on me. Let's go all the way back to the book of Genesis. Remember Adam and Eve? God doesn't want us to have this tree because he's holding out on us. That was sort of the insipid lie that they began to believe, wasn't it? The serpent whispered, God, he's holding out on you. He can't be trusted. You must take something that he has told you not to take. And that lie of assuming that God is holding out on us has worked its way into our very fabric of existence. And so, as we look at our own lives, we see this in a whole manner of our thoughts. Have you ever thought like this? What if God is keeping me from something? What if God won't let me have something? Why did God give this to that person and not me? I should have this." And on and on and on, the heart of the thief comes out, doesn't it? But there are a better set of questions that we should ask regarding these four simple words, you shall not steal. Some of those questions go like this. What if God is keeping you from something that will corrupt your heart? What if God knows what is best for you? and on and on the questions go. Stealing is a form of taking the forbidden fruit from the tree with a heart that says, God is not giving me what I need. If you take Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and go all the way to the book of the Revelation, you will see the four simple words of the eighth commandment, you shall not steal, everywhere. They're everywhere. In our thoughts, in our actions, And they say some basic things about us and what we think about God. God is wrong in how He handles what is His. God is holding out on me. The third point. When we steal, we make the assumption that we are the center. When we steal, we assume that we are the center. Now I'm going to give a quick list of passages of Scripture. You can jot these down if you want, but just listen to the Scripture and what it has to say regarding all manner of stealing. Parents, Proverbs 28, 24. Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, that is no transgression, is a companion to a man who destroys. Employers, Luke 16, 1. He also said to the disciples, there was a rich man who had a manager and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. Stolen goods, Proverbs 29, 24. The partner of a thief hates his own life. He hears the curse, but discloses nothing. Debts. The wicked borrows, but does not pay back. But the righteous is generous and gives. Honesty. Leviticus 6, 1-4, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a manner of deposit or security or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely, in any of all these things that people do and sin thereby, if he has sinned, and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery, or what he got by oppression, or the deposit that was committed to him, or the lost thing that he found, or anything about which he has sworn falsely. He shall restore it in full." You see, stealing comes out in all kinds of relationships. Parents, employers, goods that aren't ours, debts, what we say about our property and the property of others. And this goes to a whole host of other issues. Plagiarism. Plagiarism is stealing something that belongs to someone else and calling it ours. Defaming others, what they deserve. That's a form of stealing. Trickery. False balances. Passages like Micah 6, 11. You know, stealing shows up as well in how we think about giving to God. Malachi 3, verses 6-10. For I the Lord do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. What a glorious truth. But it continues. For the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we turn? Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you? Tithes and offerings. Did you ever think about not giving to the Lord as a form of stealing, as a form of robbery? We've already seen Romans 13, 7, but taxes. I dare say that in our day, the main evangelical sin might be stealing from the government. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to make a political statement that I love taxes. But when we cheat in any way, or don't pay our taxes, it's a form of breaking the eighth commandment. Lawsuits. We looked at this in 1 Corinthians 6, 1-8, didn't we? How we can deprive one another. When you know that the Lord owns all things, and that He gives you what you need, and protects you from what you don't need, you are free to serve Him with your possessions, and to work for the good of others with your possessions. See, stealing makes some statements about God. is a theological act. When we steal in all of these different ways that we see throughout the pages of Scripture, we are saying some things about God by our actions. And we are using this catechism, one of the Reformed catechisms, the Heidelberg, to go through the doctrines of the Word this year. And the Reformers, of which the Heidelberg catechism belongs, saw the Eighth Commandment It's not simply prohibiting the taking of other people's things, but a call to work for the property and benefit of others. Think about this. God reveals something to you. God reveals something to me when he tells us not to steal. It's a reflection of God's character. We have a God who upholds his gifts. He gives us gifts. He gives us what we need and more. And then he prohibits others from taking that from us. A couple of other passages. Leviticus 25.35, If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you, using our goods to further others. Or how about a New Testament passage, 1 Timothy 6 verse 18. Turn there with me. 1 Timothy 6 verse 18. Another example of working, using our own gifts for the property and welfare of others. Picking up in verse 17, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Why is it that the thief in the book of Ephesians is told not to steal? You remember, turn there with me to Ephesians. We should be encouraged that former thieves can be told not to steal. But verse 28 of Ephesians 4. Let him who stole, steal no longer. It's the prohibition. Do not steal. But notice the second half of the verse. But rather, let him labor, working with his hands what is good, and then notice, that he may have something to give him who has a need. There's the active part of obeying the eighth commandment. Don't do this, but do do this. Every one of the commandments. Don't take another person's wife or husband, but work for the preservation of marriage. Don't murder, but do work for the preservation of life. Don't disobey authority, but do uphold it and honor it and work for it. You see, all of the commandments throughout the pages of scripture in various ways and in various times all point to a lifestyle. that really reflects in the life of the believer God's ways and his character. There's one other point that we need to say regarding stealing tonight, and that is this. The gospel assumes that swindlers can be washed. To say it differently, the gospel declares that former thieves can be washed. Turn with me to our last passage. First Corinthians chapter six. First Corinthians chapter six. I often call this our resume, because everyone in this room will find themselves somewhere in 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11, if they rightly understand the truth of God's Word and His Law. Look what Paul says to the church at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. And then here's our resume, our collective resume. We haven't all done all of these things, literally, with our flesh. But in this list, in this room, here we are. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. There better be another sentence. Because some of us were thieves. Some of us, with our hands, broke the Eighth Commandment. And all of us, in thought and in heart, have been thieves. Who will cleanse us of our thievery? Because, the text says, thieves, those who break the eighth commandment will not inherit the kingdom of God. And then Paul, writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. You see, swindlers, thieves, plagiarizers, those who don't honor the property of others, their very sins were laid on Christ. And when we read a passage like this, many of us think, I was doing better about assurance, but now I read this and it says, I can't inherit the kingdom of God, and I'm in this list. I'm a thief. I've broken the eighth commandment. Sometimes, many times, we read that and we begin to question our standing before the Lord. But have you ever thought about reading it the other way? Meaning, These are all the vile stains that can and have been washed by the blood of the Lamb. I know what the text says, and I know that a lost and dying world needs to hear, you are fornicators, you are idolaters, you are thieves, you are drunkards, and they will not inherit the kingdom of God. We also need to say, and we need to hear with all of our heart and all of our being as we look at the law of God, including the 8th commandment. Look at the wretchedness that the blood of the Lamb can wash. You see, the Gospel assumes and declares that thieves can be washed. So as you walk through the pages of Scripture as a washed believer, a believer who is no longer facing condemnation for stealing, You see all of these ways in which stealing occurs. And rather than be overcome by the weight of God's law, you're freed from the penalty of having broken it. And now it is given to you. You love the Christ who saved you? With increasing fervor and prayerfulness, say, Lord, I don't want to steal. You've told me not to. And as your child, one who will never be cast away Help me to honor the property of others. Help me not to steal. I would encourage you, beloved, take the Ten Commandments and just begin to pray through them in your daily lives, in your week. Lord, help me not to have any other gods before your face. Help me not to worship you in ways that I've pictured but you haven't. Help me to honor and revere your name. Well, you could spend a long time praying through the Scriptures on the Third Commandment. But help me to honor your day and see it as a blessing. Lord, help me to honor authority. You work all the way here. Lord, help me to see the property of others as a reflection that you are the giver. Why would I take? You see, God takes the law that condemned us and hands it to us and says, you're free. You're free indeed. You love me. You're my child. I've birthed faith in you. I've forgiven you. You want to glorify me? Pray to my face and grow in asking me that you would not be one who steals. By the grace of God, we can grow in our sanctification from being those who regularly defrauded and cheated others. to those who look at what others have. We say, you know, I'd love that thing. But isn't our God good because He gave it to you? Let's pray. Almighty God, make of us, your people, hearts that desire to look at your law and not fear its thunderous voice of condemnation but seeing in it a word that thrusts us to our need for Christ and then as blood-bought believers is now a good and glorious and wonderful tool for how we might honor and obey you or the four simple words of Exodus 2015 you shall not steal. are all over the pages of Scripture in all of our relationships, including our walk with you. So help us to be a people that honor property, that see property as a gift to the righteous and the unrighteous alike. Help us not to steal from others in whatever ways we might. Help us to grow in our appreciation for the giver of good gifts. As we look at your law and see that property is good, the goods of others are good. And so may we honor you and glorify you, the God who saved us by obeying your law. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.