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Exodus 20, and we'll just read
verse 15, and then we'll look at chapter 22, 1-15. Let us hear God's Word. Exodus
20, verse 15, Thou shalt not steal. And then chapter 22, verses
1-15, If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or
sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep
for a sheep. If a thief be found breaking
up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed
for him. The sun be risen upon him, there
shall be blood shed for him. For he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall
be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found
in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall
restore double. The man shall cause a field or
vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed
in another man's field. Of the beast of his own field
and of the beast of his own vineyard shall he make restitution. If
fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or
the standing corn or the field be consumed therewith, he that
kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall
deliver unto his neighbor money or stock to keep, and it be stolen
out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double. If the thief be not found, then
the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to
see whether he hath put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. For
all manner of trespass, whether it be for an ox, for ass, for
sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another
challenges to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before
the judges. And whom the judges shall condemn,
he shall pay double unto his neighbor. The man deliver unto
his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep,
and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it, then
shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he that
hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods, and the owner
of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. And
if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the
owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then
let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that
which was torn. If a man borrow all to his neighbor,
and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he
shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with
it, he shall not make it good. If it be an hired thing, it came
for his hire." Thus ends the reading of God's holy and inspired
word. Now, this Lord's Day morning,
we return again to a series of messages on the Ten Commandments. Last year, we looked at the first
table of the commandments, the first four commandments. We considered
the object in the first commandment, the matter of worship in the
second, the manner of worship in the third commandment, and
then the time of worship in the fourth. And now we've been looking
at the second table, or commands 5 through 10. We've considered
thus far the sanctity of authority in the fifth commandment, the
sanctity of life in the sixth, then the sanctity of marriage
in the seventh, and now we come to look at the sanctity of property
in the eighth commandment. Now, as we consider this commandment
and its implications, I want you to imagine what our economy
would look like if this commandment was kept. Now, violations of
all the other commandments significantly impact our economy. Clearly,
murder impacts our economy. Certainly, the divorce rate in
our nation impacts the economy as well. But how much more does
this commandment in a unique way impact the economy? Just
for example, and in particular, just consider the cost of stolen
goods that's passed on to the consumer in our nation. The extra
money we have to pay because of all the things that are stolen
in the stores that we purchase things in. Consider the cost
of security that's passed on to us in all the stores that
we shop or however we purchase consumer goods. And then consider
also the consumer debt that's passed on to consumers. How many
people don't steal the things they bring in right from the
store? They just do it by putting it
on credit card and never paying the credit card bill. And so,
just imagine all the extra money that has to be tacked on to our
goods for security, for consumer debt, and for theft. And there
are many other implications of violations of this commandment.
And yet, this lecture this morning, this message is not primarily
to get you mad at how much is stolen from you each and every
day. But the intent is for you to consider how you break the
commandment. It's easy for us to get all angry
as we consider, I'm going to list almost 40 ways in which
this commandment is violated. And many of them are done against
you. Now, I want you to recognize
that, but at the same time, I want us to consider our sins in regard
to this commandment. This morning, I want us to consider
the sins forbidden in this commandment. I will be using the larger catechism,
question 142, and its answer. at some length, but I sought
to add some things as well that are not mentioned in that answer.
Remember, things forbidden are sins of commission. There are
things that we do that we're told not to do. And there also
are sins of omission or our failure to do what God has told us. Now, next Lord's Day morning,
Lord willing, we'll look at what we ought to do. But today I want
us to consider what we ought not to do and too often As we
consider this commandment, thou shalt not steal, I believe we
can sum our sins in this commandment under three heads. One is robbing
God, secondly is robbing others, and third is robbing ourselves. Now, we could consider robbing
God under the third commandment, And yet, there are many that
think it also fits under this commandment. So, I'll briefly
mention four ways in which we rob God. The first is failure
to give. Malachi 3.8, God calls His people
to reformation and restoration and fellowship with Him. And
then He's asking the question that they have upon their minds.
Wherein have we robbed thee? And God says to His people, in
tithes and offerings. So there's a direct way in which
we rob God when we don't give Him His due. There's also a second
way we do so, and that is what's called sacrilege. It's mentioned
in Leviticus 5.15. It's called a sin in the holy
things of the Lord. It's taking of things consecrated
to God. We'll be robbing from the temple
of old. but it might be robbing from the church and its funds
in present. Sometimes you hear of treasurers
of churches or denominations siphoning off funds. That's sacrilege. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts
5, 1-11 were involved in that because of their lying. There's
also another way we rob God and that's the sin called simony.
And that comes from Simon Magus in Acts 8, 18 and 20 who sought
to buy ecclesiastical or church office. There have been periods
in church history when that was more prominent and prevalent
than today. In our system, it's pretty rare
that people would want to buy into the ministry because generally
the ministry isn't profitable enough, but it still happens,
still can happen, and so it's a sin of robbing God. There's also a fourth way in
which God can be robbed and that is spiritual robbery. That is the leading away of precious
souls into error. It's mentioned in Luke 17.1 about
the one it's better that a millstone be hung upon his neck and him
be cast into the sea than one lead astray God's little ones. I think this is what Jesus is
referring to in John 10.7-10 when he speaks of himself as
the good shepherd in contrast to others who he calls thieves.
and robbers. Now, it's likely that when Jesus
refers to these false teachers as thieves and robbers, He's
probably considering the potential sin of simony. They may have
bought their way into office. It's also likely that He would
be referring to the sin of slothfulness in the ministry that itself would
make a man a thief and a robber in the ministry. But I think
he's referring to something more than just those. I think he's
also referring to the potential that they're stealing souls.
Obviously no one can steal a soul from God in terms of his decree. keeps all of His own in His hand.
We understand that. And yet, in our experience, we
see those that have made a profession or are sitting under the means
of grace and yet are led astray by false teaching. And so there
is spiritual robbery as well. Now, those four ways in which
we rob God, let's talk about a number of ways in which we
rob others. First, theft or robbery. Leviticus 19.11 Ye shall not
steal." Leviticus 19.13, Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor,
neither rob him. God speaks to children in Proverbs
28.24. Have any of you ever gone into
mom's pocketbook and taken a quarter or taken a dollar or found dad's
wallet laying there on his dresser? and think, well, he buys me things
anyway. What's the big deal if I take
a dollar or five or ten? He'd probably give it to me if
I asked anyway. Yet, Solomon says in Proverbs
28, 24, "...whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith,
It is no transgression, the same is the companion of the destroyer."
You see, it's easy to justify, well, that's no sin. It's no
big deal. I could get the money anyway. I could ask for it. We
as adults could fall into the temptation to do that to our
own parents as they grow feeble in their old age. We could seek
to take money away from them and their estate against their
will. Theft or robbery. Man stealing. Exodus 21-16, "...and he that
stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand,
he shall surely be put to death." It's speaking of that which is
called chattel slavery. And imagine if the death penalty
would have been practiced for those that stole men or were
accomplices in selling men that had been stolen. If the death
penalty had been applied in those nations to those individuals,
how small the slave trade would have been. It would have stopped
pretty quickly. Seven, or the third way in which
we rob others, receiving things that are stolen. It could be
pretty easy to fall into this trap. Can it? You go to a big
city and somebody opens their coat and has tons of watches
that look like $2,000 Rolexes that you can buy and it'll work
for a couple weeks or maybe even a year. But you have no clue
as to where the man got those things or someone has boxes of
things that he's selling on the side of the road that are clearly
stolen goods. And it's very easy to think,
well, I'm getting a deal. and to purchase stolen goods. Whoso is partner with a thief,
hateth his own soul." You think you're getting a deal. You're
not getting a deal. You're damaging your soul. Also, fraudulent dealing. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor."
It's not okay to use tricks in the trade to deceive so as to
make a greater profit. It's also a sin to fail to report
theft when we see it. Psalm 50.18, When thou saw'st
a thief, then thou consented with him. To bring it to the authority's
attention is sin. We also sin in this way by false
weights and measures in the market. A false balance, we read in Proverbs
11.1, is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. Amos speaks of it in Amos 8.5
as making the ephah small and the shekel great and falsifying
the balances by deceit. Saying you're selling a pound
of meat and it's really only 15 ounces. Claiming you're selling
a gallon of gasoline or milk and it really being something
less than that. Saying you sold three hours of
your labor in whatever field you're in when
it was really only a little over two hours. Unjust weights and measures can
also be done in real estate. It's a little bit harder nowadays
and a number of these sins are harder to commit and get away
with given the technology that we lived in, but we still can. remove landmarks. People can
be deceptive in moving landmarks or the places where people's
land is and thus take land from people by deception. Proverbs
23.10, remove not the old landmark and enter not into the fields
of the fatherless. Here we learn something about
there are those that are more gullible or they're fatherless.
They're not able to be as careful in dealings. And so, those that
are shrewd can overtake them or can take advantage of them
in real estate deals or in the marketplace. And so, we as God's
people need to be particularly sensitive to those that can be
abused in these ways and taken advantage of. Also, unjust debt. In Psalm 37.21, we read, "...the
wicked borroweth and payeth not again. It doesn't say that the
wicked borroweth. The Bible allows for just debt. But it says the wicked borroweth
and payeth not again. Either he didn't intend to pay
or he's not willing to pay as the contract that he'd signed
requires. I think that's what Paul's getting
at in Romans 13, 8a, when he says, owe no man anything. It's
don't owe him something that you haven't agreed that you owe
him. Failing to pay him on the timescale that you've promised
by your contract to do so. It's not forbidding business
debt. It's not even forbidding personal
debt. We can also sin in this way in
matters of trust. Consider Luke 16, 10-12, the
parable of the talents. If we're given a trust, if we're
given some money or some funds in some form for someone else
and we're told to seek to earn and use that money to earn for
their good, then we should do so. We shouldn't squander it.
We shouldn't just ignore it, but we should be diligent if
we're given that trust. Some of you may sit someday on
a board of trustees of some organization, some group that has capital,
and you're responsible to make financial decisions that are
for the welfare of that organization and the welfare of the capital
that that organization is amassed. And to fail to do so is theft. Also, we can sit in this way
by oppression. In Psalm 62.10, we read, "...trust
not in oppression and become not vain in robbery." To oppress
someone, to squeeze money out of them is robbery. We also can
do it by extortion. You see, Zacchaeus was a tax
collector. And in Luke 19.18, we learn that
Zacchaeus recognized when he came to Christ and was converted
that all that he had gotten by extortion was in fact theft and
so he desired to make restitution for all that he had taken. Zacchaeus
must have made more than he had taken apparently because he was
able, he was at least able to think that he could restore and
follow restitution and not be broke. He really expected to
be able to give restitution to all those that deserved it. But he had stolen. And he was
repentant. And so he did what he was called
to do in repentance. Also, the sin of usury is theft. Psalm 15.5, He that putteth not
out his money to usury is the description of a godly man, a
man who will be in God's presence. He's one that doesn't put out
his money to usury. Now usury in the Old Testament
is not lending money at a percentage. It is lending money at an exorbitant
percentage, something that's over the market, significantly
over the market. So what it is, is it's really
taking advantage of someone who can't necessarily get a loan
at the current rate. and then taking advantage of
that poor individual by offering them money at a much higher rate
so as that you could profit rather than help the poor individual.
And so that itself is a violation of the Eighth Commandment. Also,
bribery is a violation of this commandment. Seeking to pay someone
off so as to get the decision that you desire. Also, lawsuits
that are vexatious are a violation of this commandment. Paul speaks
of that in 1 Corinthians 6, 6 and 7 where he tells us that Christians
ought to seek to resolve their disputes with one another in
the courts of the church before ever entering into the courts
of the heathen. He says, what can you expect
from the heathen courts. Why would you not go to those
that have been called to make these decisions and to make just
decisions regarding any of these controversies? And so we waste
money. We throw money away. And we're
also seeking to take sometimes when we enter into a lawsuit,
particularly when it's to try to recover that which really
we don't have a right to recover. In other words, really stealing.
at that point. This is not saying that all lawsuits
are in fact theft, but it's saying that seeking a lawsuit to steal
is. And I think it's not hard to
recognize that there are many lawsuits that are currently awaiting
adjudication that are just that. They're related to greed and
individual seeking to take that which is not rightfully theirs. I think I can give you some examples
of individuals that have sought to sue McDonald's or other fast
foods companies regarding what they've chosen to eat all their
lives and what that has brought upon them, just as one example
of vexatious or frivolous lawsuits that are seeking monies that
are not rightfully those individuals. Also, basically depopulating
or seeking to buy up Everything and hoard of lands and properties
is the same thing. In Isaiah 5.8 we read this, Woe
unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field
till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst
of the earth. Land grabs. Sometimes by wealthy
individuals, sometimes by the state taking lands that aren't
rightfully theirs. It's theft. Also, engrossing
commodities, hoarding commodities so as to enhance the price, monopolizing
is as well a sin. Proverbs 11.26 says, He that
withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him. But blessing
shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. You don't hoard
something that people need just to enrich your pocketbook. Also, unlawful callings or vocations
that are sinful are a violation of this command. I'll just give
you one example of a man named Demetrius in Ephesus who was
a silversmith who made silver shrines to the goddess Diana. Just one example of a vocation
that a Christian cannot be part of. There are so many more that
could be listed. There are so many vocations that
are inappropriate for any Christian to be involved with because to
be involved with involves sin. It's not saying that you couldn't
be a silversmith. There's just certain things you
couldn't do as a silversmith. There's certain things that many
of us can't do in our professions, certain things we can and certain
things we cannot because they'd be violations of God's Word. So, we don't enter into a vocation
just because it can make a lot of money. And we can provide
for our family if, in fact, it itself is sin. Also, the larger
catechism speaks about what's called unjust or sinful ways
of taking or withholding from our neighbor that which belongs
to him. I think what they're getting
at there is withholding wages. Now, we live in a technological
society where we don't get paid every single day at the end of
the day. And every time we don't, I'm not contending that we're
necessarily being taken by our employer. But there are cases
where wages are garnished or held that is unbiblical and is
an attempt for the company to make a few extra cents on the
interest at the expense of their employees. And that is sin. And
if any of you are involved In the financial dealings of companies
or your entrepreneurs, you need to consider, why are you holding
the money? Are you doing it to enrich yourself
and to take from your employees? Leviticus 19.13 says, the wages
of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until
the morning. Obviously, that's in an agricultural
society where obviously it would be easy to pay on a daily basis. But we see in James 5.4, James
speaking about those whose wages have been withheld and that their
cries have gone up to the Lord of Saviath. So it warns employers
that keep money to the hurt of their people. In addition to these, inordinate
prizing or loving worldly goods is sin. Something akin to covetousness,
which is a violation of the tenth commandment. We read in Psalm
62.10, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. It's tempting to be engrossed
with riches when you're poor. The psalmist says it's even more
tempting when you're rich. When riches increase, it's all
the easier to get attracted to them and hoard them. So, don't prize them because
they are temporal. You can't take them with you.
Also, distrustful, distracting cares about getting money, keeping
money, using money. Think about Jesus' comments in
Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, don't worry about
what you're going to wear. Don't worry about what you're
going to eat. The Lord takes care of the flowers of the field.
They look fine. He'll take care of you. He'll
provide the food that you need. So don't be overly concerned
about those things. It doesn't mean you can't think
about what you're going to have for dinner or your wives don't need
to think about, well, what am I going to prepare or what are
we doing for dinner tonight? But we obviously are not to be
engrossed in those kinds of thoughts. Some additional ways in which
we rob others are communism. Communism. In Deuteronomy 23-25
we read, "...thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand, but
thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing
corn." The Old Testament economy, if you are walking through somebody's
field as Jesus and His disciples were on the Lord's Day, It was
legal for them to get a little corn and rub it with their hands.
They didn't use any machinery. They didn't take bushels and
fill it up. They took enough to get by and eat as they're
walking through the field. They needed a little nourishment.
That was allowed. It was encouraged. It's a demonstration
of we all should be willing to distribute to the poor at some
level of our incomes as we can. And so in the farming culture,
there was the practice of gleaning. But if all things are common,
then there is no theft. This commandment is predicated
upon the assumption that what's yours is yours and what's mine
is mine and what is His is His. If everything was just the communities,
there could be no theft. It would make no sense to say,
thou shalt not steal. You might ask, well, what about
Acts chapter 2? There in verses 44 through 48,
In verse 44b and following, we read this. We read that they
had all things in common, and yet it says, "...and sold their
possessions." They had all things in common.
They had all things in common after individuals sold the possessions
that they chose to sell and give the proceeds that they chose
to give. Remember in the account of Ananias
and Sapphira in Acts 5 verse 4, Peter says to Ananias regarding
his land, after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? In other words, Peter is saying,
once you sold it, it was your call to decide how much of the
proceeds went to the church. The sin that Ananias was involved
in is that he was hypocritical in that he said he sold it for
more than in fact he did. He claimed he gave it all when
in fact he didn't. But he was under no obligation
to give all the proceeds to the church. It was in his possession,
it was in his power to do with as he pleased. So communism is
a violation of this commandment. Inflation is a violation of this
commandment. Do you know what inflation is,
children? Most of us today are led to believe that inflation
is just the increase of a commodity's price. that we can know inflation
because the price of bread or the price of milk has gone up
this year. And so we say the inflation rate
is 3% or 5%. It costs us that much more money
to acquire the goods this year as it did the goods we acquired
last year. But in fact, inflation is not
the rising of prices. It is the increasing of the money
supply. And the increasing of the money
supply is what leads to oftentimes partially the increase of prices
on things. And so nations do rob when they
increase the money supply in such a way as to create increase
of price. Also unjust taxation is theft. A government that chooses to
involve itself in areas where God has not directed it to be
involved, and then seeks money from its citizens to be involved
in those areas, they ought not to be as theft. And yet, so is
tax evasion theft. Romans 13.7 says, Render therefore
to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to
whom custom. And it's there pretty clear that
Paul is talking about not only, he's talking about different
kinds of taxes. We pay different sorts of taxes
and we are to pay them if they are due. Also, taking advantage
of the needy, as I mentioned before regarding usury is that. But also, you know, seeking to
allow someone to pawn something to us when They're giving us
something of great wealth, and we know they're desperate, so
we know we can get it off them for something way under value. That itself, just as lending
them money at some exorbitant rate, is theft. Also, damaging things that we've
borrowed is theft. We've talked about robbery. Most
of these things you say, I'm not guilty of. But how about
simple theft or robbery? Do you rob time from the company
you work for? Do you rob pens or calculators
or other things? I hope none of you have taken
a computer, but it's pretty easy to take other things, isn't it?
And to think it's okay. And how easy it is to borrow
things and not return them return them significantly damaged. That's
stealing. That's stealing. It's easy to
borrow something and have it in our garage or in our bookshelf
so long that we forget it's someone else's, isn't it? So we need
to do something to make sure we don't begin to think somebody
else's property is ours. And if we or our children have
damaged somebody's property that we borrowed, then we need If
we've rented it, as we looked at in Exodus 22, if we've rented
it, that's part of the rental price. You rent something to
work on your yard and you don't in any way use it outside of
its normal operating procedures, then you're not responsible for
the damage, unless you've signed to be responsible. But if you're
borrowing something, you are. Also, concealing found goods. You see that in Deuteronomy 22,
1-3, Leviticus 6, 4. Finders, keepers, losers, weepers
is not a biblical principle. That doesn't mean there may not
be times when we find something somewhere and there's no real
way to figure out who in the world's property it is. And then we do have to make decisions
about what we do. It's not always that easy. But
when we can, seek to restore that, to place it in the lost
and found, wherever that might be, at the park, or at the recreation
center, or at the church, or at the school, or what have you.
That is our duty. Also, poor treatment of impotent
debtors. That means somebody may owe us
something. Something's come upon them. and they cannot pay it
immediately. We need to treat them with respect. Proverbs 22.7, the rich ruleth
over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. We need to recognize that principle,
so we need to be careful about being in debt we don't need to
be in. But if we've chosen to allow someone to owe us and now
they can't pay, we need to seek to then establish some way that
they can in a way that's reasonable for them so that they can provide
for themselves and their families. Also, failing to give when we
should is robbing of others. We looked at Deuteronomy 23,
25 already. It's okay. We should allow people
to get some corn in our fields. And that principle can be worked
out in other ways in the New Testament. 1 John 3.17, "...whoso
hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his vows of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of
God in him." How can you say you love God when you have it
and someone needs it and you know they need it and you're
unwilling to help? How do you think you have the
love of God in you? So that's a violation of this
commandment as well. Now, how do we rob ourselves quickly?
We rob ourselves by slothfulness. Any of you guilty of that? Idleness
or slothfulness? 2 Thessalonians 3.11, For we
hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working
not at all, but are busybodies. People will be busy about something.
And if they're not doing what they're called to do, they'll
be interested in talking about others. instead of being busy
about what they're called to. Proverbs 18.9, He that is slothful
in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. Paul
could say in 1 Timothy 5.8 that the believer, the professor of
true religions doesn't provide for his family is worse than
an infidel. He says even infidels know that
it's their duty to provide for their family. And somehow Christians
sometimes get so super spiritual that they don't provide for their
family. They're too busy reading theology or chatting with their
buddies about theology and not working diligently to provide
for themselves and their family. It was Melanchthon that came
up with the proverb, idleness is the devil's workshop. Most
of us have heard that. And Melanchthon apparently penned
it, obviously in Latin. Also, we sin against ourselves
or we steal from ourselves when we're wasteful or we squander. That's what the prodigal son
did. He was prodigal. He was wasteful.
He was a squanderer. Proverbs 21, 17, He that loveth
pleasure shall be a poor man. He that loveth wine and oil shall
not be rich. Solomon's not saying you can't
have a little wine. He's not saying you can't have
a little oil to anoint yourself. You can't have a little cologne
or buy something from Bath and Body Works. But he's saying if
that's what you love, you're going to be spending excessive
amounts on those kind of things. You're going to find yourself
poor. You're certainly going to find yourself poor spiritually
if that's where you set your heart. Those kind of things is
what you set your heart upon. Also, wasteful gaming or gambling.
Proverbs 13.11, wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. Wouldn't that be a good headline
on some of those magazines where you hear about this individual
that won this lottery or that lottery? Just have Solomon's
words, God's words. Wealth gotten by vanity shall
be diminished. It also says something about
hopping into get-rich-quick schemes, doesn't it? Also, we can steal from ourselves
and our families when we enter into what's called surety-ship,
or we make a commitment to cover someone else's debts. Proverbs 22.26, Be not thou one
of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for
debts. We also do this by miserliness. We rob ourselves when we're miserly. This is kind of the other side
of the coin. We're to be thrifty. We're to be careful. And yet,
we read in Ecclesiastes 6, Solomon speaks of a man to whom God hath
given riches, wealth, honor, so that he desireth, yet God
giveth him not power to eat thereof. In other words, he can't even
enjoy what he has. He's so miserly, seeking so to
be thrifty and frugal in his own mind or her own mind, that
they cannot even enjoy the things that God has given them to enjoy. That's theft. You're stealing
from yourself if you're miserly to that degree. Thomas Watson
said this, he robs himself of what God allows him. This is
to be punished with riches. To have an estate and lack a
heart to take the comfort in it. Not enjoy and appreciate
what God's given. Whatever that level of enjoyment
might be, that's what God's given you. And to be miserly or niggardly
is a sin in violating this commandment. Now, in closing, I hope you've
seen the truth of what we read in Psalm 119. The commandments
are exceeding broad. Thirty-eight ways, and this isn't
exhaustive, in which this eighth commandment is broken. Zechariah 5, 1-4 We learn of
a scroll, a scroll of God's curse that comes upon the man and upon
his house who swears to God falsely or who is a thief. God says His
curse is upon the homes of thieves. You see, the picture is those
that have been willing to Take false vows. Those that are willing
to steal, they've acquired things that aren't theirs. They have
more than they should. And God says, I'm going to bring
it all to naught. There's going to be rottenness in the timbers. Your
whole home is going to collapse. My curse will be upon you. Praise
be to God that He's placed the curse, that curse, upon His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He became a curse for us. He
who knew no sin. He who lived thirty-three and
a half years and never stole a penny, a paper clip from anybody. The Father was pleased to pour
out His wrath and His curse upon Him for His people. Those that
come to Him through faith. Praise be to our God. Praise
be to Jesus who kept the whole law. for R6.
The Eighth Commandment # 1 - Ex. 20:15
Series The Ten Commandments II
| Sermon ID | 12067226 |
| Duration | 42:58 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Exodus 20:15 |
| Language | English |
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