Amen. Let us turn to the Word of God, Exodus chapter 21 and into chapter 22. It is a unit that's united by the continual use of a single Hebrew word translated with a few different English words. You may know the Hebrew word Shalom. That means peace. There's a word that sounds very close to it, shalom, which means restitution or repay. And in the 19 verses of our text, that one Hebrew word is used 17 times. And once it's translated restoration in 21 verse 34. Sometimes it's translated restitution. such as in 22 verse 5, and then sometimes it's translated pay or repay, see that in 22.1, 22.3, but in the Hebrew even that constant use of the one verb is just uniting this all together and constant reminder that it is good to repay when possible the person who has been wronged. And here's some ways that the law of God spells out how that is to be. Exodus chapter 21, that's starting on page 79 in the Bibles under the seats. And we'll read from verse 33 of chapter 21 through verse 15 of chapter 22. Let us hear the word of God. When a man opens a pit or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it and an ox or donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner and the dead beast shall be his. When one man's ox butts another's so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price and the dead beast also they shall share. Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox and the dead beast shall be his. If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief is found breaking in and instructs that he dies, there shall be no blood guilt for him. But if the sun has risen on him, there shall be blood guilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard. If a fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution. If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man's house, then if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox or a donkey or a sheep or a cloak or for any kind of lost thing of which one says, This is it. The case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe and it dies or is injured or is driven away without anyone seeing it, an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution. But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn. If a man borrows anything of his neighbor and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution. If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution. If it was hired, it came for its hiring fee." So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, you shall not steal those four simple words Only two words in the Hebrew of Exodus chapter 20 verse 15 make up the 8th commandment. But just as the 7th commandment, you shall not commit adultery, speaks to much more than just the act of adultery, so the 8th commandment speaks to much more than just the act of outright theft. The law of God is perfect. The law of God is deep. The law of God impacts every deed and word and thought that we have. And so as we continue through the case laws section of Exodus, we have a series of cases here that relate to the Eighth Commandment. And outright theft is part of what is addressed, but there are other situations addressed as well. There are other cases of the damaging or the loss of the property of others which are brought before us in the text. And our theme this morning as we look at this is to respect and restore when possible the private property of others. Respect and restore when possible the private property of others. And we're first going to look at moderate restitution in matters of carelessness. And if you want to put verses next to this, we're looking especially at 21, 33 to 34, and chapter 22, verses 5 and 6 for these matters of carelessness. Well, first in verse 34, we see that if a person fails to cover their pit and the neighbor of an animal wanders into the pit and is injured, then the person who had that uncovered pit, they must restore the value to the owner of the animal. Now the owner of the animal has also been somewhat careless in letting his animal roam into another person's property, but as even some of our members know from first-hand experience, you can't always keep every animal in. And so While this isn't something where the owner of the pit has to pay back double or fourfold or fivefold or anything like that, we'll come to those kinds of penalties in our second point, you still should not leave even a pit on your own property uncovered. Because you should know that an animal might wander over there and this is dangerous, this is not good. You're not taking care of even your own things, your own pit, in such a way that would respect even the animal of your neighbor who could wander in that direction. And so the owner of the pit, verse 34, must make restoration and pay back the owner of the animal. 22 verse 5 deals with a person who would carelessly allow his animal to damage the field owned by another person. You need to make restitution. Again, it's not paying double, it's not paying fourfold or fivefold. This is not outright theft, but you need to pay from the best of your own field what was lost from your neighbor. Chapter 22, verse 6, what about if you set a fire? And it was not uncommon to set some kind of brush fire in days past. This is something that you would do, but you need to be careful when you set a fire. If you set a fire and it gets out of control, you need to pay for the damage to other people's property. The end of verse 6, "...shall make full restitution." And while it's not Pay double, pay fourfold, pay fivefold. If you let a big fire get out of control, that may end up being a pretty stiff repayment. Have you ever heard the expression, do not play with fire? It's one of those phrases where we don't find the exact words in the scripture, but Proverbs chapter 6 verse 27 comes pretty close. basically paraphrase Proverbs 6 verse 27 and say, do not play with fire. And here is another place in the Bible where it's worked out in law code form and the principle is very plain to us. Do not play with fire. Now, brothers and sisters, let's go back to the pit for a moment and We don't dig pits for watering holes and things the way that the Israelites did, but let's take the principle of something that you own that could cause damage to others, you need to proactively work to prevent danger. So what does that principle look like? What are some pits that that you need to cover up, that we need to cover up, things that could be dangerous to other people. Well, do many of us spend time on the road? And spending time on the road, do we sometimes carry something, either attached to our roof or on a trailer that we're pulling behind us? We need to be careful with those things that could cause danger, right? So I'll give even a specific example from my own life when I did not do this. Thankfully no one was hurt. But I'll tell you one of the worst seconds in my life was when I was borrowing the kayak of my brother-in-law and I'm driving back from the lake and I did not strap it on the car as well as I should have. And you know a kayak is hollow and so if it catches the wind and it's not strapped on right, it's going to go flying, and I figured out it can go flying up way high in the air. And so when I hear this rattling and this breaking, and then I see behind me this kayak going way up in the air, that is something that just makes your heart sink. And it is a quick prayer to the Lord, please do not hurt anybody. Thankfully no one was hurt. So it's almost a little bit like, whoa, how high up can a kayak go? But in the moment, and if anybody had been hurt, I mean, that's a life-altering event in a person's life, right? Because why? Because I wasn't careful enough strapping the kayak onto the top of my car. Thankfully, I was on a two-lane road. Nobody else was driving on the other side or behind me at the time. Thankfully, it even landed on a soft part of the shoulder. And so I didn't have to pay any restitution. I didn't even have to pay back my brother-in-law for a broken kayak. It survived the fall. The only thing that I went to purchase was a good pair of ratchet straps. But it is an event which became almost lighthearted But for a second, it was very heart sinking. And it could have been terrible. Well, this is a pit that we need to cover up. You need to be very careful when you're driving with something that could become loose, that could cause damage. And then there's other ways, brothers and sisters, that we can think about. What pits do we need to cover up? Now sometimes, sometimes accidents happen. And that happens too. But sometimes accidents are outside of our control. Sometimes there are things that we can control. And do we even have lists of things to fix up, to keep in good order, to keep safe? This is all part of covering our pits and respecting our neighbors property and our neighbor's safety. We can even give another example, even specific to a church fellowship hall. I heard a pastor give this example once in a sermon on this text. What happens when we worship together? Well, we have young and old and in between, all in the same place. and what happens after service sometimes especially in you know maybe like a long Wisconsin winter when kids can't go outside. What do the children want to do? Well they want to run around inside the church. But what should the children and what should parents, this even convicted me to be faster as a parent to think about this, what should we be saying and doing? Well we should not be running around because what is a running child in a small space? Well it's kind of like an uncovered pit. Because what happens when a small child runs into one of our elderly members? Well, that's not safe. That's not good. That's like an uncovered pit. We need to respect the people around us. We need to know there's a good time to run and play, but it's not inside the church fellowship hall after a service. Now, these are not, again, matters of outright And so even the case of playing with fire, that's not good. You should be very careful when you're playing with fire. But the man should not be punished by paying double. It was an accident, at least in some sense. It's not an outright theft. But when there's outright theft, and this takes us to our second point, then the penalty should be more. It's not only pay back, but it's also you have made a direct and willful violation of your neighbor's property. You need to more than pay back. You need to, in various situations, pay double or pay fourfold or pay fivefold. And if you can't pay, verse 3, then you're going to be sold into indentured service. So look at 22 verse 1. If a man has been caught stealing an ox or a sheep, and then he has killed or stolen that animal, he shall pay back fourfold for the sheep and fivefold for the ox." A trained ox was a vital part, if an Israelite family could afford one, of that family's life. It was a vital part of the work on the farm. It was part of their livelihood. If you steal someone's livelihood by outright theft, there should be severe penalties for this. Now, there's an interesting law in verse 4. If a person is caught in possession of a stolen animal and has not yet killed it or sold it, then you only pay back double. Why? Why the difference between killing a stolen animal and still having it in your possession? Well here, brothers and sisters, is one time when we should step back because the case laws of Israel, they give good principles. principles for law that every nation should consider. But this is one of those places where we step back and we remember that this is not just any nation. This is a theocratic nation. This is a covenant people of God and so it is specifically designed and specifically written into the law of God that there should be repentance and forgiveness. OK, so now what's the difference between the person who's stolen and killed an animal versus somebody who's stolen and still has an animal in their possession? The person who still has the animal in their possession could, at least in theory, be ready to repent and bring that animal back. Indeed, in Leviticus chapter 6 verses 4 and 5, there's further case law details about the 8th commandment that specify what you do when a person, before they are caught, brings a stolen animal back. The law of Israel is a law for God's covenant people, and there are specific laws about the hope that there would be repentance and returning things in that way, and specific laws for, again, Leviticus chapter six, when a person repents and returns property. In that case, there's still a small penalty, recognizing the fact that you did steal something, even though you returned it, and you have to return it and pay back one fifth of the value of the animal as part of your repentance and returning. the stolen property. With this in mind, brothers and sisters, with the purpose of bringing God's people to repentance and even various ways and that's recognized in the law, let's turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12 because this is one of the places where a few hundred years after the days of Moses There is a quotation of Exodus chapter 22 verse 1 by David. Because Nathan comes to rebuke David and he begins with a parable about a rich man who has stolen a lamb from a poor man and he doesn't still have that lamb in his possession, he has slaughtered that lamb in order to feed a guest. And David knows exactly what the law of God says. His knowledge of God's law is impeccable. He has it memorized and he knows exactly what the law demands. Look at 2 Samuel Chapter 12, verses 5 and 6, Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity. What is that? Do you have the law codes of Exodus 21-23? memorized so that when somebody comes and tells you about the sheet being stolen and being slaughtered that you can just rattle off. He's got to return it fourfold. But then because of the way in which it was done, David recognizes it's really even worse. The law codes of Israel, they do not favor the rich or the poor. David recognizes at the heart of the law, the rich man really deserves a more severe penalty, but he rattles off the penalty. He knows it. He knows exactly. He's got it memorized. Fourfold repay. But this is God's covenant people. So the law is not just about the law. The law is about bringing people to repentance and to hope that people will repent. And indeed, this was just a parable to show David his own sins because he's committed a worse crime. Not outright theft, but what we might call outright adultery and outright murder. And so what are the next words from Nathan the prophet? You are the man. And then Nathan seeks to bring David to repentance. And what are the next words that David says? 2 Samuel 12 verse 13, I have sinned against the Lord. Are the next words from David's mouth. The laws of the nation of Israel are not simply good civil laws for their national and societal contexts. They are laws that are meant to have a repentant covenant people. And surely, brothers and sisters, this is the most important thing about the law. I hope you know the law of God well. And think again about how David just, he knows what the law of God says. Fourfold. You've taken a sheep, you've killed it, fourfold. How well do you know God's law? He is your king. You are his servant. Does not his law show us the way to live gratefully before him? We should know what God requires of us. Galatians 5, 1 Corinthians 13, these are good passages to know well and we can list off others. But more important than a good knowledge of the law is to apply the law to our own hearts and to say, I have sinned against the Lord. And so we confess and we take our sins to the King of kings, great David's greater son, the son of David, who is also the eternal son of God, Jesus Christ. The King who knows the law perfectly and also keeps the law perfectly, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Brothers and sisters, let's continue on in our text. Careful restitution in matters of keeping and borrowing. This is chapter 22 verses 8 to 15. I'm not going to get into many of the details here, but just note that we're dealing with various situations of damaged or lost property when a neighbor has been borrowing or keeping someone else's property. We don't We don't talk about house sitting too often today. We're blessed to live in a quite secure place and society. But in less secure places and in days before banks and storage units, it was more common, or it can be more common in less secure places even to this day, to ask your neighbors to watch over your things. And then also there's cases about not just like house sitting, watching over your neighbor's property, but there's also all kinds of keeping and borrowing brought into these verses. And so if you're borrowing your neighbor's animal and these situations. Now what happens if somebody else is watching over your property or keeping your property and something is lost or damaged? Well now this can get a little bit complicated, can't it? Sometimes it'll be fairly straightforward. You catch the thief. All right, we know what happened. We caught the thief. The thief needs to pay double. That's verse 7. Or sometimes the person who was keeping one of your animals, they can prove that it was torn apart by wild beasts. And so it was outside of their control. And that's verse 13. And they don't have to pay you back. But what about verses 8 and 9 and verses 10 and 11? Verses 8 and 9 are about someone's watching over your property. Some of your property is lost. You don't catch the thief. Now what if you say, hey, wait a second. Are you house sitter? Did you take it? Now what do we do? It's not so straightforward. or verses 10 and 11. You were keeping my animal, my animal's been lost, and you can't give any proof of how that happened. And now maybe I'm going to suspect you because you were watching over it. No, it's not so straightforward. What are we going to do? And in both of these cases, these two Israelites must come before the presence of God and take a solemn oath. That's implied in verse 9, both parties shall come before God, and there's kind of an oath-type language there, but then it's explicit in verse 11. They both need to come and make an oath by the Lord. Verse 11, an oath by the Lord shall be between them. Again, brothers and sisters, God's New Testament people, When we look back at Israel, we're not just looking back at any nation. This is God's covenant nation. This is God's covenant people. And so in these breach of trust cases where it's like, what happened to my property? You were watching it. They are to both come before the Lord and make a solemn oath. What does this remind them of and bring them into oath-taking seriousness? Hopefully they were being serious already, but what does this remind them of? It's a reminder of what? That God sees everything. You may be able to hide the stealing of something. Let's take what we might call a simple example. You steal time from your employer? Do you think that you could hide that? Or what about remembering that the law of God always goes to the heart level? Do you think it's possible? Not always, because the heart spills over. But do you think it's possible to keep secret sins in your heart without other people really knowing about it? this breach of trust practice where both neighbors need to come before the Lord and take an oath in His name. It's a reminder that God sees all things. God knows all things. And so if you think that you can sneak something past your neighbor, well, maybe you can. And maybe one of the Israelites here is being dishonest. but we can hope that coming before the Lord and taking a solemn oath would lead to repentance, would be a reminder of the truth that God sees everything. And so, hopefully, if the neighbor has not stolen the property, and it really did, come out from under his nose while he was watching it, then they can both take an oath and the owner can say, I trust you, I'll have to leave it go. Or, what do we come back to? We come back to that the covenant people of God should be repentant people. And remembering that we might sneak things past man, but there is nothing that we can take past God. If the neighbor really has stolen the goods, coming before the Lord and taking an oath, let him say, I cannot lie before man and God. I am the thief. Forgive me. And I ask the Lord for forgiveness. Let's turn with me to one more text. Hebrews chapter 4, where the author of Hebrews moves directly from the truth that God sees everything, and doesn't that remind us all of our sin? and our need for God's forgiveness moves directly from the truth that God sees and knows everything to, in the next verses, Jesus Christ, the only one without sin. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 13. And no creature is hidden from his sight, from God's sight. but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." But where is our hope? We continue reading in verse 14. Since we have a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Oh, brothers and sisters, God's people are always called to be a repentant people. Let's go back one more time to those two neighbors with the breach of trust coming before the Lord to make an oath. What if the neighbor has really stolen, if the house sitter has really stolen the property, what should he do? He should know that he is coming before the throne of grace. and the God who sees all. And he should say, Lord, you know what I have done, but forgive me of my sins. And it is the same, brothers and sisters, for us. Whatever we might try to sneak past our fellow man, whatever we might try to hide, in our heart, we take it to the Lord. And as we take it to the Lord, we take it to the throne of grace. And we take it as sinners, forgiven, because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, Our Lord, You do see all things, and You, Lord, promise forgiveness to us sinners.