doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. And you can hear that reflected in the wording of the Catechism, and I'll refer back to it occasionally in the course of the sermon. Three points to the sermon. First of all, the principles, as we introduce the Eighth Commandment. Secondly, the prohibitions, the put off, right? And then the positive requirements, put on. The principles, the prohibitions, and the positive requirements. First of all, some principles as we begin to consider together the Eighth Commandment. The Eighth Commandment, you shall not steal, presupposes a number of things. First of all, it presupposes God's right to regulate economics. It presupposes God's right to regulate economics. The Eighth Commandment, as all of the Ten Commandments, are not exhaustive. Rather, they are summary statements about everything that the Bible has to say about that particular subject. We saw that in the Seventh Commandment. I forget how many sermons we had, but we saw that a range of sexual sins are covered under the Seventh Commandment, do not commit adultery. The same thing with Eighth. commandment and do not steal. The eighth commandment is the sum of all laws in the Bible dealing with how wealth may be properly obtained. And it includes governments and magistrates, you'll notice in the catechism, which governing authorities punish. All right? So it includes governments and magistrates. Think, for example, of Ahab with Naboth stealing his property, or Rehoboam, who taxed the people too heavily, or David bought a field from Arunah, though it was offered to him for free. And so God has a right to regulate economics. Secondly, though, Private property is a divine right. Private property is an ordinance of God. You shall not steal presupposes private property. How could anyone steal if something to be stolen didn't properly belong to somebody besides themselves? There's much to say about economic theory here, and we won't do so this morning. Suffice it to say that we must oppose those efforts like communism or communal ownership, which makes private ownership give way to collective ownership. I actually, when I was in seminary, heard somebody tell me that communism was biblical, and they pointed to certain verses in the Bible, all right? This is nonsense, because when everything belongs to everyone, then nothing really belongs to anyone. It's a great mistake to think this, and in our era when we're hearing calls for redistribution of wealth, and we're told that it's sinful for people to be rich or wealthy, this needs to be addressed. We need to hear God's will, and the Word of God is a light unto our path, when economic matters are being discussed. Turn with me, for example, to Acts chapter 2. This is the passage that people turn to to advance communistic ideas. Acts chapter 2, verses 44 and 45. And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. Now, remarkably, this sounds like Karl Marx in the Communist Manifesto. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. Does it sound like that? It does sound like that, doesn't it? So we have to be patient with people that turn to the Bible and say, you see, communism is biblical, because you have some reason to think that when we turn to this. But a number of things contradict that assertion. First of all, this was voluntary. It was not compulsory. It was voluntary, it was not compulsory. In communism, it is compulsory. Secondly, this is something that was limited to Jerusalem. Something, by the way, which probably contributed to the immense poverty they experienced later on, which resulted in Paul going around the Mediterranean basin and taking a collection for the saints in Jerusalem. They had to do that apparently because they were following this idea and they all became poor. By the way, this is what happened to the pilgrims when they founded America as well. The pilgrims came and initially they were saying from each according to his ability, to each according to his need, and they became poor and almost died until they changed their understanding. That's a history lesson and another point. Christ said that Jerusalem would be destroyed in 70 AD. So it's possible they were selling high when they had bought low. Possibility, all right? We're talking economics here, so, all right? Fourthly, though, Paul went around taking collection for the poor in Jerusalem precisely because of this. But fifthly, look at Acts chapter 5 and verse 4, the example of Ananias and Sapphira. Acts chapter 5, you remember what happened there? I'm not going to repeat it. Verse 4, while it remained unsold, that is, their property, right? Was it not at your disposal? Now, that's private property, all right? This is what I mean by it was voluntary, not compulsory. All right? Did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal that you have contrived this deed in your heart? The apostles recognized private property. If all private property is, if all property is common, then there can be no theft, right? If what's yours is mine, then if I take it, I'm not stealing. Right? So if I steal it, it's something that rightly belongs to you. It's private property. All right? So, secondly, what's being prohibited here? Those are a couple of principles, but a couple of descriptions about what's being prohibited. Stealing, obviously. But stealing is defined quite explicitly in the catechism. All right? It's described as the unlawful obtaining of property. The unlawful obtaining of property. In the Catechism, it says inaccurate measurements of weights or schemes made to appear legitimate. Think of business practices where employers do not pay their employees wages or worthy wages. These are schemes made to appear legitimate. It talks about fraudulent merchandising. How much of television is premised on fraudulent merchandising? Or when you go to the grocery store. We were getting some supplies for the home and for church the other day, and in the back of the car, Julie had a bag of potato chips. It was about this big. Right? And then you look down at the weight. It's two ounces. Right? You're made to think you're buying this huge bag of potato chips. Oh, and it's on sale for $5.89. You know, look at the weight. It's two ounces. Right? Fraudulent merchandising. Business practices. Catechism talks about counterfeit money. False coins. All right? You ever look at a quarter? I don't have a quarter in my pocket. I keep it in my car for meters. Right? You ever look at a quarter? It's not silver. It's painted silver. It's copper. False coins, right? Says something about economics. Money with no or little real value. And if you think this is strictly economics, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church had to close their mission in Japan because the exchange rate was so dramatically impacted by economic theories. Directly impacted in a negative way, missions. Usury. Usury. Excessive interest. Literally charging any interest on a loan to a fellow Christian in need. The Bible forbids this in Leviticus and in Exodus. Business loans, all right, and charging interest on them is perfectly fine. But if you come to me and say, hey, I'm out of work, I need money to buy groceries or pay my rent or pay my bill, and you're a Christian brother and I loan you money and say, hey, that's going to cost you 10% interest, right? That's forbidden. That's forbidden by the Bible. For a brother or a sister in need, we're to be assisting one another, not making money off them. This would also cover receiving stolen goods, all right? Those of you who You can't remember the practice, but those in a digital age, be careful of receiving stolen goods, all right? Proverbs 29, 24, you want a verse? Here's a verse. Proverbs 29, 24 says, the accomplice of a thief is just like a thief if you receive stolen goods. Not paying debts. The Catechism talks about greed, talks about gambling, all right? And it talks about work. It talks about pointless squandering of the gifts that God gives you, all right? These are all things covered by the Eighth Commandment. It's interesting, when you look at the Heidelberg Catechism, you could look at the Westminster Larger as well, it's a little bit later on in the back of the hymnal, and see the descriptions of what's covered under the Eighth Commandment. It's actually quite comprehensive. Well, what about positive requirements? Well, look at Ephesians 4 again, please. Ephesians 4. Remember, we're looking at put off, put on. Both, right? Put off. Let the thief no longer steal, but put on. Rather, let him labor. Isn't that what the catechism also said? It's not enough, listen. Somebody's a crook, right? Somebody's a thief. And they stop stealing. They say, I'm not gonna steal anymore. No more second story jobs, no more, right, whatever, right? What would you call that person? The Bible does not call them repentant. The Bible says they're just an unemployed thief. Because what's required is to put on something positive. That is, look, this is the Bible and this isn't Murphy. Rather, let him labor. In other words, if you've been making your living by stealing other people's property, stop it, and get a job, and start earning money lawfully, right? The Eighth Commandment, by the way, in the Heidelberg Catechism, the Eighth Commandment requires you to accumulate wealth. Shouldn't have closed this, excuse me. The Eighth Commandment requires you to accumulate wealth. That I work faithfully so that I may help the needy in their hardship. That is, not just to sustain yourself, but to sustain others. To do that, you have to have discretionary money, right? So it's requiring you not just to get by, not just subsistence living, right? But to have accumulate, so that you're in a position to share, all right? Which is very important. Look at verse 28 again. Let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need." The Eighth Commandment positively requires generosity, requires sharing. And Christians ought to be the most generous people, of course, given one's ability to do so, right? We're not talking about giving away all your money if you have no money. But for most of us, we have discretionary funds, and we should be generous with them. We should discriminate on where we give our money, all right? We don't want to make parasites. We want to make people productive, right? We need to discriminate on where we give our money. We don't want to give our money just to everybody on the street that asks, all right? And there are plenty of people on the street that ask, all right? The Bible actually discriminates. I realize this is a dirty word in our day, but we have to be biblical even when people don't like it, all right? The Bible encourages us to discriminate with respect to helping people in need. Proverbs, for example, talks about sloth and the sluggard. You're familiar with that, I trust, right? It talks about those who are slothful and those who are sluggardly. They are not to be supported. People who could work if only they would, as opposed to people that would work if only they could. They need a job, right? That's a different thing. People who would work, if only they could. Give them an opportunity, they're going to grab it, they're going to work, they're going to want to earn money, they're going to want to make a living, they're going to want to have enough money to be able to be generous to those that were generous to them when they were in a position of need. That's a good thing, but the Bible says, no, discriminate, not everybody is like that. There are people who could work, if only they would, but they don't want to. Right? It's easy to hold out a cup on the corner, by the way, often make $100, $150 a day doing that. or spending it on various substances. It's very interesting. We drove across the Brooklyn Bridge one day, and we had leftover bagels in the car. And there was a guy panhandling at the red light, and said, don't have any money, but I'll give you food. No, I don't want that. just want money. Right? Some guy gave us a sob story when we were going door-to-door downtown, when we were downtown, we were going door-to-door. This guy gave us a sob story about how he was out of work, wasn't able to provide for his family, his children were starving, he had no food. We went to the drugstore down on the corner, I think it was Wayne Reed, on the corner of Fulton and Pearl. Went down there and bought him Formula, a big can of formula for his child. He was so thankful. Well, on the way back to continue our door-to-door evangelism, he went into Duane Reade and cashed it in and got the money. We live in New York City. We have to be discerning. We have to discriminate, all right? The Bible calls us to faithful stewardship in this regard. At this point, you may ask, where is the gospel in this? Well, we're talking to Christians. Paul doesn't make the gospel explicit in Ephesians chapter 4, but this is not moralism. The gospel is the power that enables one to live this way. The gospel is for sinners because Christ died for thieves and for robbers. Paul here is telling his hearers, he's telling you and me, to be like Christ who said it's more blessed to give than to receive. Who though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. And because one is a new creature in Christ, Paul calls you to put off the old man and to put on the new man created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness and become more and more, day after day, converted to be like Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord God and Heavenly Father, we want to ask that you would grant us that grace. We ask that you would grant us that power. We ask that you would remind us of all that was done for us by Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich for our sakes, became poor that we might become rich. We are thankful that you have given us all things in him and that you have given us particularly every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We are indeed rich, although we have nothing but that which we have received from you. So with hearts of thanks, we ask you for these things, and that we might be faithful stewards. For we ask it in Jesus' name, and for his sake, amen. And amen.