Our preparatory sermon, considering Lord's Day 42, the catechism's explanation of the eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal. In that connection, we read the word of God in Psalm 50. Psalm 50, we'll read the whole of that psalm. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice, and the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself. Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will speak. O Israel, and I will testify against thee. I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house nor he goats out of thy folds, for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee For the world is mine, and the fullness their own. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statute, so that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee? When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentest with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou slanderest thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such and one as thyself, but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. who offereth praise glorifieth me, and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I show the salvation of God. I read God's Word thus far, and it's on the basis of that and many other similar passages and of the whole of scripture that were instructed in Lord's Day 42 of the Heidelberg Catechism concerning the Eighth Commandment, thou shalt not steal. Lord's Day 42, what doth God forbid in the Eighth Commandment? God forbids not only those thefts and robberies which are punishable by the magistrate, but he comprehends under the name of theft all wicked tricks and devices whereby we design to appropriate to ourselves the goods which belong to our neighbor, whether it be by force or under the appearance of right, as by unjust weights, elves, measures, fraudulent merchandise, false coins, usury, or by any other way forbidden by God, as also all covetousness, all abuse and waste of his gifts. But what does God require in this commandment? That I promote the advantage of my neighbor in every instance I can or may, and deal with him as I desire to be dealt with by others. Further also, that I faithfully labor so that I may be able to relieve the needy. The Eighth Commandment of the Law of God, along with the Heidelberg Catechism's explanation of this commandment, teach us that God is not only interested in your spiritual life, but God is also interested in your earthly life, in such things as your work and income, your saving and your spending, your earthly possessions, the standard of living that you pursue, the things that you keep for yourself and the things that you give to others and that you give to the Lord. This commandment by forbidding theft is dealing with all of those things. dealing with how we get earthly things, dealing with what we do with those earthly things, dealing with our relationship to our earthly goods. God is addressing that aspect of our life here in the eighth commandment. This commandment does not deny that we need money and that we need earthly goods. It is not a commandment that teaches us to despise those things. And that's because it's not money that is the root of all evil, but as 1 Timothy 6 points out, it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. is an attitude. The problem, therefore, is not money itself. The problem is not the possessions that we have. The problem is not the amount of earthly goods that we own, but a person's attitude toward those things. Therefore, as we consider this Lord's Day, as a sermon to prepare us for the Lord's Supper, may that, namely our attitude toward earthly goods, be a significant part of our self-examination. And that's because our attitude is significant. It is the attitude that determines the actions. And it may be. that you discover through the Spirit's work that you are one who loves money, or that you are one who wants to be rich, or you are one who is covetous. If so, then may you repent of those sins against the Eighth Commandment. Consider then God's command concerning earthly goods. We'll notice the biblical principle, the godly practice, and the proper motive. The society and the world in which we live, beloved, has an unbiblical view concerning money and a very unbiblical and distorted view concerning the possession of earthly things, the things that money can buy. The world in which we live, namely the world of the ungodly, the world of unbelievers, is one that does not acknowledge God in this realm of things. Either they say, as many do, God does not exist at all. If they believe that He does exist, or if they acknowledge that He does exist, they will say, this aspect of our lives, our money, our earthly goods, our earthly possessions, have nothing to do with God. This is man's realm. And therefore, money and earthly goods are things concerning which the unbeliever says I am the outright owner of these things. I have attained these things for myself by means of my hard work, my wise use of the things that I've gotten for myself, as well as my careful saving of them, and so I have the right to do as I please with the things that I have. I can even waste them. And many do, especially through the sin of gambling, a sin against the Eighth Commandment. They say they have the right to do whatever they want. It doesn't matter what they do with the things that they possess. The Christian, the child of God, saved by His grace and directed by His Spirit, and directed here as we consider this part of the Heidelberg Catechism to live a life of gratitude before God, has a fundamentally different understanding and starting point regarding earthly things. And that starting point and that understanding of the child of God is expressed in the last two words of answer 110. These two words, his gifts. His gifts. God's gifts. That's the believer's understanding of and the believer's description of earthly goods. All that I have is His. Everything I have belongs to God. He has sovereign ownership of all things, and including all of the things that are in my hands, that might be in my possession. Anything I have, I have because it is a gift of God to me. The only reason I have it is because He gave it to me. And that's the perspective of the believer. because that's what God himself states about our earthly goods, our earthly possessions. As we read of that in Psalm 50, verses 10 through 12, God says, for every beast of the forest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee For the world is mine, and the fullness thereof." God owns the creation itself. He owns the land, the trees, the oceans, the mountains, every country that exists. He owns the whole universe. It belongs to God. God owns everything that we have in our possession as we live our lives in this world. He owns our homes, he owns our vehicles, he owns all the personal belongings that we have. And God owns, as Psalm 50 specifically states, all of the animals in this creation, the animals on a farm, as well as all of the wild animals in this world. And he also owns every human. Psalm 24 expresses much the same thing. We sang that earlier. And notice this in Psalm 24 verse one, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Every person belongs to God. You belong to God, your friends belong to God, your children belong to God, your spouse belongs to God. Everyone belongs to God. And why? Because he created it. Psalm 24 verse two. For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. And as the sovereign owner of all things, God is also the one who distributes things. That brings us back to that phrase, those two words, His gifts. God distributes all things. And God distributes all things to all men. He doesn't only distribute things to His people. He distributes things also to the ungodly, to the unbeliever. And the things that He gives to the unbeliever are His gifts to them, and that doesn't mean common grace that because God gives a good gift to an unbeliever, now God is being gracious to that unbeliever. You have to understand that behind the giving of God to the ungodly, and we sang of that in Psalm 37, is the fact that He does not give it to them in grace. He does not give it to them with His favor. And the things that He gives to them, though they are good gifts from God, He up judgment upon the ungodly who do not acknowledge or thank God as the giver, nor use those things to serve God. But God gives good gifts, and He gives those good gifts to us. Each person has a different amount. God sovereignly distributes according to His will, His purpose. And this we can say, when it comes to what God gives to us, His distribution of things is wise and loving. He has a good purpose in the amount that He gives or withholds from us. That is the basic principle of the Eighth Commandment. belongs to God. And it's when we forget or deny that, then we struggle with the sins that this commandment forbids. Covetousness, discontentment, unthankfulness, and stealing. Because we forget everything belongs to God. Now this commandment, in close connection with that, tells us something about ourselves too. If everything belongs to God, then in relation to all the things that God gives to us in His wisdom, we are simply stewards of those things, and to be a steward is illustrated in a very clear way by the life of Joseph, who was a steward first of all for Potiphar and then later for Pharaoh in Egypt. There were three things that were true of him as a steward of those things, and the same three things are true of us as stewards. First of all, a steward is someone who owns nothing. He doesn't even own himself. Everything belongs to God. We belong to God. Joseph was simply a slave in Egypt. He belonged to his master, Potiphar, first of all, who had purchased him for money. He was himself dirt poor. He owned nothing. really instructs us concerning how we should view what we possess. We shouldn't say everything I have belongs to me. This is my, this is my house. These are my belongings. You really cannot call anything mine. We have it in our possession, but it still belongs to God. That's true even if we obtain it through our own hard work. It still belongs to God. We are slaves. We are stewards who own nothing. And in reality, therefore, everyone is poor. Steward owns nothing. Secondly, a steward is one who uses what he has been given with a view to the good of the one who gave it to him, with a view to the good of his master. We as stewards may not use what God has given to us selfishly. for our own pleasures, our own desires, and our own wants, and busy, busy pursuing all those things with the things that God gives to us, so that then at the end of the day, at the end of the week, we have nothing to give to God, nothing left, or very little left to give to God. That's stealing from God. A faithful steward The believing child of God asks, what will God have me do with the things that God has given to me? The thankful believer says this in answer to that question, God comes first in my life and in my use of the things that God has given and in my giving, not second, not third, and certainly not last. First, as the catechism points out too and reminds us, we give to the causes of the kingdom of God. We faithfully labor so that I may be able to relieve the needy. And then also in that answer, promoting the advantage of my neighbor reminds me of what a man said to me once many years ago. He said this about his money, his income. He says, I need to look for and give to needy causes and to needy fellow believers so that I'm not tempted to waste my money all on myself, on things that I might want but I don't really need. He wasn't a rich man. He was not a businessman. He was a working man who had a basic income. By God's grace, seeking first the kingdom of God. Then thirdly, as regard a steward, a steward is someone who must give an account to his master of what he has done with the things that his master has given him, put under his care, charged him to watch over. For us, Judgment Day is coming, and God holds every one of us accountable with regard to his gifts to us. God will ask us, what did you do with the things that I gave to you? How did you use them? Did you use them well, or did you waste them? Did you seek first my kingdom, or did you seek first yourself? We're stewards. Everything we have belongs to God. We own nothing. We must use what God has given for Him, first of all. We must give an account one day. Out of those principles follows, or from those principles follows the godly practice. What about that? What is our proper use of the things that God gives? Well, first of all, the Catechism points out this, that one way in which we must respect God's right to distribute things as He has willed, as He has purposed, is that we not commit the sin of covetousness. That is forbidden. God forbids all covetousness in the Eighth Commandment. And so we break this commandment by being covetous. We break this commandment by being discontent with what God has given us and coveting the things that God has not given to us. Those are the attitudes that lead to theft, to stealing. Those are the attitudes that lead us to think that we may have what others have. And we may have what others have because We often think to ourselves, they have so much in comparison, so what's wrong with me having some of what they have? Even a child thinking that way. My parents have a lot of money, so what does it matter if I steal a few dollars out of my mom's purse or my dad's wallet? They own everything in this house, so what's wrong with it if I steal some goodies out of the fridge or the pantry? Catechism condemns all theft that flows from that and points out that theft does flow from that. We must pray about and learn to be content with the things that God has given us, remembering God distributes wisely. God distributes lovingly. God distributes according to His wisdom, which has planned what we need, what He will give us, so that we can serve Him, and through what He has given, or not given, be prepared by Him for glory. Covetousness and discontentment amounts to being dissatisfied with God, questioning his wisdom concerning what he has given, as though we say God is unfair in his distribution of things. But if you're a steward who owns nothing, How can you dare to say that God is unfair? So the commandment condemns covetousness. Secondly, we must not abuse or waste God's gifts, the things that God has given us. When God gives us those things, he still retains the ownership of them because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. So even when we have things in our possession and we're using those things, we're still dealing with the things that belong to God. He has given us those things. We are privileged to receive them. He has put those things under our care, as it were, and he gives us the calling and the duty to use those things responsibly, not to waste them and not to abuse them. And that applies not only to earthly possession, But it also applies to our God-given abilities. We steal from God if we abuse and waste our abilities, our talents. They're given to us so that we can seek how best to use those abilities, those talents for God. use them for the benefit of His kingdom, to use them for the benefit of the church, to use them for the benefit of our fellow believers, because God has formed us into a body in which every member serves and functions in that body with a view to the benefit of the other members of the body. Asking ourselves, therefore, when God gives us certain talents, certain abilities, how can I use these for the good of the church and the good of the kingdom of God and the welfare of my fellow saints? Is the Lord calling me to use these abilities as an office bearer, a pastor, a minister of the gospel, or an elder, or a deacon? Has the Lord given me these talents so that I may use them to be a teacher? Has the Lord given me these talents so that I may use them to be a godly mother in the Very easy to use them for ourselves. We have these wonderful talents, gifts of the mind, gifts of the body, and we pursue a career with those gifts in order that we might receive a high income in that career and enjoy what we might consider to be a better life with that income, which makes us makes one wonder sometimes, and even ask, is that sometimes why there is a lack of ministers in our churches, and a lack of students for the ministry, and sometimes a lack of teachers, too? The need is great. Many, it would appear, have the ability Are they seriously considering if they can use those abilities to serve the kingdom of God and the church with them? We may not abuse or waste God's gifts. Then the Lord's Day also mentions this, we are called to work so that we are able to to others. Notice that in the second question and answer of this Lord's Day, further also that I faithfully labor so that I may be able to relieve the needy. We are commanded to work. If we don't work, if we're lazy, even though we could work, we break the eighth commandment, we steal. Sometimes one might be tempted not to take on a certain work, to take on a certain job because, well, it's too menial a task for me to be doing each day, or there's not enough income in that job offer. I'd be better off collecting unemployment. While the ungodly may say those things, the thankful believer must not say that. We must understand that we are called to work and not be lazy. The fourth commandment that recalls us to remember the Sabbath day also says, six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. The child of God works. And it doesn't matter what the job is, as long as it's not a sinful work for a believer to be doing. Children also working, working in the calling you have as children in school. The important thing is not that you get an A in your studies and in your class, but the important thing is, did you do your best? Did you work hard? using your time and your talents and abilities to do the best in thankfulness to God. And we work and are called to work so that we may be able to support the church and help the needy. called to give. We have the opportunity to give and the privilege to give every Lord's Day. Collections are part of our worship service, and it's a part of worship that we give. Thankful worship to God. Our giving to the causes of God's kingdom is not through just sending a check in the mail to the church, but through giving that's part of our worship services. And we worship God in that way and in thankfulness to Him, giving to the causes of the Church and the Kingdom of God, the Benevolence Fund, the General Fund, supporting our Christian schools through giving, using well in those ways what God has given, and in those ways seeking first the Kingdom of God. The child of God gives willingly because he understands, I'm not giving away my money. I'm simply giving and putting to good use for the causes of the kingdom of God what belongs already to God. Because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. In those ways, the Spirit leads us to obey this commandment. What is it that motivates us to do so? It motivates us to do what is right and good with the things that God has given to us. To answer that question, just think a moment of what it is that leads to the breaking of the Eighth Commandment. If someone wants to steal, if someone is covetous, if someone wastes the good gifts that God has given to him or her, why does he or she do that? The answer is in 1 Timothy 6, 9, and 10. And those two verses point out three things. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil. which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. If someone steals and covets and wastes his gifts, that's because, as those two verses point out, he loves money and he wants to be rich. And thirdly, he covets after money, all of which point to the fact that that person has another God. The God of that individual is the God of money. He loves that God, and he serves that God instead of serving the true God. And that points us to the proper motive. In addition to thankfulness, that proper motive is that the child of God confesses, my God is God. And I love him. And that stands, you understand, in sharp contrast to the love of money. It's always a matter of either or, one or the other. As Matthew 6.24 points out, Christ said there, you cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve God and money. It's either that we're led by the Spirit to love God, or we commit the sin of loving earthly goods, earthly wealth, and money. The love of money, concerning the love of money, scripture gives a very significant warning. It's not wrong to have money. It's not wrong to be rich. But we are warned in the word of God of the dangers of money. 1 Timothy 6 speaks of that. Some who love money and covet it err from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6 again, don't trust in uncertain riches. Riches are uncertain, are unstable. can have them today, and they can be all gone tomorrow. Mark 10 verse 23, Christ said, it's very hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And Christ in Mark 4 verse 19 pointed out that there is the deceitfulness of riches. Riches deceive. And they can result in this, that they choke the word. They suffocate out the word. They suffocate a person from hearing that word, the word of God. Certainly a warning. The truly thankful child of God says, and taking to heart those warnings, says, not money is my God, God is my God. It's not money that I love, but I love the Lord. I love God who in His love has given me so much. That's the character of God's love. God's love is not selfish. God's love is a giving love. He gives and He keeps giving. He gives every earthly thing that I need. But He also gives me spiritual things. The greatest gift of all, His own Son. And He always gives wisely in His love for me as one of His children. loving me so much that he has determined exactly what's good for my soul in his giving. He doesn't just give haphazardly, randomly. He has carefully planned in his love what to give me. And therefore, even if the child of God has less earthly goods than others, He understands that he is rich beyond measure, and rich beyond measure because he has Christ, and he is rich in the Son of God, with the mercy of God, and the goodness of God, and the love of God, and eternal life in Christ. With regard to earthly things, we might say everyone is poor. But with regard to spiritual things, every one of us is rich. And realizing the goodness and riches of God that we have received, we're humbled by that. Who are we? Who are we that God should give us Christ and make us rich in Him? Who are we that Christ should become poor in order to make us spiritually and eternally wealthy? Why have the riches of Christ and Christ Himself been given to us when there are so many others to whom they are not given? and much to be thankful for. And so we strive to show our gratitude by serving God with what God has given us, seeking first His kingdom and its righteousness with what He has given to us, and doing that in the confidence that the Word of God gives us, namely that God will provide what we need. God is our Father. He promises to provide for us and he puts us in the family of God here where within that family there are the means in place for us to be provided in our needs. We trust in him and we are confident. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So as we prepare ourselves for the Lord's Supper, examine ourselves with a view to that Supper, we pray this Spirit leads us to examine ourselves honestly and properly also with regard to this, the Eighth Commandment. Especially our attitude toward earthly things, covetousness and contentment May the Spirit lead us to confess our sins and repent and find forgiveness and grace to have a new attitude toward earthly goods through the Spirit and grace of Christ. May the Lord grant us those desires. Amen. Our God and our Heavenly Father, we ask for Thy blessing to rest upon us through Thy Word and by the work of Thy Spirit, so that we are led in a life of humility before Thee, confessing our sins and faults to Thee, a life also of trusting in Thy mercy, coming to Thee every Lord's Day to hear the gospel of Thy grace, and coming to Thee in a special way next Sunday to partake of the sacrament to be assured thereby and strengthened in our faith thereby of Thy mercy to us. Grant us that blessing, in Jesus' name, amen.