Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Please open your Bibles to the book of Exodus as will just look at one verse in .

We resume our studies in the Ten Commandments and today we look at the commandment to not steal.

As we have been looking at each commandment, we just see the tip of the iceberg when we read these four words “You Shall Not Steal.”

Just like every other commandment, the command extends beyond taking something something that does not belong to you and also includes the need to respect the property of others.

An interesting study conducted by the Barna Study group stated that most Christians believe they obey this commandment.

As we look at the below the surface at the iceberg, we will see that no one is really perfectly innocent regarding this command.

And we will also see how we need the grace of Jesus to obey this command.

So I want to ask three questions regarding this commandment that really just follows the historic catechisms and along the great Reformers who taught on the Ten Commandments by asking three questions:

As we will see

What does the commandment mean?

The Violations of the Commadment

The Applications of the Commandment

What does the commandment forbid?

What does the commandment require?

Recap

The first four commandments deal with our relationship with God: worshipping the true God, worshipping Him rightly, revering His name and resting in Him.

The fifth commandment deals with respect with human authority, the sixth commandment deals with the value and dignity of man, the seventh commandment deals with the dignity and value of marriage between one man and one woman, and now the eight commandment deals with the right and respect of property.

If dishonoring parents is a violation of authority, murder a violation of human value, adultery a violation of the sanctity of marriage, then stealing is the violation of one’s property.

We need this commandment because in a fallen world, we need locks and bolts on doors, alarms on cars, chains on bikes, passwords on phones, pin numbers for debit cards.

But as we will see, the commandment is much more than just taking something that does not belong to you, it includes making sure that your neighbor is helped so that he can flourish with what God has given him.

Just four words in our text this morning:

Scripture Reading:

I. What Does the Commandment Mean?

Definition:

The children’s Sunday school answer would be, “taking something that does not belong to you.”

A more specific definition would be

“the act of taking property from another without permission and in secret.”—Mark

Rooker

Pink, Arthur W.. The Ten Commandments (Arthur Pink Collection Book 53) (Kindle Locations 774-775).

Prisbrary Publishing.

Kindle Edition.

“the act of taking property from another without permission and in secret.”

Rooker, Mark.

The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 2844-2845).

B&H Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Pink, Arthur W.. The Ten Commandments (Arthur Pink Collection Book 53) (Kindle Locations 774-775).

Prisbrary Publishing.

Kindle Edition.

In other words, It is to take someone’s property unlawfully.

In other ancient near eastern cultures, commentators tell us that the fine for stealing could be as 30 times the value of good stolen.

This was not a debatable command as other cultures understood that stealing was wrong.

In other words, this was not a debatable command as other cultures understood that stealing was wrong.

Rooker, Mark.

The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 2844-2845).

B&H Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Why is stealing wrong?

Rooker, Mark.

The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 2855-2856).

B&H Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Rooker, Mark.

The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century (New American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations 2855-2856).

B&H Publishing Group.

Kindle Edition.

Stealing is wrong because God respects not only human dignity, but also the property of others.

There were laws in the OT that protected human possessions.

For example,

Taking of property.

The State of California holds people guilty to those who start wildfires and they are to pay back what they owe.

In the OT, the thief was to make restitution or return double (even more) for what he had stolen.

God is not necessarily against possessions.

God gives the possessions so that we can work and enjoy life.

What God is against is when the possessions possess us.

So God made sure that man would be able to live a happy life when not only his human dignity was protected, and marriage (if married), but also his property so that he could work and glorify the Creator.

Stealing is wrong because it robs your neighbor of what God has given him.

And secondly, stealing is wrong because it is a sin against God by not being content with the lot God has assigned you.

It is unbelief because it refuses to trust God’s providence.

Biblical Theology of Theft

As we look at the storyline of Scripture, we can see that our first parents were guilty of stealing....

Eve stole the fruit in the garden.

Achan stole the plunder ()

Jezebel and Ahab stole Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21)

Judas stole money from the moneybag ()

Israel stole from God in tithes and offerings ()

The prophets repeatedly denounced God’s people for stealing as well:

In college, I studied different theories of religion and economics.

Marxism and communism don’t work because in a fallen world, people will still steal and take more even if things are shared and equally distributed.

In , Ananias and Sapphira are not rebuked for possessing a property, but about lying about the property they sold:

The words Peter uses are “did it not remain your own”.

The early Christians had private property.

Some sold property to help the church in need, but others also retained their property because some churches clearly met in some houses!

To sum up, the commandment teaches we are to respect private property that God has assigned to each individual, and not take what is assigned to another because of our greed and unbelief in the good providence of God.

Christian—You don’t have to feel guilty that you own a home.

You don’t have to feel guilty that you own a car.

You should obviously not idolize these blessings, but you should thank God for these blessings.

And if you don’t have something that God has assigned to another person, you should thank God and rejoice with your neighbor rather than coveting and envying and taking from your neighbor.

And those of us who have been blessed with possessions, are to use our possessions to bless other so that we would not be possessed by our possessions.

To take another’s possession is to belittle what God has assigned to another and ultimately rob God.

Transition: The commandment teaches we are to respect human property and possessions by not taking something that does not belong to us, but as we will see the commandment goes beyond that to include other forms of theft...

II.

What Does the Commandment Forbid?

Next to your own persons and your wife, your worldly goods stand closest to you, and God means them to be secured to you, and therefore commands that no one shall take away or lessen any part of his neighbor’s possessions.…

Now this is a very common vice.…

For … stealing signifies not only emptying chests and pockets, but also taking advantage of others at market, warehouses, wine and beer shops, workshops, in short, wherever men transact business and give money for goods and labor.

I want to look at ten violations of this commandment....

QUESTION 110.

What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?