The Eighth Commandment (Part 1) Exodus 20:15

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1 The Eighth Commandment (Part 1) Exodus 20:15 Sunday 10 th February 2019 Glenvista Baptist Church 31 st Message in The Ten Commandments Introduction. a) As we come today for the first time to the Eighth Commandment we need to recognize a fundamental principle, right from the outset of this study. Just as we saw in the Seventh Commandment that the holiness of God sets Him against uncleanness, so we will now see in the Eighth Commandment that the justice of God sets Him against theft and robbery. What therefore is directly forbidden in this commandment is meddling with the property of another the laying on of hands on that which belongs to another the invading of another person s rights. b) We come to a commandment that consists merely of four words You shall not steal and yet in it we will see that God has a way of packing into the shortest, clearest little phrase so much profound truth in which He draws out of them the depths of the riches with which He has loaded them. The Seventh Commandment like we saw with the sixth inherently implies the need to care for our neighbor, to look out for their well-being and to honor the rights and the privileges of those whom God created in His own image. c) Human beings are created in the image of God, and that teaches that the imago Dei which we have learnt about previously implies that our duty to God is also carried over to our neighbor. Calvin is the one who pointed out that we owe our neighbor righteousness and justice in our dealings, even if our neighbor is an enemy, by virtue of the divine image every person bears. To therefore purposely harm my neighbor is to ignore the value of the fact that every human being bears the divine image of God. And therefore, such an offense is always first and foremost a direct offense against a Holy God. d) In other words, the Ten Commandments is both God-centered as well as othercentered. The Ten Commandments stress what each of us owes his or her neighbor, not what each of us has a right to expect of them. This means that each of the commands dealing with our responsibility towards our neighbor sets out primarily to protect them, and therefore we see that from the Biblical point of view the emphasis falls rather on our responsibilities than our rights. e) Stealing is to take without permission that which belongs to another. Now, be very careful here; if you feel tempted to tap yourself on the back about this command thinking this one at least you have mastered; then perhaps its specifically you who need to listen very carefully to these expositions. Stealing is a problem all have struggled with. Its first occurrence for most of us is probably at play-group level when our friends toys 1

2 were seemingly more attractive to us than our own. This sin is imbedded on the hearts of mankind due to our innate depravity; therefore, each of us at some point has violated the nature of this command, and each of us needs the instruction God gives through this command. f) Whilst stealing is generally disapproved of in society, we may not always be sure why, and in some cases we may not even be quite sure what truly constitutes stealing. It is therefore my task and my joy to open the Scriptures with you that we may see and learn and behold wondrous things from the law of God. Point 1 The Eighth Commandment Presupposes the Right to Private Property (v15) a) The prohibition of theft presupposes that each individual has the God-given right to private property. Now that may sound like a bit of a strange place to commence our study of the Eighth Commandment but that s exactly where we ought to start if we truly want to comprehend the nature of this prohibition. The argument is actually quite straightforward if it is a crime to take without permission something that belongs to someone else, then it implies that the offended party has a right to own that which has been unlawfully taken. The Word of God significantly argues the case for private property as a right that is rooted in creation. When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He told them to work it and to keep it (Gen 2:15-17), but He also placed a prohibition against taking fruit from one particular tree in the Garden that was not given to them. This tree did not belong to them, they had no right to it, and if they unlawfully took of this tree they would die. Here in Genesis 2 we have the first law concerning property. The forbidden tree was God s property and Adam and Eve had no right to take any of the fruits of that tree. Taking of its fruit constituted the first recorded theft in Scripture. b) Throughout the Scriptures we see teaching and examples pertaining the right to private property. For example, in Acts 5 we see the Apostle Peter reprimanding Ananias not because he owned property but because he deliberately lied to the Holy Spirit concerning the proceeds of the sale of his property. Throughout the Old Testament God taught His people the distinction between owning and stealing. In the New Testament we have many parables that were based on property rights. Owning property is part of the God-given mandate as seen in creation. When we care for and keep that which we own, we are fulfilling such mandate and by that God is pleased. c) In Exodus 22:1-9 we have the application of the Ten Commandments to social relationships. This is an important passage and I want you to come with me as we read it. Exodus 22: 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. 2 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 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. 5 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. 6 If 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. 7 If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen 2

3 from the man's house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8 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. 9 For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for 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. d) In this text among others, we learn the value that God places on private property. In it we see the principle of restitution. When a thief steals another s property he is not only to repay what he stole, but God gives clear guidelines as to the extras that he needs to repay to bring restitution and justice. And because at the time of writing, people did not have insurance policies that covered them against theft, all manner of theft, meant threatening the life of him who depended on what he owned for his livelihood. So, if you stole a man s cattle, you stole his food from his table, and this had a dire effect on such a man s living. Therefore, we see in this text that the thief owed both distributive justice and retributive justice. It means such a thief has to pay dearly for the injustice he has caused his neighbor. Such a violation of his neighbors property would cost him dearly. If he therefore could not afford making amends he would become an involuntary employee of the victim what we would call a debtor-slave until such a time that he has made full restitution. I think you can therefore see how even a quick glance over this passage clearly teaches the value God places on ownership. e) Therefore no one has the right to invade another person s property or take from that person what does not belong to him. Taking without permission is stealing, no matter what the circumstances. God has given to each person everything he owns, regardless whether it is much or very little. What each man has, has been entrusted to Him by the Sovereign Design and Pleasure of a just and holy God. Even if we own only our daily bread, we need to recognize that such bread is entrusted to us by God, and no one has the right to take that from us without our direct permission. The very breath we have has been loaned to us, every possession and every blessing comes from God and the Eighth Commandment clearly teaches that taking any such thing away from another is not only stealing from man, but very directly stealing from God who loans all things to man. Point 2 The Eighth Commandment Implies the Principle of Stewardship (v15) a) Now, secondly, I want you to see that the prohibition against theft rests not only on the value God places on property, but also on the fact that God is sovereign over all that He has made. God s sovereignty over all He has made, therefore means that our ownership of everything in our possession, is never ultimate, but is purely derived from God s kind permission. b) That then means God may dispense what He so wishes, but that He may also take away what He thinks is best. Job understood this well after all His calamity when he stated: The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:20-21). It also means that we are caretakers more than we are owners, and that is a helpful perspective considering all we have is simply on loan to us. That puts a very healthy perspective on biblical stewardship. c) The pattern of biblical stewardship, as alluded to under the first heading, is seen in Genesis 2:15 where God puts man in the Garden to work it and care for it. Adam therefore is 3

4 entrusted over the created world to be a steward of all God has made. Part of Adam s task included, having dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth (Gen 1:26). God also commanded Adam to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Gen 1:28). All this is what God meant when giving stewardship to Adam over all God had made. d) This means Adam is given a mandate for the preservation, cultivation, and protection of all of God s created order kind of like a parent is entrusted with the well-being and nurturing of a child. We see that the implications of this responsibility entrusted to man is expressed in so many ways throughout the Old Testament. For example, a donkey that experiences a burden, must be assisted, even if such a donkey belongs to an enemy (Ex 23:5); animals have to be allowed to rest on the Sabbath (Ex 23:12); the ox may not be muzzled so that it cannot eat some of the very corn it is treading (Deut 25:4) and all of this is substantiated by the fact that Proverbs 12:10 teaches us that a righteous man cares for the needs of his animal. God charges Israel in Hosea 4 for not caring about the pollution of the waters to the point where fish were dying. e) Calvin writes of this dominion given to man, that the custody of the garden was given in charge to Adam, to show that we possess the things that God has committed to our hands, on the condition, that being content with a frugal and moderate use of them, we should take care of what shall remain. Let him who possesses a field, so partake of its yearly fruits that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by negligence; but let him endeavor to hand it down to posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated. Let him so feed on its fruits, that he neither dissipates it by luxury nor permits it to be marred or ruined by neglect. Moreover, that this economy and this diligence, with respect to those good things which God has given us to enjoy, may flourish among us; let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things that he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved. 1 f) So, in light of the Eighth Commandment this principle of stewardship means that if we fail in our stewardship of that which God has entrusted to us, either by means of failing in protecting our neighbor or by means of neglecting our duty towards the created order, then we are stealing from God, from our neighbor, and even from future generations for whom we should preserve what God has given. And this, I trust, you can see is a serious offence against the holiness of God. g) So, friends the base-line truth that needs to be grasped pertaining stewardship quite simply is that we effectively own nothing; everything we have has been entrusted to us as a gift of God s common grace, and we have a creation mandate to glorify God in the way in which we preserve, protect, cultivate, nourish, love and care for all God has given us. It is a stewardship that applies to fellow-humans as well as fellow-creatures. So that means the great principle to be grasped here is that God owns the land and all on it; everything that lives and moves and haves its being; that all belongs to God, for God, by God and through God. Therefore, God will not hold guiltless anyone that raises himself above God by trampling upon the created order and not caring for it the way God has clearly instructed. Those who disobey this creation mandate steal from God, and God will deal with each according to his own deeds. May we therefore be good stewards of the created order to the praise of God s glorious grace. To this end may God, by the Holy Spirit enable us to bring Him honor and praise. 1 Calvin, Commentary on Genesis 2 4

5 Point 3 The Eighth Commandment Explains why it is Wrong to Steal (v15) a) I want to thirdly this morning briefly consider why it is wrong to steal. This is not meant to be exhaustive, but rather to serve as a means that will excite your appetite for that which is to follow in further expositions of the Eighth Commandment. We have to a large extent seen that one of the reasons it is wrong to steal is because it violates the God-given right to private property. I would like to consider two more reasons that speak to the fact that stealing indeed is sin and needs to be dealt with accordingly. b) It is sinful to steal as stealing portrays a covetous spirit. Covetousness is the tenth and final command and we will still get to that later. Covetousness is always the prelude to theft. In Proverbs 30:15 we read, 15 The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. Theft is the leech of our society, and covetousness makes a man not willing to wait patiently for what he wants. If God is sovereign, as we know He is, then we need to understand that the sovereignty of God has direct implications on the lot He has assigned to each man. And it is only when a man is truly resting in God s sovereignty that he will willingly align himself with the way in which our Sovereign has measured out His common grace upon each man. The man who is not content with the fact that God is sovereign will often not be satisfied with the lot God has ascribed unto Him. Such a man will always be wanting more and will never be pleased with what the Lord of Hosts has entrusted to him. Such a man is a man with a wanting spirit; never satisfied, never pleased, and such a man will easily fall into the sin of gratifying his sinful desires even by going to the extreme of stealing if he sees need for that. The one who steals therefore is a man of unbelief, a man who has a high distrust of God s providence. The unbeliever believes that God cannot spread a table for him, and therefore he resolves to spread a table for himself, yet he then resorts to means that always comes at the cost of another. This table is spread by means that bring great harm to neighbor. A thief will do whatever is necessary to satisfy his own selfish means, and the preservation and protection of neighbor certainly is the last thing a thief thinks of. In Joshua 7 we read of the sin of Achan. God speaks to the people of Israel, warning that they will no longer enjoy His benefits nor His protection against the enemies, seeing that some of the devoted elements were unlawfully taken and brought amongst the people. God warns them that He will no longer be with them unless they destroy the devoted things which were in their midst. God then warns that the man who is found with the devoted things will be burnt (v15) because he transgressed the covenant of the Lord. Joshua then calls the people and by a process of elimination it is found that the sacred items are in the possession of Achan (v20). In verse 21 Achan confesses after having seen such luxury in the camp of the Amorites that his desires got the better of him and that he fell into covetousness. Achan brought home that which was not his, devoted things that were not his possession and God s anger fell on the Israelites. As a punishment for his sin, Achan and all his people were taken outside the camp, stoned to death by all Israel and the people burned them, heaping stones upon their earthly remains (v24-26). Quite a horrific story; yet one that shows us just how strongly God feels pertaining the one that violates the Eighth Commandment. Theft was the cause of Achan s soul being cleft asunder from God. c) It is sinful to steal as theft encourages violence. So often theft leads to someone getting hurt. In extreme cases a man will do anything to get what he wants, even if it means he 5

6 needs to murder the person from whom he is taking what is not his own. Criminal law distinguishes between what is called theft, burglary and aggravated robbery. It is aggravated robbery that is usually accompanied by some degree of violence. The fact that someone gets hurt in these instances speaks to the violation of the command to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. In the New Testament James so wonderfully explains the reason behind this all, when he writes, 1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:1-3). Can you see that James identifies covetousness as the motivating factor behind it all? But can you see the progression he speaks of? Covetousness leads to fighting and quarrelling, and the reason we fight, and quarrel is because we do not get what we want, and then when we do not get what we want we murder, and we fight and quarrel even more. All this because our sinful passions are at war within us. That s the root cause of all the damage that comes along when a man breaks the Eighth Commandment. Horrific, is it not? This simply proves what the human heart is capable of. If left to its own, it is capable of the most insidious forms of crime and violence, and as a result of it so often innocent lives are irreparably damaged. d) Next week Lord willing I want to consider a variety of ways in which the Eighth Commandment is violated, by unpacking the various kinds of theft. That is the part that may be the hardest for us all, as we will be exposed to the hidden inner motives of our own hearts as the law of God will reveal things we may never have considered to be theft. May God prepare our hearts and grant us grace. Conclusion: a) In conclusion then this morning dear friends, theft under any given circumstances, regardless of the reasons behind them is always sinful, no matter what, and can never be justified. Theft displeases God. Theft does not honor the Lord. The Lord however has clearly in His Word prescribed the cure for theft, and that is firstly to be content with what we have (Heb 13:5), and secondly the apostle Paul states, 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. (Ephesians 4:28). b) Ultimately none of this is possible unless we turn to the Lord Jesus. He alone can rescue the wanderer, He alone can bring the thief to his senses, He alone can break the heart of stone. Outside of Him, one act of theft is enough to condemn a man to hell forever. Even one such an act is enough to cause a man to have to pay for his sin forever in hell. But dear friends, never forget that next to Jesus, on the cross were two thieves, who were being hung because they were notorious criminals. It was to such a penitent thief, that Jesus said, Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43) c) Even unto the most notorious sinner, the vilest of all, there is hope for each, who this moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Amen! Soli Deo Gloria (For God s Glory Alone) Glenvista Baptist Church 10 February