Sermon Text:

This morning we are continuing our series on the “10 Commandments.” We have so far gone through 7 of the commandments. This week we will dive into the 8^th commandment, “You shall not steal” as Chris read a few moments ago.

Review: As we look at this 8^th Commandment in the moral law, let’s remember how we got here. The story of the bible tells us that God created the world, everything in it, and Adam and Eve, for His glory. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, He promised a seed (baby) would one day enter this world through the woman, to crush the head of the snake. God would through the lineage of specific people, establish a nation, with laws, in a specific land. God would eventually use these to usher in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Moses, in the book of Exodus is part of that lineage to usher in the Messiah, and God used Him to bring the nation of Israel the Law. The laws operated to show transgressions. Because of sin, God also gave Moses 10 commandments, and the entire 613 laws, to help them address sin. These were helpful for the judges to judge the sin of the people. They were historical and particular to the nation of Israel.

Illustration: Laws and processes are out in place today for that same reason. At FedEx, when an incident happens, their solution is to come up with a new rule or process to help prevent that in the future. All of this is fine and good. Rules are a good thing. They are righteous, point us in the right direction, help us to stay disciplined. However, the same problem that exists with now that existed with Israel. We are law-breakers. There has to be a standard who follows all laws perfectly. Not based on our own view, or others interpretation of that, but that of God's. Who is that standard?

Main Point: Our Needs Are Met In Christ    

Transition: This morning, we will look to answer 4 questions.

1. What does it mean to steal?

Explanation: Let’s first look at the definition.

• Definition: Steal away, taken by stealth.
  1. The mention of this kind of stealing may have been directed toward kidnapping for slavery.
     1. Joseph sold to the Ishmaelites by his brothers in (Gen. 37).
     2. Exodus 21:16, “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”

• Leviticus 19:11, “You shall not steal…”

1. The 10 commandments are restated by Moses to the generation of people about to enter the promised land of Canaan. (Deut. 5:1-6)

1. This commandment is also closely related to the 10^th commandment of not coveting our neighbors possessions, property, spouse, etc. ( 20:17)
   1. Both commandments relate to the discontentment found in theft and coveting. Theft through the action of the sin, and covetousness, the evil desire of the heart to want others possessions.

Illustration: Ocean’s Eleven. Specialists who come together to steal money. We often think about stealing in the sense of something larger in it’s task and somewhat glorified in the movies we watch. However, theft or stealing is far more serious.

Transition: If stealing is recognized as far more serious than the movies we watch and the way it is neglected by the world we live in, let’s examine how we all break this commandment.

1. To those that stand on their own righteousness, do we break this law today?

Explanation: The short answer is yes. In what ways?

• We steal time at work. We slack off, take long bathroom breaks, extend our lunch breaks a few minutes past the 30 minutes we are given.
• We steal time from our spouse and children. For me, this is a difficult transition. Trying to balance time to do ministry, prepare for sermons, meet with people.
• We take advantage of people to gain an advantage or edge in the workplace, with our friends.
• We cheat on our taxes.
• We cheat on our exams.
• Referring to kidnapping humans, sex trafficking is one of the most profitable illegal activities in this country.
• Wars have been started because of theft of rights and money.
• The evils in stealing could continue on and on.

If we are to truly examine ourselves, we can easily see that we all break this law.

Illustration: Ray Comfort’s good test. Evangelism tool.

James 2:10, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

• If we look at the minute details of our lives from beginning to the present, we would find all kinds of areas of theft. From the stealing of a pencil from our sibling at a young age to the stealing of money from our parents. We cannot escape our inability to live this out perfectly.

Standing on our own ability to live out this commandment is evidence we do not understand God or our nature as sinful mankind. We all fail to live up to the standards set in the moral law, including this commandment.

Transition: Since we all stand guilty in breaking this commandment, let’s look at why we break this law.

• What is the heart problem behind breaking the commandment, “You shall not steal?”

Explanation: We all understand that sin is the disease that causes us to steal, lie, commit adultery, idolatry, worship God through false means. We know sin ultimately fleshes itself in outward behavior, but from the beginning, sin has always been an inward wicked separation from God.

One heart problem behind breaking this commandment rests in our lack of contentment.

• Our flesh is looking to get an advantage any chance we let it. It is a desire machine. It wants pleasure. It wants to feel good. We want to fill the void and the monotonous areas of our lives with the things of this world. So we take, and we take, and we take. And we battle and battle and battle against our desire to serve the Lord.

Romans 7:15-24, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very things I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

• We all can relate to the battle Paul is talking about here. The constant battle of wanting to serve the Lord, but the path toward that being blocked by the various vices and sin that entangles us. For some it’s idolatry. For some adultery. For some the lack of contentment in stealing things for ourselves.

Illustration: We all know what it’s like when we get a few extra bucks in our pocket. And the shiny new toy that becomes available. [Insert your own toy here]. We tell ourselves that we need this new shiny toy. If only we can obtain this new shiny unblemished toy, we would be filled. We would be happy.

• We all know what happens after we buy the new shiny toy though. It may satisfy us for a little while. It may make us feel good for a little bit. But shortly after, we feel the emptiness of that purchase, or pursuit to take for ourselves. And we want more. It reveals our discontentment to remain satisfied where God has placed us, given us, and using us.

Explanation: Another root problem behind breaking this commandment, and ties well with contentment, rests in our lack of faith and trust in God’s provision for us.

• We are afraid to work with our hands. We want to cut corners where hard work needs to be had. That’s the reason gambling has become such a prevalent thing in this world. That is why get rich quick schemes give us the illusion that we can get a quick buck and we don’t have to do anything to actually earn it. We fail to trust that God will provide, so we seek the “easy” route to cut corners to get what we want. It often leaves people in turmoil, families separated, and people in trouble financially and spiritually.

Ephesians 4:28, “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.”

• God calls believers, primarily men here, to no longer steal, but to work honestly. Get a job, so that he can provide for his family. That fellowship in the church through generosity and benevolence may not be broken.

Explanation: Another root heart issue that causes people to steal is their lack of love for one another.

Romans 13:9, “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””

• God says that anytime we break this commandment, and any other commandment, it is failing to love their neighbor. This would also remain true for any unbeliever if they break this law.   

What’s important to notice here is that God has not backed away from the commandment in the Moral Law in the New Testament. In fact, all of the laws, except for observing the Sabbath, are restated in the New Testament in the New Covenant of grace. If this is the case, and theft is not only prohibited in the OT, but also the NT, what do we do now? How could there be any hope for an unbeliever? How could there be any hope to live a victorious life for the believer?

Transition: If we seek to stand on our own standard of righteousness, we are all in trouble. If this is based on what we can accomplish to please God, we all stand condemned. Thankfully there is good news!

1. If following the commandment, “You shall not steal,” proves our inability to bring righteousness and fulfillment in our lives, who can?

Explanation: This law and every other law given to Moses was completely fulfilled in Jesus!

Main Point: Our Needs Are Met In Christ

• Christ fulfilled all of the Law to satisfy its legal demands on our behalf. He lived perfectly, so we didn’t have to. It was not possible for us to live out the moral law, so He did. He was the sacrificial lamb, so that we would no longer need the blood of bulls and goats to appease our sin. Jesus never stole from others. He found His satisfaction perfectly in the Father. He depended solely on the Father for strength to walk into His death on a cross. To make a payment on our behalf. To die in complete surrender to the Father, receive His wrath, and be buried. Only to be raised again three days later.

Application: If you are a born-again believer, there is much hope. Our needs and satisfaction are met in Christ. Why? When God saved you, He killed you. The body of sin that wants to sin was killed with its passions and desires. Our desires are no longer based on what we can selfishly gain for ourselves. They are no longer based on our ability to actually walk in them. It is based on God’s ability to fulfill this in us. When Jesus died on a cross, the old us was killed. Our sins were nailed on the cross. Not only were our sins nailed with Jesus, but we were also buried with Him and raised to the newness of life. Look at our unity with Christ in this death and resurrection.

            Romans 6:5-11, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Explanation: What about our walk then? What of our sanctification?

• In Christ, we have total fulfilment! We no longer have to steal from others, whether it’s time for ourselves, money, or gaining an advantage, because Jesus provides for us complete satisfaction in His sufficient and potent work through the gospel. We can also work and live honestly, treat people fairly, and depend on the work of Christ, because Jesus is working on our behalf by the work of the Spirit inside of us. When believers can attach themselves to the sufficiency of Jesus, they will no longer want to steal. They will no longer want to live for themselves. Instead, they will put the needs of others in front of theirs.

Romans 8:1-4, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Application: If this commandment, along with the other commandments, are fulfilled perfectly in Christ, and now the righteous requirement has already been accomplished in Him, we can now relate to God’s Law through the lens of Christ. We don’t have to put on a show to show ourselves clean, polished, and good before this world.

We seek the work of the Spirit in complete dependence understanding and believing the accomplished work of the gospel in our lives.

We know who we once were.

• (Sinners, separated from God)

We know what Jesus did to kill our sin on a cross.

• (Justified)

We know that we rose from the grave in newness of life with Jesus.

• (New Creation)

We know our position before the Lord as seated in the heavenly places with Him.

• (Sanctified)

We believe in faith our position and walk in that holiness in our day to day walk.

• (Progressive Sanctification)

We know that one day, we will have glorified bodies and in the presence of our savior for eternity.

• (Glorified)

This means we relate to the 10 commandments differently.

• When I was in darkness, I may spend my whole life trying not to steal. Trying not murder, trying not to commit adultery, trying not to use the Lord’s name in vain. I may succeed for a little while. But I will certainly fail to follow God’s standard in Christ. And my accusing thoughts will be evidenced in the guilt I experienced for not following that law or any other law I create.
• In the newness of life, a believer who was once an enemy of God, now seated in the heavenly places with Him, can now look at these commandments with joy. We can seek the Law of Christ, which is summed up in loving God and loving our neighbors, because we now have the law written on our hearts. And this law is no longer burdensome.

Now, if I go into work tomorrow, seeking the work of the Spirit in my life through prayer and Gods Word, my desire to please God, to not steal, will be based on His great love for me. What Jesus accomplished perfectly in His life, death, burial, and resurrection to completely forgive me and mature me in Him is the hope and foundation in which I desire to please God. It's our unity in the death of Christ, that we are dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ. Instead of feeling guilty for breaking God’s Law, which is not hard to do because of His holiness, we can now be at peace and experience joy believing in the promises of Jesus for our lives.

• Look at what Jesus tells us.

Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”