you can have a seat.
Well, listen, it is good to see you today. And I am so glad that you are here. And you look like you got an extra hour of sleep last night. You look like you're awake and you're ready. And I tell you, the one time that you get an extra hour of sleep and you have game seven of the World Series happening and it goes into extra innings and it completely defeats the extra hour that you had hoped earlier in the day that you had received or that you were going to be given.
But no, it is so good to see you today. If I have not met you before, I know every week we have guests that slip in from time to time. It is so good to see you. And my name is Josh. I would love the opportunity to meet you today.
And so feel free to stick around for a few moments after this. But like Pastor David said, make sure you take one of those new here cards and please fill that out. And we would love to be able to connect with you a little bit more beyond today and find out how we can best serve you. View and things like that.
Well, listen, it is good to see you. I would love for you to join me in Exodus chapter number 20 today. Exodus chapter number 20. And as you're turning there, I will say, I just feel like I have to say this. I'm a little congested today.
I woke up. I don't know if it's allergies or whatnot.
So I didn't shake a lot of your hands today intentionally.
Some of you are probably mad about that because I usually do that. And you're probably sitting there like that pastor didn't talk to me this morning. But no, I was going to just mention that here today.
So pray with me. I hope my voice lasts for the next three hours. That's kind of what I'm hoping for here today. I also ask that you would just pray for our school. Our school, God's doing some amazing things in our school.
And every five years or so, we have accreditation that pops up. And so for the next couple of days, we are in the midst of accreditation.
So the accreditation team from our association will be here. They get in this afternoon. And so starting this evening through Tuesday afternoon, they will be pretty much evaluating everything. That we do, which brings an added stress amongst our staff and our administration team. And I pray that you would just lift them up in prayer specifically over the next couple of days if you would.
And we would greatly, greatly appreciate that. Exodus chapter number 20. Today, we are continuing a series that we've been in for quite some time. This is week number eight, and we are doing a series entitled Written in Stone. Can we say that together?
Written in Stone. And this series is a series through the Ten Commandments. And so we're slowly working through those one at a time. And I've said this every week: that the Ten Commandments. Are probably the most influential words that have ever affected society in general, specifically in American society.
These words have framed in a lot of ways our justice system and our civil system, our government, all of those things. You see these words, these 10 words from God to His people. You see them really throughout society in general. But the sad thing is, a lot of times we're trying to get rid of these words. And we're trying to get rid of these practical applications, this practical moral law that God has given his people.
And I'm trying to show us through his word that these words are still relevant for us here today.
Now, if you've slipped in and you think we're not under the law, we're under grace, fundamentally that is true, and I agree with that. But God's moral law still exists. And God's moral law is still something that we should apply to our everyday. Life. There's over 600 laws in the Old Testament.
And in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says that we are free from the dietary laws of the Old Testament that the Jewish people had to abide by. We're also free from the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament that the Jewish people had to abide by. But what we see in the New Testament is that Jesus took his moral law, what we see kind of here in Exodus chapter number 20, and he raised the bar just a little bit for Christ's followers.
So that's why he would say things like, hey, doesn't the law say don't murder? But I'm going to raise that just a little bit and say that if you have hate in your heart for anybody else, you are already a murderer. Or does it the law say that you shouldn't commit adultery? And everybody would agree. And then he says, but I'm going to raise that bar for Christ followers and say that if you lust after somebody in your heart, you're already an adulterer.
And so he raises the moral law.
So his moral law, what we find here in Exodus chapter number 20, it still applies to us here today. And so let's read it. Exodus 20. And we'll read down to the one that we are on here today. It says this, and God spake all these words, saying, I'm the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
If you're just joining us, this is happening contextually just a few months after the nation of Israel escaped out of Egypt.
So they were in bondage for over 400 years in slavery in Egypt. And just a few months after leaving Egypt, God calls Moses up on Mount Sinai and gives him the law. And here it is, verse 3: Thou shalt have no other gods. Before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above.
or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them. Nor serve them. For I, the LORD thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain. Verse 8, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. By the way, this is the longest commentary of any commandment. It's about the Sabbath day and keeping it holy.
He goes on to say, verse 9: Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it. Thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant. nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.
The sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Verse 12, this is every parent's favorite command: honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And then in verse 15, is where we're going to be today.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not steal. Wonder how many of you have ever heard a sermon about stealing. And if you haven't ever heard an entire sermon dedicated to this, you are going to hear that here today. And I know many of you probably think, like, okay, I'm finally at a commandment that I'm good with, that I don't struggle with, I don't have any problems with it.
God didn't really raise the bar too heavily in the New Testament to make me feel really guilty about this. I haven't shoplifted this past week, so I'm doing really well. And you're probably excited that you are coming to a commandment that is here. But I hope that in the few moments that we have, we do struggle in some ways with this. In the late 1990s, Early 2000s, I was introduced to a program.
A computer program that would allow me to rip music. For free offline using like other servers on the internet. In other words, if you're young in here, you don't you don't get this. But this meant that I could download music using this program without having to purchase the songs or the album.
Now Many of you probably did the same thing. This program that I was introduced to was called Napster. How many of you use Napster in high school? A few of you in there, or LimeWire? If you raised your hand to that, then yes, you are guilty of the eighth commandment and what we are going to look at here today.
Because many of us, we sometimes think that this commandment is only about shoplifting from the store and things of that nature.
Well, commandment chapter number eight. Is a negative commandment. We've seen several of these negative commandments. We've seen thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery. And then we come to this one, it says, Thou shalt not steal.
Every time we see a negative commandment such as this, we have to understand that there is a positive spin to the commandment that God is trying to teach us.
So, in other words, when we looked at the thou shalt not murder, the positive spin to that that we learned about is that God values life.
So he commands us not to murder. He values marriage.
So he commands us not to commit. Adultery.
So, as we come to this eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal, the positive side to this that we learn is that God values the right. That people must possess, or people can possess, property or belongings.
So he commands us to not steal. And so God values the right that you have to possess what you have, the property, the belongings, and the different things that you have. And so he commands us to not steal.
Now I understand when I've been studying this, This is by far the most difficult of the commandments in order to derive an actual sermon out of. It's like, how can we apply this? Like, what does this mean? And so I wanted to kind of show you, first of all, what stealing really is. Very simple.
Stealing is simply taking anything that doesn't belong to us.
Okay. I know that you're immediately thinking, you know, shoplifting at a store and stuff like that. I want to show you. I kind of spent some time looking at ways that we can do this, even as Christians, and that we can violate this. Here's a few things.
Obviously, by taking merchandise that doesn't belong to you, that is stealing. But a few more things that I can find. How about this one? Taking a fountain drink that you didn't pay for. You ever done that?
I'll take a water cup. Are you really drinking water? Because that's money, right? Or how about this? There's a bunch of things by taking someone's creativity, stealing of music, ideas, right?
Or even something that they wrote, and you signing your name attached to that. You can steal somebody's reputation. When you slander somebody behind their back, you're ruining and stealing someone's reputation, and you would be guilty of the eighth commandment. How about this on a spiritual connotation? It is this: when you take glory from God.
For something. You know, we're supposed to give God all of the glory, and it is rightfully deserved and reserved for Him. And when you take credit or you take glory for something, You're stealing that. From him. Premarital sex, God forbids it.
So when you engage in this, you take what doesn't belong to you. Not paying your taxes you steal from the government. Right? You can steal time from your employer by not working hard or wasting your time at work. Or how about this one?
You can steal from God. In Malachi chapter number three, he talks to us about the importance of tithing. And giving regularly to the church. And what Malachi suggests is that when you don't give regularly to the church through your tithe, you are actually stealing from God. In Romans chapter number one.
Paul says that it would be stealing From God, if he didn't take the gospel to those that are around him. And so you could steal from God if you are not leveraging your Christian influence in the circle that you are around and keeping the truth of God's word to yourself. The list could go on and on, but I wanted to show you quickly by way of introduction that all of us. have violated this commandment in some way.
Now, you might have never shoplifted or robbed somebody of something, and that's okay, but there are other ways that we can steal from people and ultimately steal from God. And so, the foundation of the eighth commandment here is really this: the foundation. Is that we should value What we possess and what others possess. Because ultimately everything that we possess and that others possess belongs to God. The value of what we find here in this eighth commandment from God is that we should value what we have and we should value what other people have because everything belongs to God to begin with.
The psalmist says in Psalm 24, verse 1, he says that the earth is the Lord's. and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein. In other words, everything that we have in life ultimately belongs to God, and everything that somebody else has in life ultimately belongs to God. And so when we choose to steal something or to steal reputation or to steal something from somebody else, we have to understand that we're ultimately stealing from God Himself.
First Chronicles 29. Verse 11 and 12, David, he writes this: Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, the majesty. And then he goes on and says: For all that is in the heaven and the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all.
And in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand is to make great and to give strength unto all. What David is reminding us is this: everything is God's. God Himself in Psalm 50, verse 12, He said this: The world is mine and the fullness thereof.
So, what we find and what we can learn here from Exodus 20, verse 15 in this eighth commandment is this: that the foundation is that we should value what we possess and value what others possess because everything belongs to him. And so, when we choose to take something that does not belong to us. Right. Then, what we're doing is we are stealing from God Himself. And so, everything is His.
The house you have, God gave that to you. The clothes that you have, God gave that to you. The car you drive, God gave that to you. The possessions that you have, God gave that to you. He gave you the talents.
I know many of you are probably thinking, well, no, I worked hard for this.
Well, who gave you the talents? Who gave you the abilities? Who gave you the skills to be able to go to work and work hard for the things that you have? All of those things. are from from God.
I mean, we learn about this in James chapter number one when he says every good and perfect gift. Comes from above. And so, what we learn, the value of this commandment is really understanding. That when he says, thou shalt not steal, The positive spin to that is that we, as Christ's followers, those who want to follow Christ, we need to value what we have because it's only from God and it belongs to Him to begin with. And we need to value what other people have because what they have also belongs to God.
It's really this idea that we should r look at ourselves as stewards of the things that God has left to us or entrusted to us.
So, the things that you have, let me remind you, they belong to him. And what he has done is he has given you these things. for you to steward those things properly. And so when he says don't steal, he means valuing what other people have as well as what you have. Because it all belongs to God.
That's the foundational element to this eighth. Commandment.
So the question comes. How do we live this out practically? And this is where, you know, deriving a sermon from this verse. It becomes really hard. Like, what does he?
How do we apply this? Like, if we're all going to leave here today, like, how do we apply this to our everyday life? And so, we had to dig pretty quick and pretty deep in order to find some practical application. I'm a Baptist pastor, so I like a few points and things like that. And so, in order to find some of those, we had to kind of dig.
And this is probably going to be about as practical of an outline as I could ever, ever deliver. Because I wanted to really be able to show you how you and how I think scripture would show us and how we can apply this. commandment practically to our everyday Life.
Okay. So the first thing that I will tell you. Is that if you want to apply the eighth commandment, thou shalt not steal, and you want to value what you possess and what others possess, because everything belongs to God, here's a biblical principle that I think we need to apply: we need to live by the ethic of honest, hard work. We need to live. By the ethic of honest, Hard.
Work. You see, if God says to us, he doesn't want us to steal. What he's suggesting is that you should work hard for the things that you possess. In other words, if he's telling you don't go take from other people, what he's saying in the biblical principle is that we should work hard for the things that we have.
Now, in our society today, we live in a very entitled society. And if you're over the age of 50. in this room. You probably really, really see this more than anybody before. And here's why.
Is because people like my generation and down, they don't really work for things the way that. you used to work, those over the age of 50, right? Like, I've heard my parents tell me all the time, I work way harder and way longer to have the car and to have the house and to have the things that you have. They told me that. And that's just true because generations that have come on before worked very hard, and it took a very long time for them to work that hard in order to give.
The society that we have now, the younger generation, they just think right when they start off, they need a brand new car. They need a brand new house. They need a brand new everything. And let me tell you: if you're young in here and you have those things, I'm not trying to hate on you. I'm just trying to show you that over time, we have somewhat lost a little bit about this.
ethical thing of what it means to work hard for what we have. And that is the application of what we can learn from this commandment. You must work hard. I mean, think about it this way: I mean, it's a biblical principle, it's not just something that I'm trying to challenge you on or hate on any generation. 2 Thessalonians 3:10, it literally says this: that That if any would not work.
Neither should he eat. Right? In 1 Timothy 5.8. There's a challenge that if you don't provide for your family, you are worse than an infidel. You're worse than an unbeliever.
If you don't get up and go to work and work hard so that you can provide for your family, you see, there's a mentality that a lot of us can drift into that we don't have to work hard for what we have, that we can kind of just sit back. And we can let things be given to us. And what I want you to understand is that from the very beginning, all the way, you can trace this biblical principle of what it means to work hard for what you have. You can trace it all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When God was commanding Adam and telling him to work and to lead the garden and the animals and all these different things, you see it, and then you see this biblical principle traced throughout.
So, if you want to apply this idea of the eighth commandment, don't steal. We should value what we have and we should value what others have. A way that we can apply that is to really live by the ethic. of what it means to work hard for what we have. And that's a biblical principle.
Number two. Is this? Also, a way that we can apply this, be generous. with what God has given you. Be generous.
With what God has already given you. Remember, the value of this commandment is that everything you have. belongs to him. Everything that you have, every possession that you own. I mean, you could trace it all the way, the breath that you are breathing right now.
Your entire life, it actually belongs to him to begin with. And so, what we learn is this, if we want to apply this commandment, be generous with what God has given you. In Ephesians 4, verse 28. It says this, Paul writing to the church, to Christians. And he says, Let him that stole Still no more.
But rather let him labor. That's that idea of work hard, working with his hands, the thing which is good, why?
So that he may have to give to him that needeth. In other words, what we learn here is: hey, yes, we should live by this ethic of honest and really hard work. But then, also, the biblical principle that we need to apply as Christians is that when God blesses us with stuff. We should be generous to people with our stuff. With our money?
With our possessions. With the things in our life, we should be willing as Christ's followers. To go out and be generous with the things that God has blessed us with. Remember, the value of the eighth commandment is remembering that everything you have doesn't even belong to you to begin with, it belongs to Him. And so, if we're gonna apply this, it means: hey, with the things that God has entrusted with, we're supposed to be good stewards of those things.
Let's be generous with those things. Work hard for what you have so that you can be generous. With what you What you have. I'll go as far as say this. The reason.
That the government must come in and help those in need so much, so often. Is because I think somewhere down the line, the church has forfeited their actual responsibility to feed the poor. Fundamentally, it was the church's from the very beginning, it was the church's responsibility to do these things. It wasn't the government. But what's happened is the church starts looking at their own possessions and they start looking at their own money and their own bank accounts and their own everything that they have, and they forget that everything that they have actually belongs to God and that we are just stewards of those things.
And what we do is we begin to hoard all of our stuff and that there's people in need that we, as the church, were actually called and designed to go meet their needs. And so the government has to step in. Instead of getting mad about how the government's helping everybody, why don't you, as the church, step in and help those that you can help? That's what we are called to do as Christ's followers. That's what Ephesians chapter 4 is talking about.
He's talking about that directly, about being generous with what you have. Number three. Respect. What belongs? to other people.
Respect what belongs to other people. I told you this was going to be practical.
Okay. Some of you wish your kids were in this service. Hard work, you know, it's like nudging your kids: hey, you got this right. Hard work. Be generous with what you have and what God's blessed you with.
But then, also, I think that there's a principle here when he says, hey, don't steal. I think that there's a principle here that we should respect what belongs to other people. I mean, if the commandment tells us not to steal, what it is implying here is that we should respect the things. That don't belong to us. And here's what I'll tell you.
This principle also... I think it's somewhat of a generational principle. Has somewhat gone out the window in society in a lot of ways. We have lost respect for other people's property. We've lost respect for other people's stuff.
And we completely lose sight of it. And I think that there is an implication here that we can learn about the importance of respecting other people's stuff. When I was growing up, There were things, rules, that my parents would drill into me if we ever got invited to other people's houses. Right? Things like this, the minute you go in, you take off your shoes right when you go in, right?
Or, how about this? You don't put your feet up on the coffee table. Right? You remember those kind of things? Or was I the only kid that was drilled into that?
And if I ever didn't do the things that they said, I was in a lot of trouble. Use a coaster. Right. Or how about this? The principle of when you borrow something from somebody, you leave it better than when they gave it to you.
Right? Some of you have never said amen in church until right there, okay? Like, man, I really hit it right there for you. Here's what I'll tell you. There's an element of respect that we can learn from this because remember, fundamentally, foundationally, thou shalt not steal.
What is God trying to tell us? God is trying to remind us in this commandment that we should value what we have. In other words, take care of what you have, but we should also value what other people have. Because every single bit of it belongs to God anyway. And so, what belongs to God, we're just good stewards of.
And let's just be honest with you, with one another. If we're going to be good stewards of something that belongs to God, we better respect what belongs to God. And that's the principle that we learn here. There's all of these things. You know, when I was growing up, if you borrowed like a car, Right?
Fill it up with gas, clean it, whatever. There were all these different things that I know were instilled in me from my parents because there was a generation that valued what it means to really respect other people's stuff. And listen, and trust me, I'm preaching to the choir because I was convicted throughout this. This is something we should be teaching those that are coming after us. This is a thing that we have missed, that we have just like lost.
And so, this is something that is good. And what you can do when you're teaching your children these things about the importance of respecting other people's stuff, what you can always tie it back to, because if they say, Why do you tell me all these things? It doesn't matter. Take them back to the eighth commandment for just a minute and show them that when God tells us, Don't steal, one of the principles that we learn from that is that we should value and respect what belongs to us and also value and respect what doesn't belong to us because every bit of it belongs to God. All right.
To be generous with what God has given you. Work hard for what you have. Don't just look at everything be handed to you. No, go out and earn the things that you are blessed with. Respect what belongs to other people.
And then the last one, I think this is probably the most important. We must trust in God's provision. to meet our needs. We must trust in God's provision. to meet our needs.
Here's why. Is when you steal from somebody else, and it could be about any of those things that I talked about, okay? It can be about, you know, any of the different things that I listed. I'll bring a few of them back. Stealing somebody's creativity.
Plagiarism, you know, stealing somebody's ideas, stealing, you know, someone's thoughts. Or, whatever, things like that. Or, or how about stealing somebody's reputation through slandering and gossiping about them behind their back when they're not there? Taking glory from God, premarital sex, not paying the government, regardless of if you like it or not, it's still a command. And so, trying to weasel your way out of those things, you're stealing.
You can steal time from your employer by not working hard or wasting your time while you're at work, or you can steal from God by not tithing and doing what He commanded us to do.
So when we think about all of those things, okay? What I want you to understand is this: when we talk about trusting in God's provision to meet our needs. Here's what happens when you steal. When you steal in any of those different ways, What you're doing is you're making yourself your own supplier. Think about it.
That's why God was telling the nation of Israel in Exodus chapter 20, he was saying, Don't steal. You'll know why that is? Is because he was trying to teach them not to go out and take what doesn't belong to you. He was trying to say, Hey, I am going to be your provision for everything you need in life. And so therefore, if we're trusting.
And God to be the provider of everything in our life. Then we don't have to go still. Because when you go out and steal any of those things, what happens is you make yourself your own supplier. In other words, you're going out and trying to take something or force something into your life, meaning that you're not trusting God for what you need in life. You see, God is saying that He's supposed to be every one of these things in your life.
He's supposed to be your relationship. He's supposed to be your treasure. He's supposed to be your prize. He's supposed to be everything in life you should be able to look to God for and find in a relationship with Him. And that was the problem from the very beginning with the nation of Israel.
is that God was saying, I'm supposed to be your security. I'm supposed to be your safety. I'm supposed to be your treasure. I'm supposed to be all these things. You're supposed to find those things in him.
And what did the nation of Israel do? They went out to these other false gods from these other pagan nations, and they'd go out and they'd try to look for everything they were supposed to have in God. They tried to find another. Places. You see, when we steal, what we're doing is we're making ourselves our own supplier.
And what God was supposed to be in your life was your ultimate provider, your ultimate supplier. And so when you steal, You usurp his role. And also his authority. When you take from somebody else. Because he's supposed to be the one that supplies you with every need that you have in life.
And so, when we steal from in any of these ways, or in a way that I didn't list. Let me tell you this, is that you are not looking to God as your provider. when you choose to to steal. And so, the way that we can apply thou shalt not steal very practically is we must trust in God's provision. Trust in God's provision to meet every need that we have.
We must respect what belongs to us and what belongs to other people. We are supposed to work hard, this idea of a good work ethic in our life. And then, with what God chooses to bless us with, we're supposed to be generous to other people. You'd see the foundation of the eighth commandment. is that we should value what we possess and what others possess because everything in life ultimately belongs to him.
So, what we learn from a commandment like this that so many of us breeze through because we think, hey, we're doing great because we haven't robbed a bank this week, right? I hope you haven't.
So we're going to keep an eye on you if you have, okay?
So um but if you haven't shoplifted or something like that, you think, man, I'm doing really good. And what we learn from this is that we steal in different ways all the time. And so it's important for us to remember today, and I know this was super practical, but it's important for us to understand: everything we have belongs to God. And so when we choose to steal from somebody else, We're ultimately stealing from him. We're ultimately stealing from him.
And so, therefore, don't steal because everything belongs to God. in the first place. Can we bow our heads for prayer? Mm-hmm.
