So we're in Exodus chapter 20
and verse 15 and it simply says, thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not steal. So that's
our verse for today. That's the commandment that we're
going to be thinking about for a few minutes. It's the eighth
commandment of the 10 commandments that the Lord gave to Moses in
the wilderness for the children of Israel. And it has some important
lessons for us, I believe. Stealing, I'm sure all of us
will know, is to take what belongs to someone else, either by force
or by fraud, with or without that person's knowledge and against
their will. So it's taking something that
belongs to someone else when we shouldn't do that. And stealing
comes in many forms. In fact, there are many, many
words used to describe stealing. There is just four words in this
command, thou shalt not steal, but it is such a broad activity,
such a broad thing, and there are many words that explain it. It comes in many forms. There's the secret picking of
someone's pocket in the street or on the underground or in a
train or stealing a purse or a phone in a shop. There's shoplifting
when we steal from a retail outlet or burglary when someone enters
someone's house. stealing from somebody's property
or it can be forceful like mugging or violent robbery. Not paying
our fares on a mode of public transport is a form of stealing. Not paying taxes is a form of
stealing. Stealing goods from work, overstating
our expenses or inflating the hours that we've worked is stealing
from an employer. And then If these are private forms of
theft, there's also public forms of theft, where traders sell
below-standard goods while making them look like first-quality
items. They're saying that a job is
done and finished when it's not, and taking payment under false
pretenses. There's cheating in business
with bribes. There's corruption in business
and theft. There are companies who don't
pay for work that has been done for them. There are bad debts
and withholding payment without cause. There's exploiting staff,
not paying proper wages. That's a form of stealing, as
is exploiting and taking advantage of vulnerable people in order
to profit from their condition or their weakness. High interest
rates for loans is a form of stealing. Misusing funds or assets
that have been committed into our hands for safekeeping is
a form of fraud and stealing. Conspiring to defraud or receiving
stolen goods all amount to stealing. And so there are many, many ways
in which stealing can have a manifestation. And today we hear a lot about
kidnapping and people trafficking and modern day slavery where
it's the people themselves who are stolen and not just people's
goods or people's property. And I think there are as many
examples of people stealing as there are evil imaginations in
wicked hearts. People can be very resourceful
when it comes to being dishonest and sometimes people think they
are clever when all they are is corrupt. All of these forms
of stealing are prohibited by this law. And this law was given
to the children of Israel by Moses or by God through Moses
in the wilderness of Sinai as they came out of Egypt and before
they went into the promised land. And here the Lord is telling
the people that honesty and fairness and openness makes for trust
and good social order. It's a form of mutual respect
and without that withholding of stealing. If people do steal,
there's an abuse of natural justice for our fellow men and women
and boys and girls. So that when Israel entered the
promised land, they were not to steal from one another. and
nor should we steal from one another. If the commands of God
were observed and abided by, the world would be a safer and
a happier place. But there's a reason why it is
not. There's a problem, and the problem
is sin. Indeed, the prophet Jeremiah
tells us that the heart of man is the problem. The heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. who can know
it, so that our deceitful hearts so often try to justify our sinfulness. And we tell ourselves that it's
not really important, it's not a big thing, what we're doing. We say things like, it really
isn't stealing, it won't be missed, it's probably lost. and no one
will care anyway. And we say those things to cover
up our little sins. And we say things like, everybody
does it and no one will find out in order to excuse our bigger
sins. And the Bible tells us that not
only do men and women and boys and girls steal from one another,
We even steal from God. Actually, of all the thieving
and of all the stealing that there is in the world, and there's
a lot, probably it is stealing God's honour and glory and his
legitimate worship that is the greatest crime of all. Robbing God is what we all do. There's a little verse in Malachi
chapter 3 and verse 8 and it says this, Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed
thee? And the Lord answers in worship. The word is tithes and offerings,
but it just means our worship. We rob God because we don't worship
him properly. And God says, I will not give
my glory unto another. What a terrible thing that is
that we should steal from the Lord who gives such good gifts
and to freely provide so many good things for us. And you know,
we don't acknowledge that. We don't say thank you. We don't
honour him as we should. And what we learn when we understand
that deceit in our hearts that Jeremiah was speaking about a
few moments ago. What we learn is that our problem,
the problem of sin, the problem of evil in our hearts, is not
in the first instance what we do, but what we are. I've said this many times before
and I'm sure I will say it again. The Bible teaches us that we
are sinners because we sin. I've said that wrong, haven't
I? The Bible teaches us that we are not sinners because we
sin. We sin because we're sinners. It's because our heart is wrong. It's because our nature is wrong. It's because we are sinners deep
down that we sin in the things that we do. The problem is our
own innate wickedness. The Lord Jesus Christ says in
Matthew chapter 7, Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good
fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring
forth good fruit. And because we are like that
corrupt tree, because we are like that wicked evil person,
because we are like the well that has got bitter water or
the fountain that has got polluted water, what comes out of us is
wicked actions and wicked deeds. and we find ourselves doing things
because of our nature and because of our deceitful heart. It is
only those whose hearts have been healed and renewed and made
good that truly understand where true holiness comes from and
what righteousness and what honesty is before God. Those who trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ, believers, see righteousness and purity and holiness to be
not something in ourselves, but something received from God by
grace. And this transformation, this
change, we call it conversion, this conversion of the heart
comes when the Lord changes a man and a woman, a boy or a girl,
and brings them to confess that they are sinners and to ask forgiveness
from God. And this is what it means to
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to trust in his sacrifice
to take away our sins. It is to trust in him that he
will give us a changed nature, that he will put a new heart
with new desires within us and he will transform us from the
inside out so that we might honour him and serve him. Now that doesn't
mean that we are going to be perfect or that we will never
sin again. But it means that we know when
we do sin. And it means that we know that
we're sinning against the light that God has given us. And believers
want to honour God. And believers want to try to
live for God's glory by way of thanking Him for all the goodness
and mercy that He has shown to us by the death and sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by making a way of recovery,
by opening a door of salvation, and by bringing His mercy into
our lives. All of these ten commandments,
I think we mentioned this was number eight, show us how far-reaching
sin actually is and how little power we have to do good and
to do right. Satan is called the father of
lies and sin is a lie that deceives us. Sin promises us pleasure
and enjoyment, but it only brings us regret and shame. Our own hearts deceive us, but
when the Lord Jesus Christ opens our eyes to see our sin, Not
only does it convict us, it repulses us. We wish we could be rid of
it, that we might honour God properly. How are we going to
do that? Not by trying to be better by
our own power. Oh, you can give that a go. Lots
of people do. We might be able to be a bit
better. for a while, but in the end,
we will all find that our own strength is not sufficient. We don't have that power in ourselves
to make ourselves better. Some people talk about New Year
resolutions and turning over a new leaf or making a change
or deciding that we're going to do something different. You
know, you may get away with that for a while. You may be able
to make an alteration in your life and change the way you do
things, but ultimately, the root of that tree, the source of that
fountain, still is evil. And ultimately what comes out
of it will be evil until that fountain, until the roots of
that tree, until that heart that is wicked gets changed and transformed
and converted by the grace of God. We must find our strength
in the Lord Jesus Christ, not in ourselves. We must lean on
Christ for strength. We must trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, both for forgiveness for sin to begin with, and strength
to be going on in the future. Strength to withstand temptation
when we find ourselves being tempted. Let us in those moments
of temptation, when we think we can do this and no one will
notice, this is just a little thing and it won't matter. No
one will see. Everybody does it. When we think
those thoughts and we confront the possibility of doing something
that the Lord has shown us and the Lord has taught us is wrong,
let us remember the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us
think about His suffering and His shed blood. Let us remember
why he suffered, what it cost him, and how his death has changed
our hearts so that Satan no longer rules over us. The Apostle Paul
writes that because the Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again,
sin no longer has dominion over him. And likewise, we who are
in him shall not have sin ruling in our lives either. Apostle
Paul tells the Romans in Romans chapter 6, sin shall not have
dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace. The grace of God has appeared
to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And finally The Apostle
gives this word of advice to the believers, to the church
at Ephesus, which I think is a lovely balance for all believers. It's a lovely balance for all
believers, whether we are young or whether we are older, because
it gives us a view of self-responsibility and social responsibility. Here's what the apostle said
to the Ephesians in chapter four, verse 28. Let him that stole
steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with his
hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him
that needeth. Isn't that delightful? Isn't
that a fine sentiment for the apostle to convey to that church
at Ephesus? Let him that stole steal no more,
but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which
is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. May
the Lord make us wise unto salvation and to this true gospel obedience. Amen.