In his sermon 'Becoming Like the Open-Handed God,' Jason Dohm explores the Eighth Commandment, 'You shall not steal,' as more than a mere prohibition of theft but a call to understand God's generous nature. The commandment is grounded in the concept of private property, which is essential for the commandment's relevance. Dohm discusses various forms of theft outlined in scripture, including fraud, force, withholding wages, and time theft, emphasizing that all reflect a misunderstanding of God's provision. The sermon highlights that stealing often stems from discontent and distrust in God, showcasing a flawed view of His character. Dohm cites several biblical passages to illustrate how theft can occur in various contexts, such as moving boundary lines or failing to pay taxes. He contrasts this with God's open-handedness and calls for believers to emulate God's generosity. The sermon concludes by asserting that Jesus epitomizes the opposite of theft, embodying the ultimate giver, and calls on listeners to adopt a lifestyle of generosity and contentment.

That's how I love the sermon this morning is becoming like the open-handed gracious God. Can't believe we're already at the eighth commandment. Seems like we just started this series, at least to me it does. We're due to start something completely new. What that is we do not know, but something new on August 7th.

So that's fast approaching. Our commandment this morning, the eighth commandment, is found in Exodus chapter 20 verse 5. Welcome to another four-word commandment. You shall not steal. It tells us what not to do, but we're learning to understand that those eight out of ten commandments which are framed in the negative, they tell you what not to do, are still about love and they still reveal the eternal nature of God.

So this commandment does hold us back from taking other people's property, but it does a lot more than that. God is a lot more than just not a thief. And love requires more of us than just not taking other people's stuff. So we get to view the breadth and width of Scripture on this forward commandment. As we come to the topic, let's ask God to help us.

Oh God, you are so open-handed, so open-handed. You are such a giver. And you want your people to be like that. There's never been anyone who walked the earth who gave as fully and as freely as your son Jesus Christ. Now If you would make us one small portion like Him, we would be so giving.

I pray that you would do it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, we'll follow the normal pattern. You ought to be used to it by now.

You could probably do it by now. Major point number one, what the Eighth Commandment forbids. So I'm gonna just now continue, I'll frame it. Number one will always be however the commandment frames it. So it is framed as a prohibition.

So number one will be what? Eighth commandment forbids. It forbids stealing. There is zero translational variation among the reliable translations. There's no real exegetical controversy, meaning when you look at what reliable commentators say about this, they say very, very similar things, and none of it's really controversial.

Stealing is simply taking what belongs to another either by fraud or by force. You can take what belongs to another by fraud. You can cheat them out of it. And that can be done secretly or openly. They might instantly know that they've been cheated out of it and who did it, who did the cheating, Or they might actually never miss it.

Or they might miss it but not know who cheated them out of it. Doesn't matter. That's all theft by force or by fraud, whether secretly or openly. It is all theft. You can take what belongs to another by force.

I have the power to take it. You can't stop me from taking it. So I take it. All theft. I'd like to look at some texts which help us understand all of what Scripture describes as stealing and how it speaks of it.

And I'm going to take us to seven different texts, which I think throw light on the subject, what the Eighth Commandment forbids. Number one, Leviticus 19, 11 through 13. This one we won't be going to all of them, but this one I think is worth going to. Leviticus 19, verses 11 through 13. If Leviticus 19 rings a bell, it's because the second greatest commandment, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, is in this chapter.

This is a remarkable chapter and this is part of it. Leviticus 19 verses 11 through 13, follow along as I read. You shall not steal, there's our commandment, nor deal falsely nor lie to another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of the Lord your God. I am the Lord.

You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him." So there you have fraud and force. No cheating and no robbing. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. So don't cheat, don't steal by fraud, don't rob, don't steal by force, and don't withhold wages. That's stealing.

You promise to pay and you promise to pay at a certain time and either you don't pay or you don't pay when you promise. That is stealing. The withholding of wages or the changing of wages or the delaying of wages. Number two, Exodus 21 16. I can probably read this one before you can get there, but you're welcome to go if you like.

Exodus 21 verse 16. So this is the chapter right after the Ten Commandments chapter that we've been studying, Exodus 21, 16. He who kidnaps a man and sells him, Or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death." And instead of kidnaps, the King James renders it steals, he who steals a man. The man's stealing, and it's exactly the same word as the commandment, you shall not steal. So I don't think the translators have necessarily done us any favors in translating it kidnapping.

It is kidnapping, but it is literally man stealing. So if you want to know a pronouncement of scripture upon American slavery, there you have it. That was man stealing and Israel would have been required to apply the death penalty for the things that were happening in the human trafficking that happened on such a large scale. It was man stealing. Number three, Deuteronomy 19 verse 14.

Listen to Deuteronomy 19 verse 14. You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set in your inheritance, which you will inherit in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess." So you can steal by shifting established boundary lines. The property line used to be here, but now it's here somebody stole. If you didn't buy that extra space, you stole that extra space. And you can think of applications that actually go beyond the literal moving of a literal boundary line, but moving, shifting the established boundary lines is theft.

Number four, Deuteronomy 23 verse 25. Deuteronomy 23 verse 25. When you come into your neighbor's standing grain, You may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor's standing grain." So, your neighbor has land, you plant seed, up comes a crop. When you pass through his property, you're welcome to eat from what has grown, but you're not welcome to put a sickle to it and take a lot home. He owns the plants of earth?

When it's his property and his labor, he sure does. He sure does. It's stealing to go into the standing grain, the crop that he grew out of his labor on his property, and to take that for yourself, to put a sickle to it for yourself. Again, you can eat it while you're there, but you can't cut it, harvest it, and take it home. Essentially, harvest it and take it home.

I should say this, the Eighth Commandment establishes private property. If you don't have private property, the Eighth Commandment means nothing. There is no stealing if everyone has everything in common. It is a commandment based on a fundamental premise that there is such a thing as private property and then that's what you see reflected in Deuteronomy 23 25 when you grow a crop on your private property that the crop is yours and is not to be harvested and just taken by someone else, your labor and your property, the fruit of it is yours. So, does the Bible establish private property?

Absolutely. That's not all that there is to say about that. It establishes open handedness and generosity as well, but out of a framework of private property. So I don't think that you see heartless capitalism established in scripture, but you definitely see private property established in scripture. Number five, Deuteronomy 25 verses 13 through 16.

Let's turn there. Deuteronomy 25, this is a few more verses so worth taking the time to turn there. Deuteronomy 25 verses 13 through 16. Follow along as I read. Again Deuteronomy 25, 13 through 16.

You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously are an abomination to the Lord your God." You have a bag and you're buying and selling. You've got a one pound weight for buying.

It's a heavyweight. You have a one pound weight for selling. It's a lightweight. Wait a minute, I thought one pound was one pound. Yeah, one pound supposed to be one pound.

You have a one cup measure for buying. It's a big cup. You have a one cup measure for selling. It's a small cup. Wait a minute, a cup is supposed to be a cup.

Yes, that's exactly. You should have a perfect and adjust pound and cup. Not one for buying and one for selling. That's cheating. That's stealing.

God calls it an abomination. God hates that. Number six. Proverbs 6 verses 30 and 31. Proverbs 6 verses 30 and 31.

Proverbs 6 verses 30 and 31. Listen to this. If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving. Yet when he is found he must restore sevenfold. He may have to give up all the substance of his house.

Sometimes people steal, not because they're necessarily greedy, but because they're starving. Proverbs 6 says, nobody hates a thief who does that. A sickly, starving person stealing to eat. You don't hate the person for doing that, But they still have to pay it back and with more and it might cost them all the substance of his house to pay it back. So this is a whole category and it's an interesting category I think, restitution.

Making theft right. When somebody steals what happens then the Bible says they are to not just pay it back, but they are to pay it back with extra as a penalty for having stolen and as a payment to the person from which you stole. So restitution is a whole category. I'm not spending time to develop it other than to say this is a category in the Bible. So stealing for survival is what?

Steal stealing. You might not be despised for it, hated for it. Your theft might even receive understanding, but it doesn't make it not theft, and it doesn't mean that you don't have to make it right. Number seven, finally, turn to Colossians 3. So in each one of these, I'm taking us to seven scriptures giving you something the Bible says about stealing.

In each one of these you have very literal applications. In other words, I mean, you can see how today this is happening almost just like it's described in the Bible and then figurative applications meaning the same principle is being played out but just in a different way. I'm not taking the time to make lists here. The idea is just to establish what the Bible says, understanding that there are different ways to do the same thing that we see in the Bible. Colossians 3, 22 and 24.

And the reason that I'm not taking the time to make lists is that we have a sermon on theft, not a series of sermons on theft. You can thank me later. Colossians 3, 22 through 24. Colossians 3 22 through 24. Paul writes this to the Colossians.

Bond servants. Obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ." What does it mean when Paul writes to the Colossians? Not with eye service. It means don't work heartily when the boss's eye is on you but work half-heartedly or not at all when the boss leaves the room.

Eye service, serving when the eye is on you and half-heartedly serving or not serving at all when the eye isn't on you. You're familiar with the term time theft that this is where it comes from. I service, time theft. You have a contract with your employer. You're being paid to render service in exchange for compensation.

He upholds, he or she upholds her end of the bar, his or her end of the bargain, but you don't do it. You said you would do an exchange for the compensation that says work heartily all of our employers are expecting us to work heartily not hardly heartily working not hardly working I'm sure there will be more on this next week. Now, let's back up and ask, what is behind stealing? Why do people steal? Well, you have Proverbs 6, someone's starving.

That's very rare. I've never known a soul who stole because they were starving. It's very rare and it's probably not what is happening in our encounters with stealing. But that's one reason. Overwhelmingly, it's two things.

And I've been able to think of a couple of others, but I think they're so rare I'm not even going to give it time. Overwhelmingly, it's these two things. It is discontent and distrust. Discontent, I don't have what I want. You know that's ultimately discontent with God.

God hasn't given me what I want and I'm mad and am going to get it anyway by cheating or taking. I need to steal. I need this. Or at least I really, really want it enough that I'll take it from someone else. They'll never know.

Irrelevant. Or distrust. Or distrust. Again, distrust of God to provide. I have to steal.

I have to steal. God is not providing for me. God won't provide for me. I have to steal. It's almost never survival.

It's almost never the starving man who's stealing. It's usually someone who's discontent with God and what he's given or someone who distrusts God to provide for them. Violations of this commandment almost always betray a sinfully defective view of God." I'll say it again. Almost every violation of this commandment you shall not steal betrays a sinfully defective view of God. God's holding out on me so I'll take it for myself.

I'm discontent. Or God won't provide what I need so I better take distrust. Finally on this point consider this from Thomas Watson. I am studying more than Thomas Watson he's just so quotable ones The other things I get out of it I put in my own words and fold it in with other things that I wanted to say. Thomas Watson has said some things in really particular ways that I know I couldn't say as well as he said so I'm quoting.

Thomas Watson says this, what are the aggravations of this sin? To rob the widow and orphan. To rob the poor. How angry was David that the rich man should take away the poor man's lamb. Okay, now what's he talking about there?

David commits adultery. Nathan the prophet is sent by God to confront him. He tells a story about a rich man, all these resources. There's a poor man who just has one little lamb that he loves. It's like a family member.

A guest comes to visit the rich man. The rich man doesn't take any of his own resources. He takes the poor man's lamb to feed his visitor and David is so in red. Of course this is exactly what David has done in reality with Bathsheba with the taking of another man's wife. He stole his wife.

But David doesn't realize that, can't see that yet at this point in the story. So he's the king, he says, who is that man? That man will die. All theft is wrong. All stealing is wrong.

But is there aggravated stealing, meaning even worse than regular stealing? You better believe it. When you take the poor man's lamb, The king says, who is that man? He shall die. And God and Nathan the prophet are just seizing on this thing in our hearts that we know that though all stealing is wrong, It's particularly blasphemous and grieving to exploit the poor.

Why would you ever steal from the poor? Why do they have? Because they're the easiest to steal from. Because when you cheat a poor man, or you take from a poor man by force, he has no recourse. That's why you steal from the widow and the orphan.

That's why you steal from the poor man, because you exploit the vulnerable, and that makes it twice as bad. That's true. Thomas Watson's right about that. God puts his finger on that by having this be the story that he sends the prophet to tell David, knowing that righteous indignation about How it makes it doubly bad to do that would cause that to rise up in David's heart. Major point number two, what the eighth commandment requires.

We have been looking at what it forbids. Now what does it require? Let's put this through the filter of the golden rule. You find the golden rule in Matthew chapter 7 verse 12. Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.

For this is the law and the prophets." If you want to know the way the law and the prophets works its way out in a person's life, you just have to figure out how you want to be treated by other people, how do you like to be treated, and then act accordingly. That's the golden rule. We teach our children this from their youngest, from the first time they can understand because it helps them navigate in the house and know what pleases you and displeases you. God has done the same. The golden rule is the law and the prophets.

It's the fleshing out, the working out of the law and the prophets. You want to know what the law and the prophets lived out looks like? Well figure out how you like to be treated and treat other people that way. Well wait a minute. In our recitation verse today came from Matthew 22 and Jesus said, on these two commands, love God, love your neighbor, hang all the law and the prophets.

So when you bring these two together, the golden rule with the two great commandments, Matthew 7 with Matthew 22, what you get is if you want to know how to love people practically, get an understanding of how you like to be treated and treat them that way, then you'll be loving them. So let's put the eighth commandment, you shall not steal through that filter. We would certainly want others to refrain from taking what is ours, right? When you think of how you want to be treated by other people, well let's start here, don't take myself. But we would also want others to help us when we are truly in need.

I'm truly in need now, How do I want my neighbor to treat me? Help me! I'm drowning! Help me! So then we must be ready to help.

That's what the Golden Rule says. Find out how you'd like to be treated. Treat other people that way. If you're really in need, you would want your neighbor to help you, then help your neighbor. Who is my neighbor?

Jesus answers that question. Let's look at some texts which help us understand what the eighth commandment requires. I'll give you six. Number one, Leviticus 19, 9 through 10. I had a Leviticus 19, I think it was number one in the first major point.

So this is the same chapter, Leviticus 19 verses 9 and 10. This time talking about what the commandment requires of us. Listen to this. When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, Nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard.

You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God." You have private property, and you've supplied the labor to grow a crop, could be grain, could be grapes, could be anything you could grow, And it's harvest time. Now you can harvest to the nth degree to get the last grain or the last grape. God says don't do that. God says, I'll leave the corners uncut.

The grapes that you missed in the first pass, don't get them on the 10th pass. Don't make 10 passes or four or whatever. Leave some of what's there. You always miss in harvesting. Don't go back and get the last bit of it.

Why? So that People who are in need have a way through their own labor to acquire what they need. It would be a last resort. You would never go to get just the leftovers of the harvest from somebody's field if you had another option. There's way better ways to go about feeding yourself.

But as a last resort to somebody who's starving and in need, it's a way for them to get what they need through their own labor. So The general equity of this law, what is the general equity? Well the Old Testament case law doesn't cover everything. In fact, it covers very few individual instances, but underneath those instances that are given to us are timeless, eternal principles that can be applied in ten different ways, probably a hundred different ways, maybe a thousand different ways. So this case law about when you harvest and you miss the corner of the field, don't go back and get that.

Leave it for the poor man to be able to supply through his own labor. There's a general equity behind that, that if you're not a farmer and you don't have a corner of the field, you can still apply that. I think the general equity is this. Make ways available for the needy to gain their provision through their own labor. Our government has even attempted to do this in times past.

You've heard of welfare, government paying for people who are in need. There was a period of time where it was called work fair, which tried to combine labor with that so that people were actually, they were getting, needy people were getting to supply for their need, but they were also working to do it. So our government is even aware of the need for people to labor for their own provision. This probably is worthy of a sermon but I don't have time to preach it now and I'm not ready to preach it. I haven't thought through it.

But there's a principle here where we need to make ways available for the needy to gain their provision through their own labor. Who says so? God says so in Leviticus 19. Number two, Deuteronomy 22 verse 1. Deuteronomy 22 verse 1.

You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and hide yourself from them. You shall certainly bring them back to your brother. You have an obligation to help others keep what is theirs. So yes, don't take their stuff from them, but you also have an obligation to help others keep what is theirs. His wandering sheep, his problem.

That's not what God says. His wandering sheep is your problem. This is an extension of, am I my brother's keeper? Yes, you're your brother's keeper. You're supposed to do good to your brother.

You know that's his sheep that has wandered off. It's not sufficient. Love requires more than you just throwing up your hands to say, his loss, his problem, should have kept better track of his sheep. No, Love requires more than that. Number three, Deuteronomy 25 verse 4.

Deuteronomy 25 verse 4, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. The ox is treading out your grain, your ox is laboring for you, so the way you can get the most out of that is to muzzle him so he doesn't eat the grain that he's treading out. The Bible says don't do that. Paul actually quotes that in 1 Corinthians 9 as a way to say this is the general equity in an Old Testament case law telling us to give workers their due. Give workers their due.

And specifically that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. But The overriding point is you don't cause someone to labor, gain from their labor, but not give them their due. Because if you do that you're stealing. You're stealing from the ox to make him labor, to tread out the grain for you, but he doesn't even share in the fruit of the labors. You have to give the worker his due or her due.

Number four, Matthew 22 verse 21. Matthew 22 verse 21. Jesus is answering the question, do we have to pay taxes? He calls for a denarii, I never know how to say that. Denarii.

I'll say it with confidence. Maybe you'll believe me. He calls for a denarii. And then we have Matthew 22 verse 21. They said to him, and he says, whose inscription, whose likeness is on this coin?

They said to him, Caesar's. And he said to them, render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. Again, this is about giving what's due. There's tax money that is due to Caesar. Jesus answers the question, yes, you have to pay your taxes.

And Paul reinforces that actually in Romans 13 where Paul is talking about a wicked civil government and he says, yeah, God uses that to suppress evil, and there are people who should be working in that government, and taxes should support it, and you should pay your taxes. That's an argument of Paul in Romans 13. So in this case, paying your taxes is required. Withholding taxes is theft. That's stealing.

Withholding taxes is theft. We learn there that you shall not steal can involve individuals and institutions. Individuals can steal, individuals can be stolen from. Institutions can steal. Churches can steal.

So governments can steal. And institutions can be stolen from. So this can be individual or institutions which are made up of individuals. It's people in those institutions that are making the policies to steal and enforcing these policies. Number five, Ephesians 4.28.

Ephesians 4.28. Paul writes this to the Ephesians, Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. To those who are stealing, Paul says, stop it. Let him who stole steal no longer. Stop it.

Then, Earn to be able to give. He doesn't stop by just saying stop it. He says earn, go work, do an honest day's work for an honest day's wage in order that he may have something to give him who has need. Go earn to be able to give. So is subsistence living biblical?

No. What do I mean by that? Often and especially a young among young men There is a subsistence living mindset because they're so cheap to support themselves. They can live on almost nothing. So they do things that earn them almost nothing because they can get six roommates and eat ramen noodles.

You can't do that in your 40s but you can do that in your teens and your 20s. But here Paul is saying no no no you should work hard and earn to give you something to be open-handed with. You should be on the other side of the theft coin. Not stealing, stop it, but earning so that you have an abundance out of which to help other people. God wants us to be so far from stealing for others, He wants us earning.

It's also prohibited by the Bible to overwork, to be rich. What I'm saying can be taken to an extreme that the Bible doesn't teach or endorse, and I don't mean you could take that to an extreme and say you should work every minute of every day in order to make a whole lot of money to give a tremendous amount of money, but the Bible is not telling us to do that. It is sinful to overwork to become rich. That's Proverbs something. Google will tell you which verse.

Which verse? Number six. Turn to 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6. If you want a chapter on money, it's 1 Timothy 6 or something in Proverbs, probably a combination of things in Proverbs.

First Timothy 6, I'll be reading 6 through 6-10, Paul writes this to Timothy. Now godliness with contentment is great gain, For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing with this we should with these we shall be content. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." This is talking about self-inflicted wounds in the extreme, have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

They did it to themselves. They stabbed themselves. Paul is teaching that godliness with contentment is the anecdote for a terrible poison, which is the love of money. So, godliness with contentment is required by this commandment, you shall not steal. Contentment in the Lord, godly contentment, contentment in the Lord, contentment with the Lord and what He's given to you.

He's given you food and clothing. You have reason to be content. Major point number three, what the eighth commandment teaches about God. So we've been saying every time that the Ten Commandments are actually, in addition to other things, a revelation of the eternal unchanging character of God. So we get to see God on display in the commandments.

It's really easy to make the case for that. Jesus Christ is the ultimate revelation of God, the ultimate Revelation of the Father, and He perfectly obeyed the Commandments just because that's what He does. He's showing what He's like. So this is the Revelation of God in the Ten Commandments. Perfectly revealed through looking at Jesus and how he does this.

Number one, the first thing that the eighth commandment teaches us about God. God is interested in our interests. That's a good truth for me and you. God is interested in my interests and your interests. That would be depressing if God was disinterested in my interest.

He didn't care whether it went well with me or poorly with me. By writing the eighth commandment you shall not steal on the hearts of mankind And by writing the eighth commandment on stone with his own finger and by instituting civil governments to constrain evil, God protects our interests and advances our interests. That's true. God is protecting your interests by writing on every human heart, you shall not steal. And not content with that, with his own finger he wrote it on stone, You shall not steal, so we can't talk ourselves out of it.

It's written. So you can try your self-justifications, but it stands there in the stone. And he's instituted a civil authority to keep people from stealing. That protects your interests. That does establish private property and it advances our interests.

Our interests are protected by what he forbids and advanced by what he requires. People aren't stealing from you right now the things that belong to you because he's written it on the hearts of other people that that's not right to do, and he's written it on stone with his finger, and he's instituted a government to keep it from happening and to punish it when it's happening. Your interests are being advanced by what he requires. When you are in need, people are going to have an internal sense that they should help you. That came from God.

He has advanced your interests by doing that. Number two, the second thing that the eighth commandment teaches about God, and I'm sure I've missed some great ones, but I'm only giving you two. The title was, Becoming Like the Open-Handed Gracious God. This commandment, You Shall Not Steal, is actually a reflection that goes beyond what God isn't, He isn't a thief, to what He is. He's so open-handed.

He gives so generously. He's so gracious. Listen to Psalm 145 14 through 16. If you're taking any notes at all, rather jot this one down. Psalm 145 14 through 16.

The psalmist says this, the Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to you and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. People are eating because God is feeding them. People are eating because God has opened His hand.

Just think about that. If God was closing his hand, what would that mean? It would mean that he's keeping what's his to himself. Prosecute God for that. Prosecute God for keeping what is His to Himself.

Okay, but Psalm 145 says He doesn't do that. He opens His hand and gives what's His to people who are looking to Him for provision. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. Even the unthankful, look around. Even the ungrateful and wicked, look around.

How open-handed and gracious is God. Listen to Romans 8 32. Romans 8 32. He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him, with His Son, also freely give us all things?" really give us all things.

Paul is saying, if God opened His hand with Christ, can you even Imagine that he will close his hands with the things that you need for your physical life. How could it be? Unthinkable. Not only did we not earn or deserve His grace, we did earn and deserve our condemnation. The wages of sin is death, you earned that paycheck.

He opened his hand, gave his son. Think of the last three commandments we have studied. You shall not murder. Jesus is the anti-murderer. He's the polar exact opposite of a murderer.

Not only did he not murder, did not hate in his heart, did not speak evil, he allowed himself to be murdered. He's the anti-murderer. You shall not commit adultery. Jesus is the anti-adulterer. He's the polar, exact opposite of adultery.

He is the husband who will never forsake. Untainted by any uncleanness. He's the anti-adulterer. You shall not steal. Jesus is the anti-thief.

He is the polar exact opposite of a thief. He opens His hand and gives and gives and gives. He laid down His life. Next week, we'll look at how we've failed to obey the 8th commandment and how the Lord Jesus has perfectly obeyed the 8th commandment. God, thank you.

Jesus, Thank you for being the polar opposite of a murderer, for being the polar opposite of an adulterer, for being the polar opposite of a thief. No hands have ever been more open-handed and free in giving. Oh, make us like you. Make us love you for being like that and make us more like you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.