In Pastor Grant Brown's sermon, 'The Law of God (Part 15)', the focus is on the Eighth Commandment, 'Thou shall not steal,' dissecting its application on three levels: personal, communal, and governmental. The sermon begins with a recount of the commandments from Exodus 20 and emphasizes the pervasive nature of theft in modern society, illustrated through everyday examples such as password protection and property taxes. Pastor Brown critiques how society often rebrands theft under more palatable terms, encouraging vigilance against such practices. He underscores the Eighth Commandment's call for honesty not only in outright theft but in deceitful practices like fraudulent merchandising and excessive interest, labeled as usury. The sermon highlights the importance of honest labor, contrasting it with the sin of gambling and reckless financial behavior, which he equates to theft from one's family and community. Brown extends the commandment's implications to civil governments, criticizing property taxes and deficit spending as forms of state-sanctioned theft. Throughout, he calls for adherence to God's law, urging generosity and support within the community, and warns against the dangers of greed, advocating a lifestyle aligned with biblical principles of stewardship and righteousness. The sermon concludes with an invitation to embrace Christ, who offers redemption from sin and theft, emphasizing the transformation possible through faith.

And I'll ask the congregation to now stand as God now speaks. Hear now the word of our God from Exodus chapter 20. Then God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

You shall not worship them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God.

In it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant, or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. May God bless the reading and the preaching of this is word. Amen. Amen.

You may be seated. Many years ago, I was at the Ligonier National Conference in Orlando, Florida, and I was listening to a Q&A panel and a question was asked about How to talk to somebody who said they didn't believe in sin. How do you talk to a person who says sin doesn't exist? And I loved, as one always does typically, R.C. Sproul's answer.

How do you explain sin to a guy who says sin doesn't exist? RC, steal his wallet. Steal his wallet. He'll believe in sin real quick. That's a good answer.

Of all the Ten Commandments, number eight is perhaps the most universally acknowledged as true, even among the most pagan of pagans. Augustine said it this way, quote, Theft is punished by thy law, O Lord, and by the law written in men's hearts, which not even ingrained wickedness can erase. For what thief will tolerate another thief from stealing from him?" End quote. We can see just how pervasive theft is in our own land today and the ways that we know that theft is wrong as a people. I mean just think about how many passwords you need to live life nowadays.

You need a passkey to get into your phone, to turn on your computer, to order from Amazon, to get into your bank accounts. You lock your doors at night and you lock your devices too. Theft is all around you. And theft is sneaky, Pun intended. We exist in a land, you exist in a land that accepts and even encourages theft and has taught you to accept and encourage theft, because the world has simply taken theft and oftentimes given it a new shiny name and fed it right back to you, and you say, oh, this is good.

And it ought not to be that way, brothers and sisters, and we need to stop. We need to call theft what God calls theft, and stop listening to the world. So this morning I want you to see how this commandment applies on three levels. How the Eighth Commandment applies to you and your neighbor and how it applies to you and the state and the ways in which you might even be tempted to steal from God himself. So let's begin then with the first, you and your neighbor.

You and your neighbor. Here's what the Heidelberg catechism has to say on the matter. When in doubt, Heidelberg it out. Quote, question 110, what does God forbid in the eighth commandment? Answer, he forbids not only outright theft and robbery punishable by law, but in God's sight theft also includes cheating and swindling our neighbor by schemes made to appear legitimate, such as inaccurate measurements of weight, size, or volume, fraudulent merchandising, counterfeit money, excessive interest, or any other means forbidden by God.

In addition, he forbids all greed and pointless squandering of His gifts. That's a good answer. The next question, question 111 in the Heidelberg Catechism, what does God require of you in this commandment? Answer, that I do whatever I can for my neighbor's good, that I treat others as I would like them to treat me And that I work faithfully so that I may share with those in need end quote That almost ought to be just good enough for a sermon right there. And in fact, it is so good in my mind that I want to use that answer as an outline for this first point.

So first the obvious. What does God forbid in the eighth commandment between you and your neighbor? Well, the Heidelberg begins with this. Outright theft and robbery as punishable by law. So things that everybody in the legislature of Iowa thinks are theft.

God thinks is theft in our land today. So you go into Walmart, you carry something out you didn't pay for, theft. You go into a home, you take someone else's property without permission or you take the property of someone with permission but then you never bring it back. That's theft, that's robbery punishable by law. Children, when you take something out of your mother's purse, or your father's wallet, when they aren't looking, or when you steal your sibling's toy, and you hide it, that's theft.

God sees it, God knows it, He calls that stealing you can't steal from people you can't steal your neighbor's property it's theft and children if you find yourself this morning guilty of thievery, you need the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ the Son of God to cleanse you from that guilt. And oh how he will do it. We just sang about it. Outright theft and robbery of material possessions is forbidden in the eighth commandment and so is theft of people, should be obvious. Just like you can't steal someone's property, you can't also steal people.

You can't steal your neighbor's property nor his person. So man stealing is forbidden in the Eighth Commandment. Again, that should be obvious. Exodus 21 16, he who kidnaps a man, man stealing, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, he shall surely be put to death. So outright theft of property and persons is forbidden.

But that's not all. So that should be obvious to us. I think you walked in here knowing that. If you didn't, sweet, now you do. But the Heidelberg Catechism goes on to say far more.

Cheating and swindling your neighbor, the catechism says, is a violation of this command. Children, cheating and swindling your siblings is a violation of the eighth commandment. They are your neighbor. So how might you cheat or swindle how might you cheater swindle your neighbor how might you cheater swindle your spouse how might you cheat or swindle your sibling well one way the catechism says is through unequal weights and measures and that's throughout the Proverbs, but here's one Proverbs 20. Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

Unequal weights and unequal measures are an abomination to the Lord. So in Solomon's day you would often measure out certain commodities using scales. This much wheat cost this much money and so if you could use false weights or false scales you could earn more money for less commodity make a better profit God says I hate that I go he goes so far as to say now it's an abomination it's an abomination to me cheating and swindling a customer is cheating and swindling your neighbor, and God forbids it in the eighth commandment. Now, you and I, we don't use those same kinds of scales and balances anymore, normally at least. So you might be tempted to think, well, that doesn't apply to me.

Well, come on. We are absolutely prone to unequal weights and measurements. We're just far more sophisticated. So accounting scandals, number manipulation to influence stocks and stockholders, embezzlement, stealing from your employer, taking advantage of people who don't know better. When you do know better, for economic gain, that's swindling, all kinds of unequal weights and measures going on in your workplace right now.

This includes fraudulent merchandising, false advertising, selling defective goods. So we all know that the guy on the corner selling the snake oil that can cure every ailment known to man, we know that guy is a crook. We've all seen the Andy Griffith episode. If you haven't, come on. That guy is a swindler.

But what kind of snake oil are you selling? Are you peddling goods? Are you peddling services that promise more than what they deliver? Are you making promises that you can't keep? Are you telling the client on the phone, you bet we can get the product out to you next week?

You bet we can get that service done for you next week, even though you know full well in your heart there's no way on earth that's gonna happen. But you did it anyway to get the sale? That's theft. It's lying. God hates that.

Plagiarism. Taking someone else's thoughts, designs, words, labeling them your own. That's theft. Piracy. Illegally downloading music or movies, watching movies for free that aren't supposed to be free.

You're swindling, you're cheating your neighbor when you watch pirated content. And it's the same for counterfeit money. So the Heidelberg Catechism mentions counterfeit money as a way you break the eighth commandment through cheating and swindling your neighbor. When you hear that phrase counterfeit money you probably think well sweet, I have never printed $100 bills. I must be good.

Well, you definitely shouldn't be printing money illegally. That's for sure. But even if you're not printing loads of money like the government is right now, we're gonna get to that in the second point But even if you aren't doing that, how are you doing with fraud other forms of counterfeit money? Do you write checks that you know will bounce? You print money more sophisticated That's forbidden in the eighth commandment Do you use credit cards in a way that you know you can't pay back?

That is theft. If you cannot pay for what you've bought and it was not given to you for free, then what other word can you use to describe that than stealing when you put it on the credit card with no intention of paying for it? There's no other word to use. Stealing. And you might think, well I can just file for bankruptcy.

If I file for bankruptcy, then all my debt will just magically go away. Why? How can your debt magically go away? Do you know why? Because the United States government has a legalized theft.

And the United States government has given theft a really new wonderful shiny name, bankruptcy. Legalized theft. Your debt goes away And the people you owe money to are stuck with the bill Because the United States government says it's stealing at least that kind of stealing. That's not that big a deal It's not okay It's not what God says in His word. God says to you this morning that our bankruptcy laws need to change in Iowa.

They need to change in the United States of America because God says bankruptcy laws like the ones we currently have are corrupt. We've legalized theft in our land. We are not punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous we're doing the opposite. Psalm 37 21 the wicked borrow and do not pay back. The wicked borrow and they do not pay back.

Here's another way we swindle our neighbor, beginning with those in our own homes. Reckless gambling. Reckless gambling at a casino or, man, we've made it really easy now in your own pocket. You don't got to go to the boats anymore to turn on the phone. Now, I need to make a distinction here.

I'm not talking about a scratcher ticket that someone gives you for Christmas. I'm not even talking about a recreational game of poker where some friends get together and everyone brings $20. Other friends might go and spend $20 at the movies. You just spend $20 to hang out playing poker. I'm not talking about that, alright?

We can have some categories here. I'm not talking about friends getting together and playing some recreational cards or a friendly wager that's dealing in recreational spending. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the kind of gambling that defrauds your neighbor. Reckless gambling.

I'm talking about the kind of reckless gambling that robs your children of their inheritance. The kind of gambling that ruins homes because their father just bet the rent. That's theft towards your children and your wife. It's stealing from your wife and children. I'm talking about the kind of gambling that substitutes hard work and bearing fruit for laziness and theft.

That kind of reality. Reckless gambling. Brothers and sisters, hear me out on this. What did God tell Adam in the Garden of Eden? Genesis chapter 1 in Summary he told Adam work hard cultivate keep the ground exercise dominion over my creation God said be the vice regent under God Almighty in God's world bear fruit multiply labor faithfully work hard.

That's what he told Adam. That same thing that God told Adam in Genesis 1 applies to you right now. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 28 Paul says he who steals must no longer steal but rather he must labor Performing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. Be fruitful and multiply. Proverbs 14-23, there is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty.

Work hard, men. Sisters work hard in your home. God has given you a body and hands to be fruitful. God has given you hands and a body to be fruitful, to cultivate the land, to produce goods and services as to the Lord, to work hard, to turn a profit that you might bless your neighbor starting with those neighbors in your home, starting with your wife and your children. God has given you your body to produce.

God has given you your body men to build wealth. Now I'm gonna say that people are gonna go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, That's not good for the Christian. All right, you need... I've really wrestled with how to talk about this. So here's what I'm gonna say.

Wealth is not evil. We need to understand that. The Proverbs, God's Word says particularly the opposite. Especially in the Proverbs. So don't be more pure than God now.

Come on now. Proverbs 10 22, the blessing of the Lord brings wealth. The blessing of the Lord brings wealth. Now, Wealth has its own set of temptations and wealth is not always the green backs. It's not always dollar bills.

You got a quiver full of children, you are a wealthy man. You got a happy marriage, you're a wealthy man. But that doesn't mean that dollar bills are evil. God mandates that men provide for their homes. They need money to do that.

God mandates that men, your houses, you bless your neighbor. With the profit and wealth that God gives you through your honest labor, you are to bless your home and your neighbor. That's what God says. And the Westminster and Baptist catechisms say the exact same thing I'm saying. Far from outlawing wealth, far from outlawing prosperity and profit.

Here's what it says. The Eighth Commandment, far from outlawing wealth, quote, requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others. Say that again from the Westminster and Baptist catechisms. Far from outlawing wealth the eighth commandment quote requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others." So wealth is not evil. Paul at the end of 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6, Paul tells the rich not to stop being rich, but to be richly generous and to be on guard against greed.

That would have been the time for him to say money is evil. He didn't say that. The catechisms that I just quoted you are saying exactly what Paul is saying. God requires in the eighth commandment to work hard, to labor diligently, to turn a profit, to build wealth, so that you may increase the estate of your own home and others through your generosity. Because you love to give, because he has given to you.

So God mandates profit. But get this, I'm going to come back to gambling now. Profit gained by theft, wealth gained by theft, Wealth gained at the expense of your neighbor. That's something else entirely. God hates that.

And that's precisely what betting and gambling is. To gain wealth at the expense of your neighbor in a way that is far beyond simple recreation. It's forbidden in the eighth commandment stealing your children's inheritance from them because you squandered it on reckless wagering, that's theft. And that is forbidden. And if you carry on in that, if anyone is ensnared by this, God, if you will not provide for your home because you're ensnared in this, God will call you worse than an unbeliever.

Pastor Michael Foster puts it this way, quote, work is activity that produces a good or service. And good work is an activity that produces a good or service to the glory of God and to the benefit of your neighbor. And that's the problem with sports betting. You're not providing a service to anyone. You're simply taking money from other people and bringing it to yourself without any true benefit added anywhere.

It's all about making capital." End quote. And the excellent Puritan Reverend Richard Baxter said it this way, this kind of gambling is wrong quote, because it is a means of getting other men's estates without just labor or exchange and ordinarily are the effects of covetousness, and they tend to stir up covetousness in others. That's the exact opposite of what God requires of you in the eighth commandment. You are required to be a blessing to other men's estates. To give, and to give generously, to help your neighbor be fruitful.

Friends, you were made for hard, honest labor, to the glory of Jesus Christ, and for the good of your neighbor and gambling is the opposite of that. So there is a reason why sports betting gambling companies there's a reason those companies are so rich because their whole scheme is built and predicated upon people losing lots and lots of money your neighbor's money included so God says to you God says to us as a nation God says to us in Iowa it's not okay to take your neighbor's rent it's not okay to take your neighbor's rent, it's not okay to take your neighbor's mortgage money just because you happen to roll a seven. That's an abuse of the sovereignty of God, it's theft, and it's the exact opposite of God's design since the beginning and working faithfully and building wealth honestly. So I can't say it better than Toby Sumter who's gonna be here in less than a week, Lord willing. This is what he says, quote, it's not an accident that pornography and online gambling, seventh and eighth commandment, it's not an accident that pornography and online gambling have exploded at the same time.

The lack of self-discipline that sends a man like an ox to the slaughter on OnlyFans is the same folly that sends a man to fan duel. The common sin is covetousness. The lust for your neighbor's wife or paycheck is ultimately lust to be God. Gambling does not build homes or families or nations. Gambling is not honest labor that produces God's blessing of fruitfulness, no, it's theft.

It is gain without productive work. It is plundering your neighbor. Sports betting does not cultivate gardens, it does not build homes, it does not strengthen families, it does not bless nations. Instead, it trains men to seek gain without work." End quote. And I don't want any of my men in this congregation to be trained to seek gain without work.

What does the wisdom of Solomon say? Proverbs 13, 11, wealth obtained by fraud dwindles. We see that like crazy for anyone that wins the lottery. The statistics are staggering. How many go broke?

Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles but the one who gathers by labor increases it. So if you're going to love your neighbor, brothers and sisters, stop stealing his money. And if the state is going to love its people, if America and her magistrates are going to love her people, then she needs to stop encouraging men to steal from one another through reckless sports betting gambling stop legalizing theft so unequal weights and measures fraud reckless sports betting and gambling Those are ways you steal from your neighbor. Those are the ways you break the Eighth Commandment. But here's another one listed in the Heidelberg Catechism.

And it's an old fashioned word, usury. Usury. Excessive interest. The eighth commandment forbids excessive interest. Usury.

What does God think of usury? Charging high interest rates. Well I want you to think for a moment of the Son of God. What did he think of charging high interest rates? What did he think of the money lenders, the money changers in the temple?

Remember that? Did Jesus, did he just kind of sit down and kind of just hash it out a little bit? I think that the rate might be a little high. According to our Bibles, he fashioned to whip. He threw tables upside down, spilling all the money on the floor, and drove those men out of the temple of God.

He called them a den of thieves. I don't think God likes usury. He doesn't. He hates it. Not only Were they charging too much criminal rates to offer God a sacrifice?

They were also blocking the court of the Gentiles. They were cutting out the Gentiles from worshipping God, thus robbing both God and man. Den of thieves. So I saw a meme earlier this week while sermon prepping. It had a picture of Jesus.

So no second commandment violation, maybe. A face of righteous indignation. Jesus is a face of righteous indignation. He has a whip, and he's driving the money changers out of the temple. He's turning over tables, dumping the money, and there's a caption at the bottom, and it says, Jesus encouraging them to adjust their exchange rates.

I thought that was really funny. Maybe you don't, maybe you had to see it. Credit card companies are very guilty of usury, aren't they? I mean, the rates used for those who don't pay off credit card bills each month are monstrously excessive. And that's usury.

Now, we ought not to do that in our land. We ought not to charge excessive rates, but we also ought to be far more responsible with our money and stop buying things we can't afford. So what about you? What about you? It's really easy to get mad at American Express.

Really easy to get mad at the government. But how might you be guilty of usury? Well, someone has really hit rock bottom and they have no way out and so they ask to borrow from you. From you or your bank, maybe you work at some financial institution, they ask for a line of credit, they're desperate. And when people are desperate, you can charge them whatever you want because they have nowhere else to go you can take advantage of them because they're desperate they're not gonna get anything anywhere else so you charge them high interest to borrow God hates that why Because you were desperate in your sins.

The people of Israel were desperate in Egypt. You had nowhere else to go but deeper into the pit of misery and iniquity. And God redeemed your life from the pit. God bought you with the precious and unblemished blood of His Son Jesus, crucified, risen and reigning for you, and it was free. Gracious, sovereign grace.

Undeserved favor from God when you were desperate and you could do nothing to help yourself. That's what God did for you. So don't you dare then turn around to your fellow image bearer who was in the same pit as you in his desperation. Don't you dare turn around and act like you haven't been there yourself. It's not how God treated you.

Treat the desperate one in light of what Christ has done for you. That changes the way you view how you loan money. Now, I don't, don't flip what I'm saying here. That does not mean that you can't charge interest. I don't think interest in and of itself is necessarily sin.

I don't think so at all. I do think brothers and sisters should consider loaning at zero interest to those in their own assembly who are in need. Now I would root that in a number of passages. Exodus 22 is one of them. Just two chapters away from this.

I do think that would be righteous and good, but bottom line brothers and sisters there is no inherent sin and interest, but there is sin, very much so in excessive interest. And I think it's very interesting. If you want to look at this next, or tonight or later this week, you could look at Ezekiel chapter 18, and that in that chapter of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 18, the Lord contrasts a righteous and a wicked man. And you think of all the all the ways that God could maybe talk about the righteous and the wicked man, right? All the things you might say about what they do differently.

And it's really interesting to me that in Ezekiel 18, you know what one of the primary contrasts is? The wicked man, God says, is guilty of usury. It's like one of the primary things that God is so upset about. You are full of wicked men Israel, because you're full of people that charge usury. God says That's an abomination.

That man will not live. That's very strong language. Do you think of usury in that kind of way? God does. So if you think, beloved, that interest rates on a local and national level don't matter to God.

It's just some kind of politics. You're really, really wrong. He calls you a Syrian abomination. That's you and your neighbor. Could be a lot more.

But what about you and the state? What about you and the state? Now these next two applications are going to be a little bit shorter. That does not imply in the Letus that they're in The brevity of the next two points does not imply that they're less important. It implies actually quite the opposite.

They're just really clear. Should be. First, brothers and sisters, you know this, you may not steal from the state. Whether it be filing your taxes or applying for benefits, rendered to Caesar, that which is Caesar's. Second, you need to understand that God says that the state may not steal from you.

You understand that? The state may not steal from you. Now that's huge. Thou shall not steal, applies to your civil magistrates. Romans 13 says that your civil leaders are deacons of God.

They are servants of Jesus Christ. And as servants of Jesus Christ, they are to obey the law of Jesus Christ. And Jesus says, thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not steal applies to the civil government. Now one of the things that the eighth commandment establishes, This is really important in understanding our relationship between us and the state.

One of the things that the Eighth Commandment establishes, hear this, please listen. The Eighth Commandment establishes property rights. The Eighth Commandment establishes property rights. Do you understand that? Let me see if I can get it.

You understand it. If stealing stuff is wrong, and it is, then that means, by necessity, that the stuff that someone steals belongs to someone else. You get that logic? When someone takes someone else's stuff away, God says that's stealing. Which means that God, in the eighth commandment and in other places, establishes property rights.

The Eighth Commandment establishes the fact that people own stuff, property. Property belongs to somebody and when somebody comes along and takes your property, they're stealing from you. They're violating the eighth commandment. Now we understand that I think pretty well at a neighbor to neighbor level, you and your neighbor level, don't you think? But it's like we don't think very hard about how it applies to anything else.

And that's what I want to do right now. We need to think harder about that on the person to state level, not just the person to person. We need to understand that the Eighth Commandment establishes property rights, and that very much applies to the civil government. So you own property right? Some of you do.

Some of you, many of you own land so perhaps you have a mortgage and you haven't paid for it all, hopefully there's no usury going on from it, please. But your name's on the deed. So when the state comes in, your name's on the deed, you own this land, you own this building, you own this property. When the state comes in and taxes what you own, your property, what are they saying to you? That's our land.

That's my building, your magistrate is saying, And I will tax you for its use. There is no other word to use than that is theft. Stealing. There is no other word for it If someone else not named uncle Sam Did that to your property? I'm going to charge you for the use of what's yours You would call them bad, a thief.

Property taxes is theft. God calls property tax stealing. So what should our civil magistrate do? Civil magistrate, if they're going to fear God, should stop and end all property tax right now. They're going to obey the law of God.

Why? Because you don't get to take someone else's property and make it your own. You don't get to take someone else's property and act like it's yours. God says that's evil. And on top of that, We've already established that usury is a form of theft, and what does the government like to do?

It loves to raise taxes and rates. Excessive rates, excessive taxes, usury, theft, civil magistrates, God says stop it. I will legislator get rid of property taxes. Stop practicing usury. These things are not lawful.

God says so. And if you're thinking, but then how will we exist as a people? How will we exist as a people if we can't tax like we are taxing? We are so fundamentally broken that we're asking that question? I don't have enough time.

Let's start with what God says. That's theft. That's theft. When the federal government decides to print more money because they can They need more cash to keep their crazy deficit spending going. What are they doing?

They are committing theft. How so they're devaluing your dollar right now So they're stealing from you Do you want to know the reason, like the reason, why we need to stop deficit spending and reckless money printing? You don't need some kind of giant political argument. You need the law of God. Stop doing that because God calls it theft.

My dollar bill that I labored diligently for is worth less today than it was yesterday. I don't know what else to call that than theft. They know what they are doing. So when these things come up in political discourse, you need to be clear, brothers and sisters, this isn't hard. Thus saith the Lord.

When candidates are up for election, you need to vote according to who will obey the law of Jesus Christ. You need to vote according to who will serve Jesus and bless His people instead of stealing from His people. And when ballot measures come up, like a bond measure or some other measure to increase property taxes, you need to vote no. Why? Because if you vote yes, you are saying on your ballot, I'm okay with the government being thieves.

So now I've said similar things like I've just said in the past three, four minutes, and I've gotten some serious flack for it. I no doubt there might be questions, but a lot of times this is what people tell me. You can't tell people how to vote. And I agree. I'm not.

God is. God is very clear in his law Thou shalt not steal and Jesus says to you brothers and sisters love your neighbor Love your neighbor He tells you to love your neighbor so how can you say you love your neighbor while you vote for the state to defraud them you don't love your neighbor if you do that love your neighbor vote according to the law of God and reign in your civil magistrate. Final application, final application, you and the Lord, you and God. How does thou shalt not steal apply to you and God? Brothers and sisters, we've been stealing from God since Genesis chapter 3.

Adam took from the tree that had not yet been given to him. He took and he ate that which was not his. He stole from God and we've been doing it ever since. So we steal from God every time we steal from our neighbor or our civil magistrates because all that our neighbor and our magistrates have ultimately come from Him. Psalm 24 verse 1, the earth is the Lord's and all that contains the world and those who dwell in it.

So when you take that which the Lord did not give you but gave to another, when you steal what the Lord gave your neighbor, you steal from God because it is from Him from where all blessings flow. But you also steal from God by not giving as you ought to give. Uh-oh, pastors talking about giving. Yeah, because the Bible talks about it. Remember Ephesians chapter 4, I just quoted it 10-20 minutes ago.

He who steals, this is Ephesians 4.28, he who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, for what reason? So that he will have something to share with one who has need. Now this is my favorite part of the sermon because I get to just rejoice in God's goodness to our congregation. I want to simply convey to you that I marvel at the goodness of God among you saints across Rome. I read Ephesians 4 28 and I think I see that like crazy in this body it is a great joy for your pastor your pastors to watch you so cheerfully give I'm so encouraged to see your happy generosity towards one another.

I see a lot of it. If I'm seeing a lot of it, I can't imagine what I don't see. I am so grateful to God and to you that He has given you this kind of spirit of generosity. I thank God for the ways it's going on among us. I thank God for the ways in which you have so generously given to me as your pastor you have not muzzled your ox Thank you You have taken seriously first Timothy 5 and you've generously Generously taking care of me and my house as a congregation.

I mean we don't even ask for diapers and they show up. I just I'm very moved by your generosity. Every week I I do marvel that you pay me to do this. Thank you. So it is a great joy to see the generosity overflowing in this body, and I simply wish to exhort you, press on.

Press on, brethren. Keep giving. Beware of greed. It can very much creep into your heart, flee from the love of money. Remember the warning of Malachi chapter 3.

Remember Malachi chapter 3 verse 8. Will a man rob God? And the answer is supposed to be, well Of course not. Who would dare to rob God? But Malachi goes on to say, God says, yet you are robbing me.

But you say, you ask the question, how have we robbed you, God? And God says in Malachi 3, 8, you've robbed me in your tithes and in your offerings Will it will a man rob God? Yes, God says how by failing to give tithes and offerings And again, I want to commend you for the way you do this, but I need to warn you against greed, against stopping, and for some of you that have never given, I need to warn you. I know that everybody, a lot of people in this congregation, we are, we all, some of us wrestle with different views on tithing. I know that not everyone thinks that the 10%, the tithe, applies to the Christian today.

I think it does. So we do. But I know a lot of people I think it doesn't apply anymore. They think that the 10 percent was an old covenant concept and in Christ we give differently and I get that. I really get that.

Please hear me beloved. So much of the book of Hebrews is about the new covenant being better. Have you seen that in the book of Hebrews? Everything in the new covenant is better than the old, right? Hebrews 7, a better hope.

Hebrews 8, a better covenant, better promises. Hebrews 9, a better sacrifice. Hebrews 10, better possessions. And so if Hebrews is true, and it is, that it's very hard to say that in the new covenant in which everything is just better, that our giving is also not better. That the 10% that the tithe is at the very least just the starting point for the Christian today.

So if you're still like, yeah, I hear it man, but I'm just not sure about the tithe, I'm about to pull out the trump card. RC Sproul. I started, I end, book ends. RC Sproul, I was just kidding about the Trump. He says that we should, at the very least, as new covenant Christians, be tithing.

And again, I am grateful for the way you support me. I just don't want you to be guilty of robbing from God. And if you disagree with R.C. Sproul, then you know what he's going to say to you, right? If you disagree with R.C.

That 10% still applies, he's going to tell you, he's going to say to you, what's wrong with you people? If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's like an old saying that he, it's like one of the most popular things that R.C. Sproul has ever said. If you don't get the reference, it's a very popular line, but here's what actually R.C. Sproul would say to you.

I have a quote. God commands, quote, this is from R.C., God commands that 10% of our income be given to the work of his kingdom. And the wonderful thing about this principle of tithing that God sets forth is that God, unlike the American government, has a flat tax. God assesses every person in the covenant community the same percentage rather than the same amount so that the widow who gave 10% was more obedient in giving her might than the millionaire who gave 5%. Of course the millionaire gave far more money and got far more adulation and respect in the life of the church than the widow did.

But the widow was obedient and the millionaire was not. We all have the same obligation and it's a percent obligation. I think it's a good starting point for the Christian. You shall not steal. I think God packs a lot in those four English words.

You know in the Hebrew it's only two words. It took me 49 minutes and 47 seconds to talk about. Two words for you and your neighbor, two Hebrew words for you and the state, two Hebrew words for you and God. And ultimately, what does it all boil down to? What does violating the Eighth Commandment boil down to?

I think you could probably say in one word, greed. Covetousness, which is the Tenth Commandment as well. Brothers and sisters, as we close, I need you to get this. As you think about stealing, as you think about money and wealth and profit, I need you to understand, money isn't the problem. Wealth isn't the problem.

Profit isn't the problem. Your heart is where the problem is. Matthew 15 verse 19, for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. First Timothy 6, 10, for the love of money, for the love of money, is the root of all kinds of evils like theft. It is through this craving, the love of money, that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

I don't want you to wander from the faith. That's why I want to talk to you about running away from greed. That's why I do think that When you are able to begin to look at your budget and you begin with 10% to the Lord and you're training yourself, I start with this. You're training your heart. This is the Lord's.

This isn't. So, your heart is where the problem is, not the dollar bills in your wallet. And so I want to ask you as we close, have you stolen, friend? Children, are you thieves? You need a new heart.

I beg of you, come to the promised one who will do just that. Come to the promised one named Jesus who breaks the power of canceled sin. He crushes the stony heart of thieves. He replaces that heart with a heart of flesh that loves His law because it loves the Savior who fulfilled that law in His death. Come to the one who came to the house of that wee little man, Zacchaeus, a rotten thief, who upon when Jesus came into his home turned into a man who was born again.

Who came out of that home saying I will Give all that I have defrauded back times four. And half of my possessions will go to those in need. Jesus went into his house and made that thief Zacchaeus, a Zacchaeus, a member of God's home. Once a member of the den of thieves, now a member of God's household. Born again.

Come to that Savior, friends. Children come to that Savior. Old ones come to that Savior. Come to the one who has done the very opposite of steal from you. Come to the one who is the very reverse of a robber.

The one who was infinitely rich, yet for your sake became poor, crucified next to robbers, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. Come and be welcome to that, Jesus Christ. Crucified, risen, and reigning. The one who has freely given us what we cannot earn. The one who has freely given us what we cannot earn.

The one who has freely given to us what we cannot purchase. The one who releases us from the debts that we cannot repay. Come and be welcome to that Jesus the Christ. Let's pray. Father thank you for this your word and the wonder of belonging to you, God, who rescued us from the domain of darkness, who gave his son's life so that we might be ransomed.

O Lord, as a ransomed people, as a people bought with your blood, purchased, may we be a people who love your law because we love the Savior who has fulfilled it, the Savior who emptied Himself and came in love and bled and died for me. Help us Lord not to steal. Help us to be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work that you put before us to be faithful to labor hard and diligently. We ask these things in the name of your Son. In His name we pray and for His name's sake.

Amen.