Topic: Exodus 20:15

As we come today for the fourth
time to the Eighth Commandment, we continue looking at the matter of Stealing from
God, a matter on which the Word of God speaks forthrightly and clear.

Now we’ve looked at various aspects and ways in which the Eighth Commandment
can be violated. A man may not perhaps be guilty of violating the eighth
commandment in terms of its presupposition regarding private property. Perhaps it may
even be true that a man has not violated the Eighth Commandment in any obvious
manner, yet such a man may be guilty of robbing God and in so doing of violation of
the eighth commandment.

In our first exposition, we considered the fact that the Eighth Commandment
presupposes the right to private property. We also saw that the Eighth Commandment
implies the principle of stewardship as a profound reminder that we own nothing, but
that everything has been entrusted to us by God as a gracious gift of His love. And then
we also saw that the Eighth Commandment explains very clearly why it is wrong to steal.
I seek therefore to build upon that today by specifically considering the vast spectrum
that is covered by the scope of this command, by asking in which ways it is possible for
us to violate the prohibition contained in the Eighth Commandment.

We come to a commandment that consists merely of four words – “You shall not steal” –
and yet in it we will see that God has a way of packing into the shortest, clearest little
phrase so much profound truth in which He draws out of them the depths of the riches
with which He has loaded them.

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