Mar. 22, 2023

“THE TEN COMMANDMENTS”

“STOP STEALING”

EXODUS 20:15

How many of you have been victimized by theft? Someone has robbed you?  

How many of you have stolen yourself?

The eight commandment is very short and to the point.

Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal.”

“Thou shalt not steal”-is a prohibition against theft.

What is stealing? Stealing is simply taking something that belongs to someone else without the right or permission to do so.

Two hundred and forty billion dollars a year is stolen by the American worker through the theft of time.

James 5:1-3

Stealing is unauthorized taking of something that doesn’t belong to you.

Then we have those who regularly steal from God:

Malachi 3:8-10

Failure to pay God the tithe is theft.

Malachi 3:9 “You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.”

“You shall not steal”

1.   This is a Concern of Stewardship

The Bible tells us that God is the only absolute owner of everything. So everything belongs to Him.

1 Corinthians 10:26 “For the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.”

Psalms 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.”

So God sets the boundaries on how things are to operate, and He says, “thou shalt not steal.”

The reason people steal is because they are discontent with what God has provided.

Materialism is when the physical world take precedence over the spiritual world.

“You shall not steal”

2.    This Is a Refusal To Trust God To Meet Your Needs.

Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

One of the greatest thing as a Christian is to see God will supply when you can’t.

Habakkuk 2:6 “Will not all these take up a proverb against him,
And a taunting riddle against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases What is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges’?”

Ephesians 4:28 “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.”

You know what the answer to stealing is? “Work”

God says “through labor or (productivity), working with your hands what is good…”

Ecclesiastes 5:18-19

God has given work as a gift to be enjoyed, so rejoice in your labor.

Ephesians 4:28 “…let him labor, working with his hands what is good..”

“that he may have something to give him who has need.”

God is not going to flow to you, if He cannot flow through you.

Proverbs 15:16 “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, Than great treasure with trouble.”

“Contentment”-being at rest with what you have until God gives you more.

Proverbs 13:11 “Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished,
But he who gathers by labor will increase.”

So we need to seek God first:

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”