Eighth Commandment (9 Of 12)

Illus: A preacher was talking to a teenage girl one day about the Lord when she told him, “I have a hard time living up to the Bible." Then she added, "But I do try to live up to the ten commandments."

To hear this young lady talk you would think she rejects all scripture except the ten commandments because she figures most of God's Word is just too hard to live up to, and she accepts the ten commandments because she has the idea that no human should have a problem living up to them.

What she does not realize is this, if a person could live up to the ten commandments, he probably would have no problem with any of the rest of God's Word.

So, today, perhaps you might feel that you could be dismissed right now because the commandment we will be preaching about does not apply to you since you have not robbed a bank ever in your life.

However, this commandment goes much deeper than just applying to the person who might think of robbing a bank.

In fact, many of the other commandments are all wrapped up in this eighth commandment - "Thou shalt not steal." For example:

• The first and second commandment deal with the sacredness of worship. It is possible to "steal" the worship that rightfully belongs to God by worshipping someone, or something, else.

• The third commandment deals with the sacredness of God's name. It is possible to take rob Him of His sacred name.

• The fourth commandment deals with the sacredness of God's day. It is possible to "steal" that sacredness away, and thereby desecrate it.

• 4. The fifth commandment deals with the sacredness of parenthood. A child can "steal" that sacredness by being rebellious and trampling over the good that his parents would try to do for him.

• 5. The sixth commandment deals with the sacredness of life. One can "steal" that life by taking away the life that God gave.

• 6. The seventh commandment deals with the sacredness of marriage. When any person enters into a relationship with a person who is not married to him he robs that marriage of the very elements that make it sacred.

• 7. The eighth commandment deals with the sacredness of one's possessions. When something does not belong to us we should not take it, for the things a person pays a price for should remain his until such a time as he, himself, decides to get rid of it.

• So you see, in a sense, all the commandments are wrapped up in this one, and because of this, this commandment is probably violated more than any other. To understand this command we have to deal with two attitudes...

I. THE ATTITUDE OF GETTING.

B. We have our models.

The attitude of the sinner is, “Truly man's life consists of the things he possesses.”

Some lost people want everything they can get with their hard earned money, and everything that they can steal that someone else worked for and bought with their hard earned money.

Is there anything wrong with having possessions?

The fact that God gave this commandment is proof that God gives man the right to ownership of property. Otherwise, why would He forbid man to steal.

Illus: If you buy a piece of property you should have a lawyer do a title search. The title search will go back 60 to 70 years and see if the property is clear of any claims on it. However, did you know that if they traced any piece of property back far enough they would find that it went back to the government who granted it to settlers in the early history of our nation.

I want to ask you, who owned it before the government?

It belonged to God. God loves us so much He allows us to have things that belong to Him, and put them in our names.

Some of the richest people on earth during Bible times were God's children because He blessed them with many possessions. They recognized that they were stewards and God was entrusting them with those possessions.

So, there is no problem with our having things. But, there is a definite problem when things have us.

So many today leave God out of their lives completely. Instead of seeking Him, they are busy seeking things.

The lost world around us is filled with people who feel that life equals things.

They believe the more you have the happier you will be. At the same time, some of the most miserable people on earth are people who have way more than they need of this world's goods.

We have example after example of people who have an abundance of this world's goods, but who are not happy. Why? They have been told all their lives that getting things would make them happy, and they have been ill advisedl