Ten Words to Live By: Do not steal
Exodus 20: 15
Patter Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
9-21-2025
Where’s the Car?!
I was ten and my brother was eight years old. We were eating breakfast when my dad left for work. He came back in a few minutes later looking completely bewildered. He then asked my brother and me a very strange question - what did you do with my car?
My dad had a 1970 baby blue Volkswagen bug and it was gone, stolen out of our front yard in the middle of the night. It was so loud when it started that the thieves probably put it in neutral and rolled it down the street before starting it and driving away. We never saw that car again.
Growing up in Memphis, having things stolen wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. We had to lock everything or it would be gone.
When we moved to Pontiac, we were able to relax a little but when Austin’s bike was stolen out of our backyard, it just proved that nowhere is safe.
Review
We continue our series called, “Ten Words to Live By.” We know them as the “The Ten Commandments” although that name is never used in the Bible.
In Hebrew, this top ten list is known as the “Ten Words,” or Decalogue, and we find them in Exodus 20.
Pastor John Miller reminds us of three reasons the ten words were given:
* God is holy
* Man is sinful and we need a Savior
* Shows us how to live
They are less rules about what to do and tell us more about who God is to us:
1. One God - God is God.
2. No idols - God is Creator.
3. Revere His Name - God is holy
4. Remember to Rest - God is Rest
5. Honor Parents - God is Father
6. No murder - God is Life
7. No adultery - God is Faithful
8. No stealing - God is a Provider
9. No lying - God is Truth
10. No coveting - God is Sufficient
The ten words are divided into two groups. The first four cover our relationship with God. The last six detail our relationship with others.
Jesus was asked by a teacher of the Law what the greatest commandment was and He responded:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
The four commandments are how we love God with all that we are.
The second six commandments are how we love our neighbor.
This morning, we come to the eighth commandment - do not steal.
According to research by George Barna, 90% of evangelical Christians claim they have never broken this commandment.
Really?
Please, turn with me to Exodus 20:15.
Prayer
Robin Hood
Nearly every culture believes that it is wrong to take something that isn’t yours. Even the Code of Hammurabi specifically prohibits stealing.
But we have a weird relationship with stealing. We love the story of Robin Hood that robs the rich to give to the poor. We love when Nick Cage stares into the camera and says, “I’m going to steal the Declaration of Independence.”
The Oceans 11 movie series, “Catch Me If You Can,” “Now you See Me,” “Indiana Jones,” “The Sting,” “Les Mis,” and even the Minions movies have plots that are about theft.
Stealing isn’t always wrong. We all cheer when Pete Crow Armstrong steals second base. And 35 years ago, Maxine stole my heart.
You Shall Not Steal
The Hebrew word Moses uses is “ganab.” This means to deceive, to obtain by stealth.”
In the Old Testament, farmers would put up watchtowers to prohibit people from stealing their crops.
Another way they protected their land was to have boundary stones marking the edges of the property. Neighbors would often move each other’s boundary stones to try to steal land from each other.
In Genesis 27, we see Jacob steal his brother Esau’s birthright and blessing. The sad part about that story is that God had already promised these things to him. There was no reason to steal them.
Let’s answer this question:
* Why is it wrong to steal?
The Bible plainly teaches the right to private property.
When we take something that doesn’t belong to us, we are not just stealing from that person but we are directly breaking God’s law.
Everything we have is given as a good and perfect gift from the Father above (James 1:17) and we are merely stewards of those good gifts.
When we seek to deceive, to steal, to obtain by stealth, we sin against our fellow human beings and against God.
When Austin’s bike was stolen, when he was eight, he looked at me said, “Daddy, why would take my bike? It’s mine, not theirs.”
After the Israelites came out of Egypt, God is going to give them rules to develop a civilized society.
In Exodus 20-23, God tells them what is not to be stolen, what the punishment will be for thieves, and what level of restitution is required.
We will come back to the idea of restitution in a minute.
How do we break this commandment?
The top five crimes committed in the US:
1. Theft. This makes up 60% of all crimes. - taking someone’s property without permission
2. Burglary. - Breaking into a structure to take something
3. Motor Vehicle Theft.
4. Aggravated Assault.
5. Robbery. - taking property through force or threat of force.
Four out of five of the top crimes are forms of stealing.
Murder is stealing life. Rape is stealing innocence. Adultery is stealing purity.
Let’s look at some ways we break this commandment.
1. Theft. Obviously, this commandment prohibits the taking of something that isn’t ours.
This past week, I’ve been asking people the question, “Have you ever stolen anything?” Almost every person I asked admitted to stealing something, usually as a child. From gum, to Cds, to adult magazines, each person admitted to their theft.
Michigan Avenue in Chicago is lined with very expensive shops. Over the past year, these stores have experienced multiple “smash and grabs.” A group of people run a vehicle into the windows and then grab as much as they can before the police arrive.
This week, a man was arrested for stealing leather briefcases out of a car last month. What he didn’t know was that one of those briefcases contained a hard drive with Beyonce’s new album on it!
2. Burglary
When we were in seminary, I came home and discovered that our window had been broken and someone had been in the house. I was a waiter and they took a box full of my tip money…and our brand new orange juice container!
There was a band of burglars in LA that were breaking into homes of sports and movie stars like Brad Pitt, Keith Urban, and Tom Hanks have all been victims.
3. Embezzlement
We have a close friend whose husband went to prison for embezzling over $300,000 from his employer.
Bernie Madoff embezzled and cheated his investors out of nearly 65 billions dollars.
4. Shoplifting
The Greek word for steal is “kletpo,” where we get the word kleptomania - the irritable urge to steal things of little value that they can already afford.
Winona Ryder, James Franco, Brittany Spears, and Amy Schumer have all been arrested for shoplifting.
According to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention, more than $13 billion worth of goods are stolen from retailers each year.
5. Robbery.
When I was twenty-one years old, I walked into a gas station and right into an armed robbery in progress. The guy pointed the gun at me and told me to give him my wallet.
I had just received the wallet (eel skin) three days before for my birthday. I was so mad to have to hand it over to him.
One a lighter note, there used to be a TV show called America’s Dumbest Criminals. One of my favorite stories was when two guys robbery a liquor store, ran out to the car and discovered it was dead. They calmly walked back in and asked the clerk, who they had just robbed to call a tow truck. He made it a call but it wasn’t for a tow truck!
6. Theft of Intellectual Property
I have a friend that spent years copying movies and music illegally until he was convicted by the Holy Spirit that this is sinful.
Phil Joel of the Newsboys was our worship leader several years in a row at Teen Serve. One of our students asked her if it was wrong to copy her friend’s Phil Joel CD. His wife smiled and said, “If you’re okay with taking food out of my kids mouths, you need the music more than we need the money.”
Over my ten years teaching at Moody Bible Institute, I had several students who were caught plagiarizing other people’s papers and calling them their own.
By the way, the most pirated movie of all time is Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”
7. Failure to Pay Debts when you are Able to
When we don’t repay a debt, we are stealing.
“The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives.” (Psalm 37:21)
8. Borrowing something and not returning it
When a student would borrow a book from one of my seminary professors, he would open up the front jacket and show them the sticker that said, “This book was stolen from the library of Dr. Kistamaker.”
9. Stealing from employers. USA Today reports 48% of all American workers have taken something from an employer. This can involve lifting office supplies for personal use, padding expense reports, taking longer lunches, laziness, or cheating on time cards.
When I worked at Red Lobster during seminary, I would often work a split shift. I’d work from about 11:00 - 1:30. Then I would clock out and come back at 4:00 or 5:00 for the dinner shift.
One day I forgot to clock out. When I came back about 4:00, I asked my manager Donna to make sure to change my time card. At that time, we made $2.17 plus tips. So, it was a difference of $4.34.
There were two waitresses sitting with Donna who started laughing at me and said, “It’s four dollars. It’s not that big a deal.” I replied, “It’s not about the four dollars. It’s about my integrity. I’m not willing to trade my integrity for that four dollars!” They rolled their eyes and said I was weird. I said thank you!
Later that night, a slow night, Donna asked to see me in her office. When I walked in, she was crying and she said, “I’ve never known anyone who would do what you did today with your time card. They are right, you are weird. But in the best way!”
10. Lying on your income taxes.
I’m reminded of the man who wrote a letter to the IRS stating: “I can’t sleep; my conscience is bothering me. Enclosed find a check for $50. If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send the rest!”
11. Gossip and slander.
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago says,
“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.”
We rob someone of their good name by passing along gossip:
“With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.” (Proverbs 11:9)
12. Kidnapping and trafficking.
The earliest rabbinic tradition interpreted this command as specifically prohibiting the stealing of people.
In the very next chapter, we read in Exodus 21:16: “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”
Why do people steal?
Because they want something for nothing.
Because they are discontent with what they have.
Because they don’t trust God to provide for them.
One more type of behavior that breaks the commandment is scamming people out of money.
I’ve actually thought about this question a lot. My parents were scammed out of over $250,000 dollars at the end of their lives by an Indian scammer going by the name Peter. He gained their trust and then drained their savings, my inheritance, over a period of five years.
I’m currently writing a book about this experience. In it, I write:
“Are scammers inherently evil? Are they heartless sociopaths that prey on vulnerable people?
My personal experience with Peter would lead me to believe that he was indeed lacking a moral compass but that is not the only type of people who commit scams.
There are many factors that go into scamming.
It could be a family affair where the children learn to scam. At the beginning of the book I related the story of being scammed by a “parking lot violinist.” His daughter, (Well, I assume it was his daughter), was learning first-hand how to cheat people.
Other factors include a desire for easy money, greed, or financial desperation.
These people may scam due a need for social validation, revenge on a society that has wronged them, addiction, and a lack of empathy.
There is a very low bar to get into scamming and very little chance of getting caught.
I know that some scammers are told not to feel guilty because Americans have insurance that will cover whatever you take from them.
My parents were older, in an obvious state of cognitive decline, and, like a shark, Peter smelled blood, and money.
When I asked him if he felt guilty about what he did to them, he laughed and said that I didn’t understand that he was just trying to help them and be their friend.
If you challenge a scammer, you will often get cursed out in Hindi. But Peter stayed cool no matter what I said. When I said that my theory was that he was pure evil, he laughed. I think he took that as a compliment.”
Brian Bill gives three consequences of stealing:
When you steal, you often lose what you gain.
“Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles, but the one who gathers by labor increases it.” (Proverbs 13:11)
Stealing will bring shame. (Something that Peter didn’t seem to feel at all)
“As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed.” (Jeremiah 2:26)
Many of the people that admitted to me that they had stolen something in their past, the most common emotions were embarrassment and regret.
Stealing something little can lead to greater sins.
John 12:6 says this about Judas: “…Because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”
Later, Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Robbing God
The prophet Malachi speaks words of warning to God’s people and calls them to repent and return to Him:
“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi 3:6-7)
The people are confused and ask. “How are we to return?”
God’s answer confuses them even more:
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ (Malachi 3:8)
Malachi then makes it clear how they are robbing God:
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”
This the only time in the Bible where God specifically directs us to test Him in something.
There does seem to be a lot of confusion about giving. In the Old Testament, Jewish people gave 10% to fund the Temple. Actually, if you add up everything they gave, it was more like 20-25%. Under the covenant of grace, we have the opportunity to give 10% and more because we want to.
Let’s look at three principles of grace giving:
Grace giving is voluntary. Giving is not something we HAVE to do; it is something we get to do. If you are a Christian, then you will want to give.
In 2 Corinthians 9:7, Paul states:
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7)
The Greek word translated cheerful is the same word we get our word hilarious. God loves extravagant, joyful, hilarious givers who realize that the can not out give God.
Found In a church bulletin: "God loves a hilarious giver but He accept from a grouch.”
* Grace Giving is proportionate giving. In I Cor 16:2, we see Paul addressing the amount to given:
“Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” (I Cor 16:1-2)
Ten percent is a good baseline. But is that all we are to give? John Piper has said that the 10% tithe is “a middle class American way to rob God.”
We are privileged to live in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. If you live in a house, drive a car, and have enough food to eat today, you are better off than 97% of the world’s population. Many of us could and should be giving 15, 20, or even 25%.
The average American Christian gives less than 2%. Can you imagine what we could do if everyone in this room gave 1% more than they are given right now?
* Grace Giving is sacrificial. Jesus told a story about an offering that got his attention:
“As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." (Luke 21:1-4)
It really is not about how much you give, but how much you keep. The widow was commended for how much she kept – nothing. She gave everything she had. The Pharisees just gave out of their wealth.
Are you just giving God the leftovers, or are you giving Him your best?
King David said it this way, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord a burnt offering that costs me nothing.” (2 Samuel 24:24)
A Wee Little Man
The New Testament gives us an example of what happens when a wee little thief meets an amazing Savior.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
Zacchaeus was a wealthy man who lived in Jericho. And he was a thief. As chief tax collector, he worked directly for the Roman government and most people considered him a traitor.
He actually owned the franchise tax collecting booth in Jericho. (Matthew had owed the franchise tax booth in Capernaum) He jacked up the fees and took his cut off the top. Jewish people hated tax collectors.
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
We don’t know if he had heard of Jesus and he was just curious about him or, more likely, the Holy Spirit was drawing him to an encounter that would change his life forever.
The average height of a man in that culture at that time was 5’ 1” to 5’ 5” so Zacc was probably under five feet tall. Think of Danny Devito in a tunic.
He was vertically challenged and it is hard for us short kings to sometimes see over the crowd. Jericho was surrounded by harsh desert but was an oasis with lush vegetation, including sycamore fig trees.
He got creative and climbed up on a low hanging branch of a sycamore tree and got comfortable and waited for Jesus to arrive.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
Zacchaeus had a great vantage point. He could see Jesus and His motley crew of disciples that surrounded Him.
But then something happened that he could have never imagined.
Jesus stopped and looked up at this wee little man in the tree and smiled. He told him to get down out of the tree because, look what it says, “I MUST stay at your house today.”
It turns out that Zacc wasn’t looking for Jesus. Jesus was looking for Zacc!
Zaccheaus scrambled out of the tree and welcomed him with joy!
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
As Zacc and Jesus walked back to his house, the religious people began to mutter and complain, “Doesn’t that Jesus know who Zacc is? He’s actually going to his house. Good grief!”
We don’t know what they ate for lunch. We don’t know who all was around the table. We don’t know what was said. But we do know the result of Zacc and Jesus’s conversation.
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Remember, thieves weren’t subject to the death penalty. But they were required to provide restitution.
In the Mosaic law, (Numbers 5:7), a thief was required to repay, make restitution, the amount stolen plus 20%. The Bible doesn’t say he has to give half of what he owns to the poor but he does it joyfully. And forget 20%. He is going to return what he stole plus 400%!
The word “restitution” means “to make peace.” He made peace with God and then made a choice to make peace with those we had hurt.
By the way, I’ve had several people ask me how you ca make things right, especially if you stole something many years ago.
I know one person who stole adult magazines as a teenager and decided to make a contribution to the porn blocking website Covenant Eyes to make restitution.
If you stole from someone or a store, Billy Graham wrote: “
Since you can no longer repay the store owner, I suggest you make a special gift to your church or other ministry that will help others in the name of Christ.”
Zacc had found what he was looking for when he climbed up in the tree. He had found the way, the truth, and the life in Jesus.
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Zacc was lost. In fact, I Corinthians 6 says that thieves will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Remember, this means people that habitually and unrepentantly steal. That described Zacc perfectly.
Paul follows up that verse by saying:
“And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Corinthians 6:10)
That’s what happened to Zacc! He was spiritually dead in his sins and his encounter with Jesus changed his eternal destination.
In 1922-23, a religious revival swept through Belfast, Ireland. Thousands of people repented of their sins and committed their lives to Jesus.
The revival was particularly strong among the shipyard workers. As they came to Christ, they started returning tools they had stolen from the docks. So many tools were returned that they had to build a huge shed to hold them all.
The Positive Side of the Commandment
There are three ways of looking at life:
What’s yours is mine, I’ll take it.
What’s mine is mine, I’ll keep it.
What’s mine is yours, I’ll share it.
Paul wrote the church in Ephesus:
“Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.” (Ephesians 4:28)
It isn’t just a matter of being a “non-thief,” but are we going to be a giver or a taker?
The Westminster Shorter Catechism question 75 asks “What does the eighth commandment forbid?”
“The eighth commandment forbids anything that either does or may unjustly take away money or possessions from us or anyone else.”
Satan is a taker, a thief, who comes only to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10). God is a giver who gives abundant life through Jesus:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
The Thief on the Cross
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.” (Luke 23:32-33)
We don’t know their names or where they were from. We do know they were sentenced together, were being crucified together, gasping for air together. They were as close to death as you can be. By sundown, they both would be dead.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39)
Above Jesus’ head was a sign that read “King of the Jews.” One of the criminals summons what little breath he has and hisses at Jesus - get me out of this mess! He simply wanted escape not rescue. He couldn’t have been more different than the other man on the other side of the dying Christ.
“But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:40-41)
Something extraordinary is happening in this criminal’s heart. He lifts himself up to take a deep breath and uses it to rebuke the other criminal. We three are dying here. Don’t you get that?
And what he says reveals that God is at work in him.
Don’t you fear God? This was the first step in his journey to salvation.
The rulers sneered at Him. The soldiers mocked him and even gambled for His clothes. But this man, who should have been foggy from the shock his body was in, was having a moment of incredible clarity. He may not have feared God much in his life but that was changing as He witnessed Jesus on the cross.
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.
The second step was his understanding that he is guilty, not just before men, but before God. In light of the Righteous One on the cross next to him, his sin became crystal clear.
Without an understanding of our sin, we can never be saved.
But this man has done nothing wrong.
He acknowledged Jesus’s innocence and righteousness. He is dying a different death than the two of them.
This is amazing. This man never heard Jesus teach, he didn’t witness any miracles, didn’t see the raising of Lazarus, probably didn’t know about the virgin birth or the OT prophecies.
That’s what makes his next request so amazing!
“Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)
A crucified sinner trusts a crucified Savior!
He says His name, “Jesus” which means “Jehovah Saves”
Remember me
This man, against all odds, recognizes that Jesus can save him. He trusts in the power and mercy of Christ.
He somehow knows he is being crucified next to a King.
when you come into your kingdom.
Did he understand everything? Not at all. Did he know that he was hopeless and helpless to save himself? Absolutely.
Jesus responds with one of the most moving promises in all the Bible.
Paradise
“Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)
Today
Not years from now but today. Immediately after death. Which, by the way, will be very soon for all three of them.
Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Corinthian church:
“…to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor 5:8)
you will be with me
In a very personal way, this man will be with Jesus, side by side, wherever Jesus will be, he will be as well.
in Paradise
The term paradise is a beautiful word picture. It signifies a royal garden of a Persian king. The highest honor in the land would be if the king invited you to take a walk in his garden.
In the Bible, Paradise is another name for heaven.
Jesus is promising this criminal that he will be in heaven with him that very day.
Wait. Hold on? This guy never attended church, or was baptized, or went to Sunday school. He never walked an aisle or said the sinners prayer. He literally couldn’t do any good deeds because he was nailed to a cross.
It was a magnificent example of the sheer grace, mercy, and love of Jesus!
