My sermon notes for Sunday morning, Oct. 25th as we walk through the book of Deuteronomy. Remember, these are my personal study notes and not a manuscript of the sermon. They are provided to help you follow the sermon as you listen each week. The church provides a live stream of the service each Sunday at 10:45 on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/firstbaptistavonpark/. We also provide the services through our website by Sunday afternoon at www.fbcap.net
Deuteronomy 5:19 – You shall not steal
A Barna Poll years ago stated that 86% of people believe that have not broken the 8th commandment.
- Yet, there is way much more to this than being a thief or robber.
Heidelberg Catechism – written in 1563
What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?
God forbids not only outright theft and robbery 1 but also such wicked schemes and devices as false weights and measures, deceptive merchandising, counterfeit money, and usury; 2 we must not defraud our neighbor in any way, whether by force or by show of right. 3 In addition God forbids all greed 4 and all abuse or squandering of his gifts. 5
1.Ex 22:1; 1 Cor 5:9, 10; 6:9, 10.
2.Deut 25:13-16; Ps 15:5; Prov 11:1; 12:22; Ezek 45:9-12; Lk 6:35.
3.Mic 6:9-11; Lk 3:14; Jas 5:1-6.
4.Lk 12:15; Eph 5:5.
5.Prov 21:20; 23:20, 21; Lk 16:10-13.
THE OBVIOUS
- Theft or robbery
- Cheating / Schemes
- False weights and measurements (gaining what is not ours)
- Plagiarism… in our context today. (claiming what is not ours)
THE NOT SO OBVIOUS…
Not doing what we should be doing….IS THIS NOT ALSO STEALING?
1 Peter 2:9–12 – [9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
[11] Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. [12] Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (ESV)
IF WE BELONG TO HIM…
We are here for a purpose and mission!!!!!
IN OUR EARTHLY RELATIONSHIPS
WITH OUR LABOR and WORK
- Col. 3:23-24 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
- Eph. 4:28 – Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
- 1 Thess 4:11-12 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
IN OUR HEAVENLY RELATIONSHIP
WITH OUR TREASURES
- Our time, talents, and treasure (tithe)
- Malachi 3:6-12 – ROBBING GOD – [6] “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. [7] From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ [8] Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. [9] You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. [10] Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. [11] I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. [12] Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts. (ESV)
WITH ALL 3 WE ARE ROBBING GOD!!!!!!
We doubt God’s
- Presence – Power – Provision – Promises
CONCLUSION
What are we here to do?
As believers, how am I “robbing God”?
What is the main focus of my life? What drives me?
1 Peter 1:3–5 – [3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [4] to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, [5] who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- The temporal or eternal
- Making memories?!?!?!?!?
- Where do we invest our treasures?
Matthew 6:19–21 – [19] “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, [20] but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21] For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- Do not lay up HERE
- Lay up THERE