Stealing is sin; but the angel who spoke to Joseph just before Jesus was born promised, "He will save His people from [not in] their sins" (Matthew 1:21). As we think about this commandment, "You shall not steal," we could spend time reviewing all the ways we can break the commandment, how easily we can bring upon ourselves this guilt of stealing without realizing what we are doing. There are a thousand ways! Instead, let’s review how great is Christ’s salvation to us:

1. The root of stealing is the desire to have something that God has not given us. This is the root that the gospel of Christ takes out of the heart. The Holy Spirit reminds us immediately that when He was with us on earth, Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Matthew 8:20). Although He was a master builder (He was a carpenter) He owned no house, no real estate; He had no bank account. When He was crucified, all His wealth was the clothes He had on. Because He knew true inner peace, He could say truthfully, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Luke 12:15).

Paul knew the same inner peace when he said that "I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, . . . and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Philippians 3:8). According to that, our endless love affair with materialism is diving into the dumpster. What joy there is in freedom from constantly hankering for luxuries! So we ar eencouraged to read this Good News: "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing,with these we shall be content" (1 Timothy 6:6-8, emphasis added).

2. Failure to pay our honest taxes to the government is a form of stealing that Christ saves us from. Jesus taught how to pay taxes honestly when He said, "Render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s" (Matthew 22:21). He was speaking of the pagan Roman government of His day! The reason is that God has ordained the establishment of proper human government.

The inspired Apostle Paul explains why: "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority [failure to pay honest taxes is "resisting"] resists the ordinance of God." And Paul goes on to say that the one who is dishonest with the government will bring "judgment" upon himself. "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil."

This is why Paul says that those who follow Jesus truly will be honest with the government "not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render [that’s the word Jesus used] therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:1-8).

All of this may be true, but God’s word is still true above it all. If there were no government, the nation would be in total anarchy, nobody’s life or property would be safe. God can grant His blessings to a government, or He can withhold His blessings; to a great extent this depends on the basic honesty of the people themselves.

Every nation desperately needs within its borders the presence of a pure church that "keeps the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." The entire population benefits from the presence of servants of God, even if their number is small proportionately. Do you remember how God said He would spare Sodom if ten righteous people could be found therein? Let us not forget that politicians, police, government servants—all come from the common people themselves. This precious Good News of the pure gospel always uplifts the people. No matter where you live in whatever nation, thank God for the measure of peace and security you now enjoy! And when you pay your taxes, offer a prayer for your government and its servants. Then you will receive a blessing!

4. The one who appreciates salvation in Christ also gladly returns his tithe, or tenth of all his "increase" to God. When Jesus said, "Render … to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s," He also said, "[Render] to God the things that are God’s" (Matthew 22:21). The question immediately arises, Why should we have to give anything to God? The answer is, In paying tithe we do not give God anything; we simply return to Him a tenth of what He has given us, and this is as a confession that all we have comes from Him, the "possessor of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19). He says, "All the earth is Mine" (Exodus 19:5) and He claims, "Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills" (Psalm 50:10).

5. If God gives you a gift, isn't it a sin not to recognize it?

David prays, "The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing" (Psalm 145:15, 16). This evokes the picture of God kneeling down and opening His hand for us all to eat out of it, like birds or squirrels eat out of your hand. Shouldn’t we say "Thank You"?

Paying tithe to Him is simply our saying, "Thank You, Lord! I choose to ‘remember the Lord [my] God; for it is He who gives [me] power to get wealth’" (Deuteronomy 8:18). When we forget, we bring all kinds of trouble upon ourselves. So it is in kindness and mercy to us that the Lord says, "You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year" (14:22). "All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord" (Leviticus 27:30).

The answer is: He gives it to His servants who spend their full time proclaiming His gospel. He says, "I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting" (Numbers 18:21). And this blessed plan for the support of the sacred ministry is carried over into the New Testament church: "Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:14).

This is so serious that when we fail to return this sacred tenth to Him, He considers that we have robbed Him: "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, in what way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings" (Malachi 3:8).

We could read the entire passage to see how the Lord promises temporal prosperity if we "bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house" (verse 10). And the Lord does bless! "There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich" (Proverbs 11:24, 25). But the reason why we pay tithe and give offerings is not because we hope for a special economic reward—that would be merely "pious selfishness." The real reason is gratitude to Him who has brought us out of the "bondage" of spiritual Egypt, and has actually saved us for time and for eternity.

The Good News is that the Holy Spirit will motivate us to be faithful in paying tithe and giving offerings so that we will enjoy being liberal! Learning to enjoy unselfish giving is a miracle for all of us by-nature selfish mortals!

7. The eighth commandment is an eternal defense against the false doctrine that is sometimes passed off as "Communism." Many honest, sincere people have assumed that Communism is the best plan for achieving equality among all people. But as we study the Bible, we find that God recognizes the right of private property. The so-called "communism" in the early church when the apostles "had all things common" and no one said "that any of things he possessed was his own," was a totally voluntary sharing in a time of emergency, It was motivated by brotherly love (Acts 4:32-34). It wasn’t government taking by force from one individual to give to another.

Peter told Ananias and Sapphira that God recognized that their property was their own (Acts 5:4) because He has given man dominion over the earth. God has given man a right to the lawful fruits of his labor. "He who tills his land will have plenty of bread" (Proverbs 28:19). God does not force him to give it to those who do not "till" their land, but He does ask us to be generous to help others who are in need. The love of Christ would put an end to poverty all over the world! It would heal the abuses of both Capitalism and Communism.

8. In all our business dealings, God teaches His people to be strictly honest, as well as generous. "Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over" is God’s way of doing business (see Luke 6:38). Norman Rockwell painted a famous picture of a merchant weighing the lady customer’s selection of meat on a scale. While the merchant is looking up at the scale he is cleverly tipping the scale downward with his finger to make her purchase weigh more. At the same time the customer is looking up at the scale but pushing it upward from underneath to make it lighter than it really was, so she could pay less than it was worth. But God says, "If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another" (Leviticus 25:14).

9. Why are we so often anxious to get things for less than they are worth?

Or equally anxious to sell things for more than they are worth? Why do we boast when we buy something for less than it’s worth? "‘It is good for nothing,’ cries the buyer; but when he has gone his way, then he boasts" (Proverbs 20:14). The reason? It is basically our deep unbelief—doubt that the Lord will care for us by giving us all we need. No millionaire would haggle over the price of a bunch of carrots because he knows he can afford them at any price. We need to remember that since we are God’s children, we are therefore "millionaires." "All things are yours: whether … the world or life or … things present or things to come—all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s" (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).

10. Gambling, whether legalized or not, is a violation of the eighth commandment. If a million people pay a dollar each into a lottery and then a "lucky" person wins that jackpot, it is not his money—in the sight of God. It is money that actually belongs to others and they should not have been enticed to part with it. Gambling is not "sport," it is selfishness gone wild. A mere handful of people win the jackpots while multitudes often lose either their life savings or their income which their families need for food and shelter.

There is a fatal lure in gambling that tells the victim of this obsession, "Just throw in a few more dollars and maybe you’ll win." So on and on the poor victim of this deception pays out until he gets desperate. Gambling tragedies are terrible.

It may be said that if these victims don’t use common sense, it’s their fault; they should know better. But the problem is that gambling becomes an addiction of the same basic quality as alcoholism, heroin, or crack. The gambling addict gets to the point where he can’t control himself. Such is the craving for something that is not ours.

There is glorious deliverance in the eighth commandment which is an assurance from the sin of breaking it. The Holy Spirit puts into the believing heart a hatred for taking anything that is not ours. This again is a miracle of grace! Love will motivate us to help the alcoholic not to take a drink, for he is an addict; it will also motivate us to help any addict who has lost his God-given power of self-control.

11. Perhaps the most famous thief of all history was one of Jesus’ Twelve disciples—Judas Iscariot. John tells us that Judas was the treasurer for the little group of Christ’s disciples and that he secretly embezzled funds for his own use. His heart always wanted what was somebody else’s; and this is what finally drove him to betray the Son of God (John 12:6).

The Holy Spirit has left his story on record for us to learn a Good News lesson. After he was paid the "thirty pieces of silver" (the price of a slave!), he was so conscience-stricken for what he had done that he rushed to the Sanhedrin Council and threw the money down on the floor and went out and hanged himself. Now he hated the filthy money that never was rightfully his!

Our dear Lord is so merciful to us: His Holy Spirit will teach us now, before it’s too late, to learn to hate anything that is not ours by right. This is how He will keep to us the blessed assurance that is in the eighth commandment—"You shall not steal." He saves us from the sin that ruined Judas Iscariot. That's something to be happy about for all eternity! Thank God for such a Savior!