Theological term
Tithe
13 sermons · All terms
8th Commandment: Part 2; Deuteronomy 5:19
The eighth commandment — 'You shall not steal' — carries not only a prohibition but a positive demand: diligent labor, charitable love toward others, and biblical contentment. Drawing from Deuteronomy, Proverbs, and the New Testament epistles, this exposition moves from the reasons grounding the command (God's sovereignty, man's image-bearing dignity, and the indirect assault on human life that theft represents) to its constructive obligations. The sermon closes with an application of the law's three uses — civil, pedagogical, and normative — including a pointed treatment of government taxation in light of 1 Samuel 8, where God warned that unchecked rulers will 'take, take, take.'
The Eighth Commandment (Part 1)
The Eighth Commandment — 'You shall not steal' (Deuteronomy 5:19) — forbids far more than simple theft. This study works through the range of sins prohibited by the command, including burglary, robbery, kidnapping, fraud in its several forms, extortion, destruction of property, and religious theft. The internal dispositions that generate these external acts — covetousness, discontentment, and the idolatry of wealth — are examined through texts in Proverbs, 1 Timothy 6, and Matthew 6. The study closes by grounding the positive duty of honest labor and cheerful giving in the grace of the gospel, through which believers are freed from the dominion of covetousness and equipped to honor God with what He has entrusted to them.
Of the Duties of the Priests and Levites
Numbers 18–19 belongs to a literary unit stretching from chapters 16 through 19, all of which works to vindicate Aaron's God-ordained priesthood in the aftermath of Korah's rebellion. Chapter 18 defines the distinct duties and the provision of both priests and Levites, while chapter 19 supplies the purification rites that answer Israel's terrified cry in chapter 17 — 'shall we all utterly die?' — by providing a lawful way of drawing near to a holy God. The regulative principle of worship stands at the centre of these chapters: God alone determines who may approach Him, by what means, and under what conditions, and the death penalties attached to violations are not capricious but reflect the consuming holiness of the Lord. These Old Covenant arrangements point forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, the great High Priest who is also the Lamb, the one who both provides atonement and promotes and protects true worship under the New Covenant.
The Lawful Use of Vows in Israel
Leviticus 27 addresses the Israelite practice of making vows to God — acts of religious zeal, often rash or imprudent, by which persons consecrated people, animals, houses, or land to the Lord. The chapter does not license vow-breaking but rather underscores the gravity of vowing by legislating a costly redemption mechanism, warning the would-be vower to count the cost before speaking. The sermon situates the passage within the 1689 LBCF chapter 23 framework distinguishing oaths from vows, then draws three applications against popish monastical vows, Protestant legalistic vows, and pietistic circumventions of God's law — all forms of man-made religion condemned repeatedly in Scripture.
The 8th Commandment, Part 2 & Economic Theory
The Eighth Commandment's prohibition against theft carries positive moral obligations — diligent labor, charitable giving, and biblical contentment — and provides the scriptural framework for evaluating economic and political systems. Drawing on the Mosaic law, the apostolic letters, and historical narrative, the sermon argues that socialism and communism are founded upon institutionalised theft and therefore stand under divine condemnation, while capitalism, for all its imperfections, respects the God-given right to private property. Israel's demand for a king in 1 Samuel 8 and Ahab's seizure of Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21 are presented as biblical case studies in governmental confiscation. Hearers are exhorted to cultivate contentment, labor faithfully, give charitably, and judge all economic theory by the standard of Exodus 20:15.
The 8th Command - You Shall Not Steal
Exodus 20:15 — 'You shall not steal' — encompasses far more than common burglary. This study works through the range of sins prohibited by the Eighth Commandment, from robbery and kidnapping to fraud, extortion, the destruction of property, and the robbing of God through withheld tithes, before examining the inner dispositions — covetousness, discontentment, and idolatry — that drive those external violations. The theological grounding for the command rests on three pillars: God's sovereignty as owner of all things, the position of man as steward and vice-regent, and the recognition that an attack on another's property is an indirect attack on the life that property sustains. The study closes with a direct application to civil government, arguing that unjust taxation, inflation, and redistributive economic systems are themselves violations of 'you shall not steal.'
Free Grace Baptist Church - October 2, 2019 Bible Study
Genesis 28 records God's sovereign confirmation of the Abrahamic covenant blessing to Jacob at Bethel — a man fleeing for his life after his own deception, yet met by Yahweh in a dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder between heaven and earth. The passage is expounded under three movements: Jacob's relocation to Padanaram, Esau's futile attempt to secure parental blessing through marriage, and Jacob's vow at Bethel. The dream is interpreted on two complementary levels — as a declaration of divine providence over Jacob's solitary journey, and as a messianic anticipation of Christ as the one mediator between heaven and earth, the interpretation Christ himself provides in John 1:51. The chapter marks a turning point in Jacob's life, from grasping deceiver to worshipping covenant-keeper, and sets a paradigm for all Israel of worship, tithing, and trust in Yahweh's faithfulness.
Genesis 14
Genesis 14 presents what appears to be an obscure ancient war narrative, but the chapter is deliberately structured around one controlling question: who is the true King and possessor of heaven and earth? Working through the three movements of battle, bravery, and blessing, this exposition shows how Kedorlaomer's military supremacy, Abram's faith-driven rescue of Lot, and Melchizedek's priestly blessing of Abram together build to a single climax — God Most High, El Elyon, reigns sovereign over every kingdom. Melchizedek emerges as a typological figure whose lack of genealogy and perpetual priesthood, interpreted by Hebrews 7 and Psalm 110, points forward to Christ's eternal high-priestly office after the order of Melchizedek. The proper response to God's sovereign kingship is Abram's own: refusing worldly plunder and glorifying God alone.
The Condemnation of the Religious Leaders, Part 3
Matthew 23:23–24 records the fifth of Christ's eight woes against the scribes and Pharisees: they meticulously tithe the smallest garden herbs while neglecting the weightier matters of the law — justice, mercy, and faith. Tracing this indictment through Micah 6:8, Genesis 18, Deuteronomy 10, Hosea 12, and Zechariah 7, the sermon demonstrates that Jesus is functioning as a covenant-lawsuit prophet in a line stretching back to Israel's earliest history, condemning the nation for collapsing piety into external ritual while abandoning love toward God and neighbour. The qualification Christ appends — 'these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone' — forbids both the majoring on minors that marks religious hypocrisy and the neglect of minors by those who camp exclusively on justice and mercy. The sermon closes with a direct gospel summons: neither tithing nor social virtue saves; salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, after which the redeemed are called to obey all of God's law in its proper proportion.
The Eighth Commandment
The eighth commandment, 'You shall not steal,' addresses far more than petty theft — it encompasses burglary, robbery, kidnapping, fraud, extortion, property destruction, and even religious theft in the withholding of tithes. This exposition of Deuteronomy 5:19 works through three structural movements: the prohibition and its associated sins (including sins of the heart such as covetousness and idolatry), the theological reasons grounding the commandment in God's sovereign ownership of all things, and the positive duties it implies — diligent labor, charitable giving, and biblical contentment. The civil implications extend to currency manipulation, unjust taxation, and ideological systems such as socialism and communism, all of which violate the same moral principle. The sermon closes with Christ as the fulfillment of Psalm 15, the one who perfectly honored every obligation the commandment demands, and through whose righteousness covetous sinners are justified.
A Call to Repentance
Malachi 3:6–12 confronts the people of Israel with a specific act of covenant faithlessness — the withholding of tithes and offerings — and calls them to return to God. The sermon works through four observations: the immutability of God as the ground of Israel's survival, the persistent mutability and apostasy of man, the call to repentance as the divinely appointed means of restored fellowship, and the remedy God himself prescribes in verses 10–12. The prosperity-gospel misreading of the 'windows of heaven' promise is firmly rejected: the promise is covenantal and corporate, not a mechanism for individual economic gain. The sermon closes by grounding all giving and all repentance in the finished work of Christ, whose self-sacrifice alone saves.
Deuteronomy 14
Deuteronomy 14 calls Israel to a holiness that pervades every dimension of life — how they grieve, what they eat, and how they handle their increase. The chapter's unifying principle is covenant faithfulness expressed through visible distinctiveness from the surrounding Canaanite peoples: to mourn, eat, or tithe like the pagans was to open the door to worshipping their gods. The dietary laws are treated not primarily as hygiene codes but as daily, embodied reminders of Israel's chosen status before God, while the tithing legislation frames giving not as burden but as festive, God-fearing rejoicing and provision for the community's most vulnerable.
A Biblical View of Private Property
The eighth commandment — 'You shall not steal' (Exodus 20:15) — grounds a comprehensive biblical ethic of private property that reaches far beyond street crime into fraud, extortion, currency debasement, and even the withholding of tithes. This sermon works through the prohibition in its many forms, then sets out four theological reasons for the command rooted in God's sovereignty, man's dignity as image-bearer, and the positive law of Scripture. The exposition closes by calling hearers to diligent labor, charitable giving, and contentment — and by pointing thieves and extortioners alike to the justifying blood of Christ, under which such sinners have been washed and sanctified.