Patch Work? Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19 “You shall not steal.” Exodus 22:6 “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.” The commandment prohibiting stealing sanctifies the property and wellbeing ...

Care and Caution Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19 “You shall not steal.” Exodus 22:6 “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.” One of the principles embedded in Exodus 22:6 ...

Take Responsibility Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19 “You shall not steal.” Love for our neighbors requires that we be prepared to take responsibility for any of our actions that may bring harm to our neighbors or their property. Because we aren’t always as careful about this as we should be, or we don’t ...

Unintended Consequences Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19 “You shall not steal.” There is more to the prohibition against stealing than merely resisting the temptation to take what doesn’t belong to us. Implied in each negative commandment is a positive duty to show love for our neighbors. In the eighth commandment we show love ...

Examine Yourself Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” If we do nothing to roll back the floodtide of sexual adventurism and repair the hedge of the seventh commandment, we will never be able to realize the full beauty of this great gift as God intended it. Ask the Lord to convict ...

Repairing the Hedge Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” All the laws related to the seventh commandment put up a hedge against sinful sexual inclinations, restraining the wanton and protecting the innocent while honoring the plan and purpose of God for sex. In our day we have allowed this hedge to fall ...

Law as Hedge Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” Sinful people need restraints to keep them from giving vent to their most pernicious and destructive desires. Laws keep us driving on the right side of the road, and for that we are glad. Rules and codes tell us how to build ...

Teach Them – While You Can Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” I’m all for sex ed. As long, of course, as the curriculum is grounded in the seventh commandment.  In the divine economy it is expected that parents will teach their children about sex, using this commandment, as well as the ...

Demeaning, Destructive, Insulting Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” Apart from its honorable use in marriage, all other expressions of sexual gratification are abominations and depravity. That will sound prudish and Puritanical to our free-wheeling generation, but it’s what the Bible teaches.  The various civil laws that elaborate the seventh commandment forbid everything ...

God’s Wisdom, Not Ours Exodus 20:14 “You shall not commit adultery.” How good and wise is the Lord, and how beautiful and mysterious are His ways.  Jesus is proof that the sexual urge can be reined in without sacrificing fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11). The Lord commands us to bridle ...