Let's take our Bibles now and open up to the
Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy
chapter 5. This is the fifth book of the Bible,
the fifth book of the Torah, and what we're doing
this evening is continuing through these evening
services looking at what I've been calling our
shepherding sermons, shepherding us through difficulties
that we may have in our lives, temptations that
we face, sins that we are trying with the Holy
Spirit to overcome. And so tonight, how fitting
we look at, we're going to look kind of hyper
-focus on one commandment, but we're going to
see it in context and therefore see all of the
Ten Commandments. Now as you're turning to Deuteronomy
5, And you see the Ten Commandments listed there.
You might say, well, I thought those were in
Exodus chapter 20. It's true, they are. But you
can also see the Ten Commandments here in Deuteronomy
5. But I do want us to see it all in context.
And so I'm going to read this chapter for us.
For indeed, God's Word is good for us and we
need to read it. here in the worship service
and at homes and with our families and so would
you now give attention to the reading of God's
holy inspired word Deuteronomy 5 and Moses summoned
all Israel and said to them hero Israel the statutes
and the rules that I speak and you're hearing
today and you shall learn them and be careful
to do them the Lord your God made a coven with
us in Horeb Not with the fathers did the Lord
make this covenant, but with us who are all of
us here alive today The Lord spoke with you face
to face at the mountain Out of the midst of the
fire while I stood between the Lord and you at
the time to declare to you the word of the Lord
for you were afraid because of the fire and You
did not go up into the mountain. He said I am
the Lord your God who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You
shall have no other gods before me. You shall
not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness
of anything that is in heaven above, or that
is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth. You shall not bow down to them
or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a
jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children to the third and the fourth generation
of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love
to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments. You shall not take the name of
the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will
not hold him guiltless who takes his name in
vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
the Lord your God commanded you six days you
shall labor and do all your work but the seventh
day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God on it you
shall do no work you or your son or your daughter
or your male servant or your female servant or
your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock
or the sojourner who is within your gates that
your male servant and your female servant may
rest as well as you You shall remember that you
were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord
your God brought you out from there with a mighty
hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord
your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Honor your father and your mother as the Lord
your God commanded you that your days may be
long and that it may go well with you in the
land that the Lord your God is giving you. You
shall not murder. and you shall not commit adultery,
and you shall not steal, and you shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor, and you
shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you
shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field,
or his male servant, or his female servant, his
ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly
at the mountain. out of the midst of the fire,
the cloud and thick darkness with a loud voice
and he added no more. And he wrote them on two
tablets of stone and gave them to me. And as
soon as you heard the voice out of the midst
of the darkness while the mountain was burning
with fire, you came near to me, all the heads
of your tribes and your elders. And you said,
behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory
and greatness. And we have heard his voice. out
of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen
God speak with man and man still live. Now therefore,
why should we die? For this great fire will consume
us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God
anymore, we shall die. For who is there of all
the flesh that has heard the voice of the living
God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have
and is still lived? Go near and hear. all that
the Lord our God will say and speak to us all
that the Lord our God will speak to you and we
will hear and do it and the Lord heard your words
when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me
I have heard the words of this people which they
have spoken to you they are right in all that
they have spoken oh that they had such a heart
as this always to fear me and to keep all my
commandments that it might go well with them
their descendants forever go and say to them
return to your tents but you stand here by me
and I will tell you the whole commandment and
the statutes and the rules that you shall teach
them they may do to them in the land that I am
giving them to possess you shall be careful therefore
to do as the Lord your God has commanded you
you shall not turn aside to the right hand or
to the left You shall walk in all the way that
the Lord your God has commanded you, that you
may live and that it may go well with you and
that you may live long in the land that you shall
possess. This friends is God's holy word. Let's
pray together. Our Lord and our God, we thank
you for the entirety of your word and specifically
for these 10 commandments. but Lord so many of
us throughout our many years decades even we
have heard these commandments hundreds of times
maybe thousands we have meditated on them before
we've heard them taught and sometimes we approach
these commandments Lord and we think that we
know it all and we may even think that we keep
these perfectly Lord let it not be so let us
instead give ourselves to the study of this tonight
and see what Christ has done for us. Lord, make
us obedient, Lord, and help us to be good listeners,
we pray in Christ's name, amen. One second for
some water. Why don't I have her house? Why don't
I have his car? Why aren't my children more like
their children? Why can't I have a job like that?
Why, we ask, why can't things for me be like
they are for them? At first glance, maybe these
sorts of questions seem whiny, but perhaps benign.
Of the Ten Commandments, God could have commanded,
why is coveting in here? Surely coveting is not
on the level with idolatry or murder or adultery,
right? It can't be that bad. Did God just have
some extra room on those tablets and so he gave
us a bonus commandment? What's going on with
coveting? Really? What's so bad about wanting
somebody else's donkey? Friends, what I want
you to see tonight is that coveting is an egregious
sin. And yes, it is fitting where it is in the
Ten Commandments. And yes, according to the Scriptures,
sin produces all kinds of covetousness within
us, but there is a solution to coveting. And
so tonight what I want us to see is the problem
of coveting. I want to see the place of coveting.
And yes, I want to see the solution to coveting.
There was once a king and a queen who seemed,
seemed being an important word, to have all authority
and all the power. They could do whatever they
wanted. But one day, the queen found the king
to be upset, to be downcast. And she asked him,
what's the matter? And he said, well, Naboth,
you know, he's got this vineyard and I really
want it, but he won't give it to me. He won't
sell it to me. And so the queen reminded the
king, hey, you're the king and you could do whatever
you want. And she said, actually, I'll take care
of it. and take care of it, she did. Jezebel
had the owner, Naboth, the owner of the vineyard.
She had him stoned. And then the king just went
and took possession of the vineyard. The story
of Naboth's vineyard from 1 Kings 21 illustrates
what we're talking about tonight. That coveting
isn't simply about desires. I want to make sure
we have that distinction down. There are good
desires that are out there. And so it's not wrong
to desire those things. But coveting is the desire
to have what is not ours and the desire to obtain
it through ungodly means. Consider what the book
of James says here. What causes quarrels and
what causes fights among you? Is it not this
that your passions are at war within you? You
desire and you do not have, so you murder. You
covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
Now, getting back to Ahab and Jezebel, that had
very serious, long -lasting ramifications even
though Ahab does feel remorse over his sin. But
it's a significant moment in Israel's history.
The damage is this punishment for covetousness,
punishment for murder, punishment for idolatry
and the death of the entirety of Ahab's family
because of coveting. Hear this, behold, God's
word says, I will bring disaster upon you. I
will utterly burn you up. and cut off from Ahab
every male, bond or free, in Israel. And I will
make your house like the house of Jeroboam the
son of Nebat, and like the house of Bashah the
son of Ahaziah, for the anger to which you have
provoked me, because you have made Israel to
sin." You see, that happens because of this egregious
sin of coveting. And actually, when we jump ahead
into the New Testament to consider coveting,
we see that coveting is directly the opposite
of what Jesus tells us to do. When Jesus boils
down these 10 commandments into two, what does
he say? Love the Lord your God and love your
neighbor as yourself. Well, friends, you cannot
love your neighbor as yourself if you're just
wanting their stuff. That's not loving our neighbor.
Not at all Not at all and as you look at this
commandment here specifically You can see the
things that are mentioned You can see why an
ancient Israelite would want this right? Again
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife You
shall not desire your neighbor's house his field
or his male servant or his female servant, his
ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbors.
If you compare the commandment that is here in
Deuteronomy five with Exodus 20, you'll notice
that there is an extra word, an extra kind of
phrase that is in here. Really, the word field
is located in Deuteronomy five, 21, and it's
not there in the commandment in Exodus 20. Well,
why would that be? Commentators have different
thoughts on this, but most of them would say,
well, we got to remember what's happening in
Deuteronomy. What's Moses doing in Deuteronomy?
He's kind of retelling all of this in preparation
for what? For the promised land in which prayerfully
the Israelites would have their own fields. They
may have desired these things and they may have
ended up becoming like Naboth. Dead over these
things or Ahab killing over these things and
so what we have here is a very strong commandment
not to covet anything that is our neighbors and
So that's the problem of coveting in a nutshell.
There's a lot more we could say but what about
the place of coveting? Well after saying all
these words here God puts down his pen or his
chisel as it were It says that God spoke no more,
but put these on the stone tablets, and coveting
is at the end. And so what I want us to see now
is that coveting absolutely fits with these other
commandments, and it does so in a special way.
Consider Colossians 3 verse 5. It says, put to
death, therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual
immorality. impurity, passion, evil desire, and
covetousness. Some translations may have greed,
but it says then, which is idolatry. On account
of these, the wrath of God is coming. And so
covetousness and greed is linked then to the
first and the second commandment. You shall have
no other gods before me. You shall not make any
gods or bow down to them. And this is what I
want us to see, that you can do this with all
of these commandments. You can see the correlation
between coveting and between all the other commandments.
Think about what idolatry really is. It's being
terribly unsatisfied with who God is. as if to
say, God, you are not enough for me. You can
study the Israelites and their history and you
can see how they went after other gods. That
is idolatry. And as they're looking at other
nations and these other fake gods and these idols,
they're wanting to leave the one true God for
this fake God over here. They are coveting and
they're committing idolatry. And so that's the
link between the first and the second commandment
and commandment 10. What about the third? You
know the third commandment. You shall not take
the Lord's name in vain. When we do that, we
are showing a lack of reverence and a heinous
lack of reverence for God when we when we use
his name in inappropriate ways. But you might
say, well, how is this like coveting? Well, because
maybe we're not coveting what somebody else wants
or has or does. We're coveting what we want.
It's speaking of our desires that I recognize
that God has told me how to speak and he's told
me his name and I'm saying I don't care about
your name. I'm going to speak however I desire.
Friends, we really need to be careful. with our
speech. Commandment four, the Sabbath. This one
is one that is terribly neglected in our day.
That sometimes our desires for pleasure or for
entertainment or our desire to get things done
that we did not plan ahead for, these things
went out. over keeping and honoring the Lord's
day. It's like we're saying, I went to church
for an hour today, God, what more do you want
of me? I am free to do whatever I want. That
kind of mentality, though, is not keeping the
Christian Sabbath. Consider Isaiah 58, 13 and
14. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and
call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day
of the Lord honorable. If you honor it, not going
your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or
talking idly, then you shall take delight in
the Lord. And I will make you ride on the heights
of the earth. I will feed you from the heritage
of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord
has spoken. Do you see, friends, The Christian
Sabbath it's to be a delight and I think I'm
preaching to the choir here for you are in this
place Worshipping and hearing God's word and
yet sometimes our coveting eyes Look over here
What are they doing with this day? What are they
doing over here with this day? It's like we're
saying to God. It's not delightful to me. I want
to do something else with my time. Now we could
go through all of the Commandments like this,
but I just want to press home what I'm talking
about with a quote from R. Scott Clark, who wrote
a very good commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism.
He says, when the 10th Commandment says, you
shall not covet, it goes to the root of the 5th
Commandment. We desire to rule over authorities.
To the sixth commandment, we desire to take life
unjustly. To the seventh commandment, we desire
to find sexual satisfaction outside the order
that God has established. To the eighth, we desire
what God has not given, so we steal it. And to
the ninth, we desire people to think what we
want, not what is. And so we lie. When we cover
up, it's all rooted in covetousness. Furthermore,
when the apostle Paul wants to talk about how
the law teaches the greatness of our sin, Paul
goes to the 10th commandment from Romans 7 through
8. What then shall we say that the law is sin?
By no means. Yet, if it had not been for the
law, I would not have known sin. For I would
not have known what it is to covet if the law
had not said you shall not covet But sin seizing
an opportunity through the commandment produced
in me all kinds of covetousness Friends the problems
not the law It's coveting you see God's commands
don't fizzle out with the 10th commandment. It's
a very firm summary statement. It's a great conclusion.
It puts a period at the end of the 10 commandments.
But beyond the 10 commandments and their place
in the moral law, the real location of coveting
is right in here, isn't it? The real location
where coveting happens is in our hearts. Luke
12, 15, Jesus says, take care and be on your
guard against all covetousness for one's life
does not consist in the abundance of riches.
James also says that all good gifts come from
above, but evil desires come from corrupt hearts.
And so, yes, I want you to see that coveting
is a problem. And the Bible does address it,
but the Bible doesn't leave you in despair. The
Bible does give you the solution for coveting.
But before we get there, I want to give you some
red flags of coveting. And then we'll talk about
that solution. These are just some red flags
that I thought of. I'm sure there are many more.
And so I think I've got six of them, red flags
to know if you're struggling with coveting. Do
you mourn when things aren't going well for you,
specifically when you hear the accomplishments
of other people? In other words, do you celebrate
people's accomplishments or do you get down on
yourself? Two, do you recognize sin in your life
and repent of it? Romans seven seven that I already
read shows what sin produces in us. It may be
covetousness. Therefore, we ought to be quick
to repent. Three, do you fail to guard your heart
against the love of money or possessions? Meaning
are those possessions is that is the paycheck
is the accumulation of wealth and idle in your
heart? Four, Are you unwilling to share your
wealth even to the extent of hurting others to
get what you want? Five. Are you honest with
God and with others? You can see throughout the
scriptures that there were times when people
coveted and they hid. They hid their stealing.
They hid their covetousness. Do you hide it?
Or are you honest with God and with others? Six,
and lastly, are you thankful for what you have,
or do you find yourself grumbling about the lack
thereof? Kevin Young says this. The antidote
to the sin of coveting is 1 Timothy 6, 6. Godliness
with contentment is a great gain. Do you see
what the Bible says or does here? He says, coveting
is about gaining. And isn't that what you covet?
I want to gain a possession, a friend or a house.
And God says, good, you want gain? I want you
to have gain. I want you to have joy. I want
to bless you. But you won't get it by coveting.
You get it by contentment. Now you might say,
well, what is contentment? Jeremiah Burroughs,
who wrote a very wonderful book called The Rare
Jewel of Christian Contentment, defines it like
this. Christian contentment is that sweet, inward,
quiet, gracious frame of spirit which freely
submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly
disposal in every condition. I love that definition.
Right? Or if you're looking for somebody in scripture,
the apostle Paul speaks about contentment. He
says to the Philippian church, I have learned
and whatsoever state I am therefore to be content.
And these words from Paul, I think are especially
meaningful because Paul doesn't write about contentment
sitting in a mansion with the finest food, does
he? No, Paul actually writes this from prison
and therefore it has quite an impact. His contentment
is not tied to his possessions. His contentment
is not tied to his wallet. His contentment is
not tied to the dinner table and his contentment
is not tied to whether or not the Clemson Tigers
play well. No. His contentment is in Christ.
Now, maybe you say, how do I get this? How can
I have this contentment? Well, friends, it might
take time actually. When he says, I have learned
these things, this shows that sanctification
is part of the process. I have learned to be
content. He didn't buy it in the store. It just
might take some time. Burroughs again on this,
contentment is every condition. Contentment in
every condition is a great art, a spiritual mystery.
He says, I did not have the art at first. I have
attained it through with much ado. And now by
the grace of God, I have become the master of
this art. And so, yes. friends, it may take some
time in our growth in Christ. And so four pointers
as I begin to conclude, four pointers on how
to have this contentment. One, remember who you
are in Christ. John chapter 1 verse 12 says that
you become a child of God by being born again.
And what more could you really want than to be
a child of God? Second, remember what you have
in Christ. Ephesians chapter one, verse three,
it mentions every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places that Christ, it's getting at, is our true
treasure. And those in him will be content forever.
Three, remember the means of grace in Christ.
I don't know about you. Seems to me the most
content people are the ones who are in their
Bibles, who are in prayer, who are in worship,
who surround themselves with great fellowship,
right? And so remember the means of grace. And
just along those lines, remember your brothers
and sisters in Christ. As iron sharpens iron,
we are sharpened in contentment when we surround
ourselves with like -minded people who absolutely
love the means of grace and who love God and
who are saved by Christ in pursuing Christ in
their lives. We ought to surround ourselves with
people who put off covetousness and who put on
contentment. And so friends, just in conclusion,
if you find the 10th commandment to be a struggle
for you, pray about it, pray for help with it,
and let Christ be your desire. Christ has come
to forgive us of our sins and to deliver us from
covetousness, and he has placed his spirit in
us that we would love him with all of our hearts
and our neighbor as ourselves. Let's pray together.