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We turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy, 
chapter five. Deuteronomy, chapter five, we're 
currently studying this book on our Wednesday night Bible 
study. We found ourself on Wednesday passed in the 10th commandment. 
You shall not covet. As I said this morning, it seems 
to have it seems to go along with what we looked at this morning. 
And so I thought we would revisit it this evening. So Deuteronomy, 
chapter five, I'll just pick up reading in verse one. And 
Moses called all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the 
statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, 
that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The 
Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did 
not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who 
are here today, all of us who are alive. The Lord talked with 
you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I 
stood between the Lord and you at that time. to declare to you 
the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire 
and you did not go up the mountain. He said, I am the Lord, your 
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house 
of bondage. You shall have no other gods 
before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, 
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is 
in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 
You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord 
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children to the third and fourth generations of those who 
hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to 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 as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall 
labor and do all your work. The seventh day is the Sabbath 
of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you 
nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your 
female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your 
cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your 
male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 
And remember that you are a slave in the land of Egypt. And the 
Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and 
by 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 has commanded you that your days 
may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which 
the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall 
not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall 
not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not 
covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not desire your neighbor's 
house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his 
donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. These words, the 
Lord spoke to all your assembly in the mountain, from the midst 
of the fire, the cloud and the 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. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
you for the Scripture, thank you for the written Word, and 
we pray now that the Spirit who gave utterance, the Spirit who 
used men to pen these words, would come and aid us and guide 
us and lead us as we study your truth. We ask God in heaven that 
you would at the outset cause us to be humble as we approach 
your Word, to be those who tremble before your Word, to be those 
of a contrite and of a broken spirit, that we may receive it 
properly, that we may seek by your grace to implement it. But 
we know that a man who looks in the mirror and walks away 
as a fool or forgets what he looks like is a fool. Help us 
to be doers of that word, Lord God, and enable us by the power 
of your Holy Spirit for the glory of God most high. And we pray 
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, the Book of Deuteronomy 
is essentially several addresses made by Moses on the plains of 
Moab to the second generation, the people of God that would 
enter into the promised land. Remember that in the wilderness, 
God killed the first generation. They did not enter in because 
of unbelief. So the book of Deuteronomy takes 
up about a month in time on the plains of Moab. Moses is rehearsing 
to the people of God their history, where they had come from, where 
they were going, and the instructions that they were to take heed to. 
The commandments, the statutes, the judgments, the ordinances 
that they would need to implement as a people redeemed by God's 
grace sent in to live in a heathen land. They were to engage in 
obedience unto the Lord. They were to engage in faithfulness 
to the covenant that was given to them by God at Sinai. And 
so that is essentially the overall context of the book of Deuteronomy. If we look at the ten words specifically, 
the ten commandments, there's two major sections. There's the 
first table and the second. The first four commandments are 
our duty toward God, and the latter six are our duty toward 
man. And we can see these summarized 
in those two main things that Jesus says. You shall love the 
Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. You 
shall love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said, upon these two hang 
all the law and the prophets. So the first table with reference 
to our love to God, the second table with reference to our love 
for man. And within that second table, 
there are commands given of a very specific nature. The fifth protects 
parental authority and, by implication, all manner of authority. The 
sixth protects life. The seventh protects marriage 
and covenant faithfulness. The eighth protects private property. Do we move from actions in those 
ones to words in the ninth commandment? If we bear false witness, if 
we engage in character assassination or anything like that, we are 
breaking God's holy law. As we saw in the reading in the 
book of Proverbs, a man who does that, it is motivated by hatred 
for his neighbor. He doesn't do it just sort of 
arbitrarily, but rather that bearing false witness or that 
speaking ill of others is driven by an ultimate hatred for that 
particular person. So the ninth deals with our language, 
our words, and then the tenth deals with the intents of our 
heart, deals with thoughts. Now, as we go through the law 
of God and the old covenant, we do not see that the civil 
magistrate carried out punishment for a violation of the 10th commandment. In other words, you never see 
an instance where somebody is brought before the civil government 
and the magistrate because they had a covetous thought, because 
they coveted their neighbor's field or they coveted their neighbor's 
wife. This is a commandment that is 
directly between God and us. It is directly between the Lord 
Most High, who sees and judges the intents of the heart, this 
tenth word has to do with us. We saw on Wednesday night, sometimes 
we treat it almost as if it's a tathon, or sort of an addendum 
to an already complete code. But it is significant, it is 
powerful, and as I hope you'll see and appreciate tonight, it 
certainly is one that we need to take heed to with reference 
to our own conduct and thought life. So I want to first look 
at the prohibition of the commandment. Secondly, the reason for the 
commandment and then some positive aspects or rather positive helps 
to obey the commandment. There'll be a bit of overlap 
from this morning in that section. So I'll just give the heads of 
the ones that we already touched on this morning. But there are 
several others that we haven't spoken to today. So first of 
all, the prohibition of the commandment. What does it mean to covet? It 
doesn't mean that if your neighbor drives home with a new car, you 
can't say, wow, that's a nice car. No, covetousness has to 
do with an inordinate desire for what your neighbor has. Webster 
defines it this way, to desire inordinately, to desire that 
which it is unlawful to obtain or possess. Inordinate means 
irregular, irregularly, disorderly, excessively, and moderately, 
not limited to rules prescribed or to usual bounds. So covetousness 
means to desire that which it is unlawful to obtain or possess. And we have it spelled out for 
us very clearly in verse twenty one. You shall not covet your 
neighbor's wife. That is his wife. That is God's 
gift to him. You are not to inordinately desire 
her. You are not to desire your neighbor's 
house again. Doesn't that mean you can't say, 
well, I like I like the work you did on your on your lawn. 
I like the way you've painted in here. That's not what's condemned 
here. It's this excessive, improper, 
irregular desire that is settled into your heart where you want 
that thing for yourself. The commandment goes on to specify 
his feel, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey. But then the summary statement 
at the end is what we need to listen to, or not but, and we 
need to listen to, or anything that is your neighbor's. anything 
that is your neighbor's. He may have a particular gift, 
or a particular skill, or a particular ability. If you have an unlawful 
desire, an inordinate desire, then that is to break the very 
commandment of God Most High. You see how this reflects on 
contentment. If we want what other people 
have, it demonstrates a lack of contentment with the living 
God that is true of us. This commandment deals with man's 
inner heart and shows that none of the previous commandments 
could be observed in a merely external way. In other words, 
if you didn't actually commit adultery or you didn't actually 
commit murder, but it's in your heart and it's in your mind and 
it's something you obsess about, you are still guilty of violating 
the very law of God Most High. Robert Louis Dabney defines it 
or summarizes this way. He says the five commands of 
the second table cut off the streams of transgression. You 
shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. 
You shall not steal. Those are the streams of transgression. He says this one, this word deals 
with the fountainhead in the 10th commandment. Then we have 
the crowning spirituality of the law. thus making it complete 
in every way worthy of God and adapted to man as a rational 
free agent. So the second table, most of 
the commands deal with the acting out, with the conduct. This tenth 
word regulates the mind, regulates the thoughts, regulates the intentions, 
and again it's with God with whom we have to do. You may covet 
your neighbor's wife. You may covet your neighbor's 
husband. This isn't only confined to men coveting wives. I would 
imagine there's ladies out there that covet husbands. And it might 
take this form. Why aren't you like him? Why 
aren't you a better guy or a better girl like them? How come you 
never do this like so-and-so? What is that evidencing? It is 
evidencing an unsettledness of heart. It's evidencing something 
about you. You're not content with what 
the Lord God has given to you, but you're quite content thinking 
about what the Lord God has given to someone else. We need to guard 
against such things. So, you see, you may not act 
out, but if you engage in this sin internally, then God Most 
High sees it and He will deal with you very specifically. Another commentator, Craigie, 
said, it is this dimension of the commandments that is taken 
up in the teaching of Jesus. Matthew 5, 21 to 48. What does 
Jesus do but takes the commandments and shows the spirituality of 
them? You have heard that it was said 
to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to 
you, the law of God always said this, but the Pharisees and the 
scribes had focused on the externals to the degree that the heart 
was left unaffected. Jesus says, if you look upon 
a woman to lust, you've already broken the commandment in your 
heart. You may not have actually physically cut the neck or the 
throat of your neighbor, but if you say fool, or you say rock 
up, or you have some character assassination about it, or you 
speak ill of him, or you like a madman throwing firebrands 
and arrows, and then you have the gall to say, well, I was 
only joking, you have broken the commandment. You see, this 
goes right to the heart. Craigie says, not only the act, 
but also the desire is condemned. Partly because the desire is 
what leads to the act, and partly because whether or not the desire 
leads to the act, it betrays the same wrong attitude. So you 
see what he's saying. Covetousness very often, we'll 
see in a moment, leads to the actual act of sin. But even if 
covetousness does not lead to the actual act of sin, covetousness 
in and of itself is sin. Everybody with me? This is a powerful command, it 
gets right down there. It finds those nooks and crannies 
in your heart that you say, wait a minute, God ain't messing around. God is not playing games. So 
what is prohibited? We've already touched on the 
first one, inordinate desire of a neighbor's goods. Exodus 
2017 begins with house, Deuteronomy 521 begins with wife. Deuteronomy 521 also adds his 
seal. But again, the idea is summarized 
at the end of the verse when it says, or anything that is 
your neighbor. The Lord does not condemn hard 
work. The Lord does not condemn possessions. The Lord does not 
condemn wanting to engage in lawful pursuit of those things 
which he has sent as blessings. What God condemns is the inordinate 
desire of the heart that covets someone else's possessions. Let's look at a few passages 
that indicate that this is often a sin that leads to further sin. The book of Genesis, chapter 
3. We'll just run through these quickly. Remember, these are 
instances where the act of covetousness leads to the accomplishment of 
further sin. But even if there wasn't further 
sin, the covetousness is sin. Genesis, chapter 3. Verse six. So when the woman saw that the 
tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and 
a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and 
ate. You see, there's some contemplation 
going on. There's some intention going 
on. There's some there's some meditation upon it, if you will. It is good for food. It is pleasant 
to the eyes and it's desirable to make one wise. It's at that 
point she takes of the fruit and then she eats. Another example 
is in Joshua chapter 7. Joshua chapter 7. Again, just 
showing that this act of covetousness oftentimes leads to further sin 
or to the actual act of sin. That's why it is best to cut 
it off at the fountainhead. Mentioned the other night, it's 
easier to step on an egg that contains a snake than to step 
on the big snake. Wouldn't even want to step on 
the big snake, right? Big old python, big boa constrictor. You don't just step on it and 
kill it. But when it's a baby snake and it's in that egg, you 
can crush it, can't you? You see, this is the point. You've 
got to deal with it when it's in there. You've got to crush 
it when it's in there. You'll step on it when it's in 
there, because the moment you give vent to it, it will find 
its way up. That's the problem in the church 
and the problem in the world. We don't stop sin in its first 
uprisings. We don't deal radically with 
it. We think that we can take it 
into our laps and play with it. We think we can use it for as 
long as we desire and then just send it away. You need to understand 
something about the anatomy of sin. You need to understand, 
the moment you begin to settle it in your heart, the beginning 
is of rolling it around in your heart, whether it be your neighbor's 
wife, his field, his house, or whatever is your neighbor's, 
the moment you give vent to it, it will not be content until 
you are engaged in absolute, abominable activity. That's the 
way we need to look at sin. Joshua chapter 7, the people 
of Israel were supposed to take out Ai. They go and they lose. They lose severely in the battle. Just get it back to Joshua here. 
I was in judges. They go, and then God tells Joshua 
to get up, there's sin in the camp, you need to deal with this. 
So after the tribe is set forth, after the family, all of that 
is brought to pass, then we find in chapter 7 at verse 20, Achan 
answered Joshua and said, Indeed, I have sinned against the Lord 
God of Israel, and this is what I have done. When I saw among 
the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels 
of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted 
them and took them. And there they are, hidden in 
the earth, in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it. Again, this is a time when the 
act of covetousness led to the further act of sin. What did 
it cost Achan at this particular point? So Joshua sent messengers, 
and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, 
with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst 
of the tent, brought them to Joshua, and to all the children 
of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. Then Joshua 
and all Israel with them took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver 
of the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, 
his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, 
and they brought them to the valley of Achor. Joshua said, 
Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this 
day. So all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned 
them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. Then 
they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to 
this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. 
Therefore, the name of that place has been called the Valley of 
Achor to this day." He coveted and then he acted. He saw, he 
desired, and then he acted upon it. James gives us the anatomy 
of sin in James 1, 14. Each one is tempted when he is 
drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire 
has conceived, it gives birth to sin. When it is full grown, 
brings forth death. That's the progression. Sin is 
not glamorous. Sin is not cool. Sin is not hip. Sin is not fun. Sin is not something 
we ought to enjoy doing. If you want to see the anatomy 
of sin and what it does and what it's about, look at this operating 
room. Each one is tempted when he is 
drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Again, that's unique 
from person to person. Your desire might be to break 
the Sixth Commandment. Your desire might be to break 
the 7th commandment. Your desire might be to break 
the 1st commandment, or the 4th commandment, or the 8th commandment, 
or the 9th commandment, or the 10th commandment. We all have 
these peculiar desires that tend to draw us away. Well, what happens 
is, if we don't kill it at the desire phase, or at the desire 
time, then we give birth or conception to this particular desire. It 
gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, brings 
forth death. The act of covetousness oftentimes 
leads to further sin, but covetousness in and of itself is still sin. 
Now, if Achan would have only looked and coveted in his heart, 
God would have dealt with him. But because he acted upon it, 
he and his family died. They were executed before the 
Lord on that day. in the Valley of Acre. So inordinate 
desire of your neighbor's good. A second thing prohibited is 
discontentedness. Discontentedness. The desire 
for anything that is our neighbor's reveals a heart of discontentedness 
at what God has given or not given to us. If you covet your 
neighbor's stuff, your problem isn't with your neighbor. Is 
it? That guy, he's got everything. 
Man, do you see his car? Do you see his wife? Do you see 
her husband? Do you see their kids? Boy, they've got great 
kids. Inordinate desire for their kids. 
Your problem is not with the neighbor. Your problem is not 
with Mr. Jones. Your problem is not with 
his ability to make money and buy things. Your problem is with 
God. That's what this tenth word speaks 
to. Discontentedness is not that you're not happy with Mr. Jones, 
it's that you're not happy with God most high. Hodge says it 
includes the positive command to be contented with the allotments 
of providence and the negative injunction not to repine or complain 
on account of the dealings with God with us or to envy the lot 
and possessions of others. discontentedness. You see why 
it goes with what we started this morning. Give us this day 
our daily bread. Not how come you don't give me 
as much daily bread as Jones. How come you don't give me such 
good kids as Jones? How come you haven't given me 
such a nice car as Jones? Whoever Jones is. You know, we're 
keeping up with the Joneses, as they say, right? See, who's 
the problem with? It's God. You see, this tenth word burrows 
deep, shows us out for what we are. Inordinate desire for our 
neighbor's goods, discontent in this, and the third is envy. 
Envy. I mentioned this on Wednesday 
night. Jealousy is when I want what my neighbor has. I don't 
care that he has it, I just want it too. Envy is a bit more base. Not that I'm saying jealousy 
is okay. Go out and be jealous. just doesn't want the neighbor 
to have it. I mean, I'd like to have it, but whether I have 
it or not, I don't want him to have it, right? That's envy. Diabolical. In a satanic twist 
on a glorious text, it inverts the process we are to engage 
in. Romans 12, 15, we're to rejoice with those who rejoice. Somebody 
comes in and they've been blessed. We're to rejoice with them. We're 
also supposed to weep with those who weep. Somebody comes in and 
they're weeping and they're downcast. We're supposed to sympathize 
and empathize with them. What's envy do? Envy twists that 
process. A brother comes in rejoicing 
over a good gift from God Most High and we weep. Because we 
didn't get it. He did. Brother comes in and 
he's sad. Something's happened bad in his 
life. He lost his job. He got laid off. He got a reduction 
in pay. He's weeping and we're rejoicing 
because that crumb didn't deserve it anyway. You see, envy's terrible. Envy's horrible. Gary North defines 
it this way, he says, envy is the desire to see a successful 
person brought low. Even when, should the person 
be brought low, the envious person does not benefit directly. I 
just want him brought low. It's unfortunate that federal 
governments are in this business of promoting envy today. But 
it's in each of our hearts. Envy. Yeah, I want what he's 
got, but I don't want what he I don't want him to have what 
he's got. You see the perversion of that, the wickedness of that. 
Again, Hodge says, as envy is the antithesis of love, it is 
of all the sins most opposed to the nature of God and more 
effectually than any other excludes us from his fellowship. I've 
got to say, brethren, if you're upset that someone's getting 
blessed, that evidences problems in your heart. If you're happy 
that somebody has misfortune, there's a problem in your heart. It's a pretty good general rule 
of thumb to gauge your spiritual well-being. Brothers rejoicing 
and you're upset about it, you've got problems. Brothers weeping 
and you're secretly happy about it, you've got problems. And 
it's envy. It's a terrible sin, it's a perversion, 
it is godlessness, it is absolute wickedness. James links it to 
demonism. In James chapter 3, several texts 
in the New Testament include this particular sin and vice 
versa. If you have bitter envy and self-seeking 
in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This 
wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, 
demonic. For where envy and self-seeking 
exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom 
that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing 
to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and 
without hypocrisy. Now, the fruit of righteousness 
is sown in peace by those who make peace. Look at that, though. 
Verses 14 and 15. If you have bitter envy and self-seeking 
in your heart. See, that's what goes hand in 
hand. Envy and self-seeking. Envy and self. Envy and me. See, me is most important in 
this equation, what I want. The world should just surround 
me. I should be the center of everybody's thoughts. The Bible 
should say, take every thought captive to the obedience of me. 
That's the sinner. And unfortunately, it's the redeemed 
sinner. And this is why we need the power 
of the Holy Spirit. And we need the preaching of 
the law so that God would be well pleased to drive this garbage 
out of our hearts. It's wicked. If you have bitter 
envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie 
against the truth. This wisdom does not descend 
from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. Where envy and self-seeking 
exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. It's not interesting, 
confusion and every evil thing. You allow envy and self-seeking 
to run rampant in the life of the church. What's the result? 
Peace, joy, happiness, contentment? No, it's confusion. What happens 
when envy and self-seeking run rampant in the home? Peace, joy, 
happiness, contentment? No, it's confusion. That's what 
sin brings. So those three are prohibitions. 
Let's move on quickly to the reason for the commandment. Why 
does God say you shall not covet? Well, because he doesn't want 
us to have an inordinate desire of our neighbor's stuff. He doesn't 
want us to be discontent. He doesn't want us to envy. These 
are all things that do not speak well of our position in Christ 
Jesus. The primary reason for the commandment 
is God, the lawgiver. He speaks to this issue. Do not 
covet. But I want us to notice something 
in these commandments, the 10 words. First, we need to look 
at Ephesians 5.5. Not that I didn't want you to 
get anything I've already said, but I really want you to get 
this. I really want you to understand 
this, this is important. I want you to see how God has spoken 
these ten words. Ephesians 5, larger context, 
conduct worthy of the new man in Christ Jesus. Verse 1, chapter 
5, be imitators of God as dear children. Walk in love, as Christ 
also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and sacrifice 
to God for a sweet smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness 
or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting 
for saints. You see, it's fitting for saints 
not to be involved in fornication, in covetousness and uncleanness. He goes on in verse four, neither 
filthiness nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are 
not fitting, but rather giving a thanks. Get rid of the garbage 
and be a thankful person unto God. This is what a new man in 
Christ Jesus looks like. Now, notice verse five for this, 
you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous 
man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of 
Christ and God. What's a covetous man? He's an 
idolater. Isn't that what Paul says? Look 
over at Colossians. Parallel passage. Colossians 
three, verse five. Colossians chapter three, verse 
five. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the 
earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, notice, 
and covetousness, which is idolatry." It's interesting, isn't it? What 
are the first two prohibitions in the Ten Commandments? It's 
against idolatry. You must worship the true and 
living God, according to the First Commandment. And you must 
worship the true and living God appropriately, according to the 
second commandment. This is a prohibition against 
idolatry. Understanding Paul's words, as 
he defines covetousness as idolatry, what's happened? We've come back 
to the beginning. The language of Christopher Wright, 
he says, thus the commandments come full circle. First commandment, 
prohibition against idolatry. Tenth commandment, prohibition 
against idolatry. What's the vile, wretched, wicked, 
godless idol that the Tenth Commandment prohibits? You and me. What's covetousness? It's me-ism. It's all about me. The world 
should serve me. I should get what people have. 
They should give me gifts, they should worship me, they should 
adore me, God should serve me. That's what the tenth commandment 
prohibits. Christopher Wright says, thus 
the commandments come full circle, to break the tenth is to break 
the first for covetousness means setting our hearts and affections 
on things that then take the place of God. When a society 
has so profoundly and deliberately abandoned the first and the tenth 
commandments, the moral vacuum that results from the loss of 
all those commandments in between soon follows. Get rid of the 
first prohibition against idolatry, and the tenth against idolatry, 
and all those other commandments go out the window as well. And 
that's why society looks the way it does. See, our problem 
today is idolatry. Garden variety. We may not be 
worshipping the Baals, and the Asherah, and the Molech that 
they worshipped in this particular time frame, but we're worshipping 
the equivalent to Baal, the equivalent to Asherah, the equivalent to 
Molech. And very often the one that is the most vying for our 
attention is ourselves. The purpose of God or one of 
the purposes of God and salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ 
is so that he died for all that those who live should live no 
longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose 
again. In the 10th commandment, we violate, 
we covet. And we promote idolatry. We put 
our religious affections, we put our inordinate desires, we 
put our longings on something that is not God. But as well, 
we set ourselves up as the idol because we believe God should 
serve us, men should serve us, and what anybody else has ought 
to be mine. It's a terrible sin. It's a very 
bad thing. So the first ten bookend the 
entirety of the Decalogue. God really is a jealous God and 
does not want you to be an idolater. Well, what are some positive 
helps? I have nine. Now, before you go, oh man, nine 
means we're going to be here another half hour. Don't do that. 
We won't be here another half hour. A couple of them we already 
looked at this morning, so I'll just give you the points. First, 
recognition of God's sovereign ownership over all things. We 
already dealt with that this morning. We won't unpack that. 
So help to avoid covetousness. God owns all things, right? We 
shouldn't get all bent out of shape. He doesn't give us everything. It's His. We considered this 
morning. It's bad enough we think we deserve 
stuff. It's doubly bad when we think 
we deserve the best. That's just terrible. Let's not 
do that. Secondly, a recognition of God's 
promise and provision. Hebrews 13, 5 and 6. Again, we 
looked at that this morning. We trust, we have a hope-filled 
confidence in the paternal care of our gracious God and Father, 
who has promised, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. With 
that understanding, brethren, you ought to guard your heart 
against covetousness. Don't covet. God has promised 
to provide. Don't crave what someone else 
has. Don't be desiring of what other 
people have. God's promised to care for you. 
Thirdly, we need to have a realization of the surpassing importance 
of eternity to come. A realization of the surpassing 
importance of eternity to come. Why covet stuff on earth? Why 
covet our neighbor's wife, or our neighbor's husband? Why covet 
their fields, or their houses, or their lawn gnomes? Why covet 
their cars, or their motorcycles, or their beach houses? Why covet 
that when we're heading to heaven? Who cares, right? There's a bumper 
sticker that says, he who dies with the most toys wins. That's 
wrong. He who dies with the most toys 
dies with a lot of toys. There's no winning involved. Jesus said in Mark 8, 36, what 
shall it profit a man? He gains the whole world and 
loses his soul. Luke chapter 12, that man came 
and asked Jesus, who got what? And Jesus tells that particular 
story of the young man whose field yielded plentifully. He thought within himself. He 
said, I'll build more barns. I'll fill up my barns with all 
my stuff. And then I'll say to my soul, take your ease. You 
have many goods laid up for many years. Just chill. Just relax. 
God says to him, thou fool, your soul is required this very night. 
Let this be a help against covetousness. You're going to heaven. We are heaven bound. Remember 
that kid song, this train is bound for glory. Woo woo. That's 
true. Her choo-choo, however we say 
it. In light of that, why would we crave somebody's car? Who 
cares? In light of the fact that Jesus 
is ours and where he is and these eyes will one day see him as 
he is, why crave your neighbor's stuff? And just by a sideline 
note, you don't know what your neighbor's going through with 
that stuff. Right? He may be in debt up to his eyes. 
She may be the biggest nag in the world. You're saying, why 
can't you be more like Brother so-and-so? He might stink. You 
don't know what she's got to deal with. See, the grass always 
looks greener over there because of discontentedness. The idea 
here, brethren, is to value the surpassing importance of eternity 
to come. A fourth help against the sin 
of covetousness is keep your own heart with all diligence. Proverbs 4, 23. made reference to that quote 
by Dabney, where he spoke of the screams of transgression 
and the fountainhead. Well, Solomon actually does that 
very thing in Proverbs chapter four. He says, keep the heart, 
keep the fountainhead, get control of the control center, keep your 
heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of 
life. And then he deals with the various strains. Verse twenty 
four, put away from you a deceitful mouth and put perverse lips far 
from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead 
and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your 
feet. Let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the 
left. Remove your foot from evil. We trace it back. If you're not 
removing your foot from evil. If you are not turning, if you 
are turning to the right or the left, if your ways are not established, 
if you're not pondering the path of your feet, if your eyelids 
aren't looking right before you, your eyes aren't looking straight 
ahead, if you haven't put perverse lips far from you and you haven't 
put a deceitful mouth away from you, what's the problem? You're 
dealing with your heart. You're dealing with the heart. 
So keep it with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues 
of life. You deal with the fountainhead and then the streams hopefully 
will be clean. You deal with the water source 
and then hopefully it'll be clean when it gets pumped into our 
homes. You see that? That's what Solomon 
says. Fifth, cultivate a genuine happiness 
in the blessings of others. A genuine happiness in the blessing 
of others. I've already referred to Romans 
12, 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Don't be bitter if somebody 
gets blessed and you don't. Don't do that. Boy, she got a 
good one, or he got a good one, or they got great kids. What 
happened to me? Rejoice! Be happy for that. It's terrible. Isn't it? I get to raise at work 
and you're mad? Rejoice with Him. Be happy. Cultivate that. May take some 
effort, may take some work, may take some genuine stick-to-itiveness, 
but by the grace of God, I'm going to rejoice with those who 
rejoice and weep with those who weep. Sixthly, biblical contentedness. Again, we looked at that this 
morning. We will not develop that further. Seventh, a charitable 
spirit. It's a great way to deal with 
covetousness. Give stuff away. What's the problem with a covetous 
man? He likes stuff. What's a good remedy for that? 
Give it away. It's not brain surgery, it's not rocket science. 
Give some of it away. If you crave stuff, give some 
of it away. Develop a charitable spirit. 
2 Corinthians 9. God loves what? A bitter, envious 
heart? No, he loves a cheerful giver. 
Ephesians 4.28. Don't steal anymore. Get a job. 
Work hard so that you can make enough that you can give to others 
who have need as well. You see the positive element 
in that. There is a therapeutic effect 
upon the heart of man. Eighthly, a proper view of the 
spirituality of the law. We need to understand that the 
law does not stop with me not actually committing murder. The 
law of God pierces down to the very heart, to the very soul 
of things. Hebrews 4, verse 12. The word 
of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged 
sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints 
and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of 
the heart. The tenth word does this very 
specifically, very peculiarly, very powerfully. Cultivate. a 
biblical view and understanding of the spirituality of the law, 
and then ninthly, have a thankful heart for the active obedience 
of Jesus Christ. He never coveted. Ever. Never looked at his neighbor's 
wife, never looked at his neighbor's goat, never looked at his neighbor's 
field and had an inordinate desire for it. It's one of the reasons he came 
into this world was to obey the law perfectly. Started out worship 
today by reading Psalm 15. You know, the Psalm 15 is about. 
It isn't about you. And it isn't about me. It's about 
Jesus. We need to thank God for the 
active obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, because we're covetous 
wretches. because we're discontent, because 
we're envious, we ought to stand in awe at our gracious Redeemer 
who came and who obeyed the law perfectly. Now that's not to 
say we shouldn't try, we shouldn't pursue a life of covetouslessness, 
but it is to say we ought to marvel at the glory and majesty 
of our great Redeemer and praise God for the active obedience 
of Jesus Christ that one has in fact done what the law specifies. And that by virtue of God's grace, 
by virtue of the faith that he has given to us, wherein we believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that righteousness that he achieved, 
that righteousness that he won, that righteousness that he secured 
is imputed to us. You ought to praise God for that. 
You feel the effects of the spiritual law of God. You ought to be cast 
down at the foot of the cross and stand in humble adoration 
of the one who does all that Psalm 15 says, all that the scripture 
says on behalf of his people. And if you don't know that Lord 
Jesus Christ tonight, you need to believe the gospel. You need 
to believe on him and you will receive the forgiveness of sins. 
Covetousness finds us all out. I mean, I could preach on murder. 
And 95% of the people could say, well, I've never done that. I 
hope 100% could say I've never done that, but mentally we've 
probably committed that. No one can say you've never coveted 
ever. You never desired, never had 
an inordinate longing for something that wasn't yours. Really? You 
want to maintain that? Wasn't this the sin that Jesus 
put his finger on with the rich young ruler? The teacher, what 
must I do to inherit eternal life? You know the commandments, 
go do it. What's the guy say? Well, all these I've done from 
my youth. I've never murdered, I've never committed adultery, 
I've never stolen, I honor my parents. Everything I've done 
from my youth. What's Jesus say? Go, sell everything 
you have, give the proceeds to the poor, and you follow me. 
See, sometimes people misunderstand. They say, well, Jesus is saying, 
if you just fulfill this element of law, then you'll be in. Jesus 
is exposing his sin. What happened? That rich young 
ruler went away sad. Why? Because he had a lot of 
possessions he didn't want to part with. What was his sin? 
He may have outwardly and externally never committed murder, never 
committed adultery, never engaged in those things. But when Jesus 
took the spirituality of the law and he drove it upon that 
young man's heart, he went away sad. He was convicted. Paul said, I would not have known 
lust unless the law had said, you shall not covet. You see, 
this law calls you out and hopefully spurs you to fly to Christ Jesus, 
the Lord. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
you for your word. Thank you for its sufficiency 
in our lives. Thank you that it is our standard, 
our rule for faith and practice. We ask that you would go with 
us now and watch over us and grant us grace to see your will, 
your mind revealed concerning sin. Help us to guard against 
it, to keep our own hearts with all diligence, knowing that from 
it bring the issues of life. Go with us now, we pray, in the 
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.