Exodus 20, verse 17. Exodus 20, verse 17. Hear now the word of the living God. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's." This is the word of the Lord, and we say, thanks be to God. Please be seated. Let's ask the Spirit's blessing upon our time. Lord, as we look to Your law, we pray that our eyes would not stray from Our righteousness in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that in the law we would see not only our failure, but His utter and perfect satisfaction and law keeping. And His death on our behalf to redeem us who are under the curse brought by the law. Fix our gaze on the one who stands complete in our stead. In Jesus' name, amen. We're continuing our journey through the Heidelberg Catechism. You'll find this week's installment on the back page of the bulletin. And it really deals with the Tenth Commandment. The Catechism, like most historic reform catechisms, walk us through, among other things, the Ten Commandments. And we're finishing our journey of that tonight The 10th commandment is really about coveting. And when we say that, what do we mean? Well, here's one definition. Coveting is when desire for something rules our hearts, minds, and actions. When desire for something rules our hearts, minds, and actions. I want to take you to a biblical example of one who coveted. Turn with me to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11. Let's look at the anatomy of coveting. The anatomy, what it looks like to break the 10th commandment. and then journey through the Scriptures and see that the Tenth Commandment is everywhere on the pages of the Bible. 2 Samuel chapter 11. The Word of the Lord says this, It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman and someone said, is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messengers and took her and she came to him and he lay with her for she was cleansed from her impurity. And she returned to her house." Now, you may say, I'm surprised that the preacher is using 2 Samuel 11 to point out the anatomy of breaking the 10th commandment. Isn't this breaking the 7th commandment, committing adultery? Well, yes, it is. We could equally turn there for the 7th commandment. But really, we have a picture of what it looks like to take something, to want something, to desire something that doesn't belong to us. More specifically, to long for something and think that something is ours or should be ours that God has not given to us. And so we see David, the man after God's own heart, the apple of the Lord's eye, coveting, looking down from his roof and wanting something, his neighbor's wife. It was not his. Lest we end there, turn over one chapter to 2 Samuel 12 and verse 13. You know the rest of the story. Essentially, David wants Bathsheba. He fixes it so that Uriah the Hittite is killed in battle. He breaks the 7th commandment. He breaks the 6th commandment. He breaks the 10th commandment. And he's living as if nothing has happened. And Nathan, the prophet, goes to him and in verse 7 of 2 Samuel 12 says, David, you're the man. You are the man. David gives us in these pages not only an example, the anatomy of what it looks like to break the 10th commandment, but also an example of what it looks like to repent and to trust God. 2 Samuel 12, 13. So David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, now what are you expecting Nathan to say to David? What would you say to David if it were up to you? You took a woman that didn't belong to you. How dare you? You murdered a man that did nothing to you. All of the times when the kings were supposed to go out to battle, you didn't. You stayed behind. You left all of your people when you should have been out in battle. God was not kept before you as your God. You made an idol out of your neighbor's wife. You coveted what wasn't yours. David, you're a lawbreaker. But what does Nathan say, speaking the words of the Lord? And Nathan said to David, verse 13, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. So we see not only the anatomy of coveting, of breaking the 10th commandment, but we see a picture of the gospel really. Of God unilaterally taking away sin. David is not going to be punished eternally for his sins. So now that we have this picture in our minds of what breaking the 10th commandment looks like, we could go to other Bible characters, but we have David in our minds. So let's follow then from Exodus chapter 20 through David's story to the rest of the Bible. Is the 10th commandment something that was written in stone in Exodus 20 that has been kept by Christ and so it no longer relates to us? Or is it the summary of the moral law of God which we see all over the Bible? Well, really, it's the latter. I want us to see four brief things tonight, then, keeping David and his covetous behavior and subsequent forgiveness in our minds. Number one, coveting, breaking the 10th commandment, demonstrates that the law is internal, not just external. Coveting demonstrates that the law is internal, not just external. Here's what I mean. There are many different ways that good and godly believers look at putting the Bible together. From Genesis to Revelation, how do we picture law and gospel? What do we think about the God of the Old Testament versus the God of the New Testament? He's the same God, by the way. How do we think about God's covenant carrying a cross and all of these themes? And one way that people have tried to put the Bible together is a way that I think is faulty. And it goes like this. Look, God gave the law, the Ten Commandments, to the Hebrews. Jesus kept this law and it was done away with. And now God gives us a new law in the Sermon on the Mount. And this law is actually about our hearts. See, before it was just about our outward deeds, but now it's about our hearts. But I would submit to you that if you read closely, what does the 10th commandment actually say? A lot of the commandments seem on the surface to be simple outward behaviors. Do not kill, do not steal, do not lie. But the 10th commandment itself really reveals to us that the law of God is not just about outward behavior, but it's always been about the heart. Do not look with your eyes at something that is not yours and covet it. Many will say that it was not until Jesus came that he gave us a law of the heart. They get this from the Sermon on the Mount. You remember Jesus using the Ten Commandments, and he says, you've heard it said of old, but I say to you. What we end up doing is we say, Jesus is giving Christians a new kind of law that really is about our hearts. I would submit to you that when David was standing on his roof, it wasn't just his outward behavior that was a problem. was his heart. He was coveting something. And really it wasn't just David, was it? Let's flip through the Bible briefly together. Go to Genesis 3. First few pages of the Bible. Genesis 3, verses 1-6. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 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. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." You see, among other things, the fall of mankind into sin was about coveting. You may say, well, I thought it was about unbelief. Well, I thought it was about idolatry. Well, yes, it was. But it was also about looking at something that God has said is not ours and taking it, wanting it. Now compare that with just a page before in Genesis chapter two, verses eight through 15. Remember, the tree, the fruit, But what was around the tree and the fruit? Genesis 2 verse 8, The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon. It is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bedellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hidikul. It is the one which goes towards the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend it and keep it." Does it sound to you like the Lord was withholding from Adam and Eve? Quite the contrary. Every tree, all the food, gold, onyx, it was all there. But the fall, among other things, was about wanting something that God had not given. So if we were to continue from Genesis through the Ten Commandments in Exodus, through the story of David who pictures for us coveting, we would see all kinds of examples of the Ten Commandments. Colossians 3.5, put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Do you see that? Paul in Colossians 3.5 says that covetousness is idolatry. Romans 7, 7 and 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 said, you shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. Romans 13, 8 and 9 shows that the Ten Commandments are fulfilled through love in the heart. Psalm 119.36, incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Do you see that? Lord, make my heart follow your word, your ordinances, your commands, and not to selfish gain. You see, the 10th commandment has always been not just external, but internal as well. Before Christ, the law was always about the heart. And after Christ, the law is about the heart. Coveting demonstrates. that the law is not just external, but internal. But if we keep going through the pages of the Scripture, we'll see, number two, that coveting, breaking the tenth commandment, reveals our view of God's care for us. And listen closely. Coveting reveals our view, or what we think about God's care for us. You really want to know what you think about God and His care for you, Look closely at the 10th commandment. For instance, Hebrews 13.5 says this, Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Think about that. We often hear that. But juxtaposed is the love of money and God who will never leave or forsake us. And smack dab in the middle is a reminder of the 10th commandment. Be content with what you have. Philippians 4.11, Paul writes, I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. And then one other example. Turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy 6, verses 6 through 10. Now 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. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith and their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Please note, and I have to say this in our world today, this is not saying being rich is a sin. This is not saying money is a sin. This is not saying having money is a sin. There's a heart level issue here, isn't it? This is saying a desire for something which you don't have. That is the problem. A love for money is a problem. We live in a day where verses like these get turned into some kind of social justice scenario whereby being rich makes you evil. You might be rich because you're evil, or you might be rich because the God of heaven who owns a cattle on a thousand hills has decided for his own purpose and his own glory to give you a lot of them. The issue here, as we see all throughout the Bible, is contentment. God cares for me, whether I have little or I have lots. But when we break the 10th commandment, we reveal our view of God's care for us. You see, the 10th commandment, on the surface, simply says, don't covet your neighbors, this, that, or the other. But through the pages of the Bible, it's described more and more and more in different details. And what we end up seeing is that when we covet, what we're really saying is, God, you are holding out on me. You haven't given me what I need. You haven't given me what I want. And why does Paul in Colossians 3, 5 call that idolatry? Because when I look at the sovereign God of the universe and say, you haven't given me what I want, who is God in my estimation? Me. Coveting reveals our view of God's care for us. But thirdly, coveting opens the door to other sin. Coveting opens the door to other sin. You see, when you break the 10th commandment, you're on the verge of, like David, breaking other sins. Keep David in your mind. Rooftop. Supposed to be out with all of the generals of the Hebrew armies. In his laziness, he's surveying his kingdom and he sees something that's not his. He covets. And then that opens the door to other sins, doesn't it? But it's not just David. Listen to this smattering of passages. Proverbs 15.27, Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live. Ecclesiastes 5.10, He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income. This is also vanity. Proverbs 19.3, When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, His heart rages against the Lord. How often are we ruled by our desire for more and it leads us to all sorts of further sins and internal angst. Let's take this down one level into our hearts. Friends, are there any current aspects of your stress load? your internal feelings of depression or anxiety or despair that are fueled by coveting. Notice what I said carefully. I didn't say that depression and anxiety are because of coveting. But sometimes those feelings, those emotions can be driven by it. It might go like this. You look around you. Others have what you wish you had. And you begin to feel sad. You change your whole lifestyle so that you can work harder to get those things. They may not be bad things. They might be, but they may not be bad things. But over time, you're running ragged. Your time for the Lord is lessened. You begin to get less and less sleep. There's no time for prayer. There's no time for church. There's no time for Bible reading. You have to work harder and harder and harder so that you can have what everyone else seems to have on Facebook. And before long, you are running ragged. discontent with a whole manner of things, anxious because you don't have what you want to have. And all the while, it's because you've looked at the Lord and said, I can't trust you to give me what I need, so I'm going to go get it myself. Ecclesiastes 6.9, better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. We need to recognize that we regularly covet or are tempted to covet. See, coveting opens the door to other sin. Think of David again. He finally gets what he wants, he thinks, but now he's got a problem on his hands. There's a husband in the picture. So something has to be done with him And then one of the consequences of his sin is that now a baby dies. And now his household is wrecked. Have you ever watched David's life post Bathsheba? He's a man after God's own heart, but it's a wreck. Coveting opens the door to other sin. But lastly, Because we're going from Genesis to Revelation, we see this. Coveting is forgiven only in Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 verse 3. Ephesians 5.3, But fornication and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 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." You see, God's scale of justice is not like ours. We often rank sins. And when we look at the law of God and the Ten Commandments, sometimes coveting is one that we think, well, that's bad, but that's not as bad as adultery or murder, certainly. But here, black and white, in the New Testament, post-Christ, what do we see? No covetous man has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. What are we to make of this? What we're to make of it, several things. Firstly, breaking of the 10th commandment. It's grievous. It's sinful. It's a breaking of God's law. It makes us idolaters, the word says. And living in unrepentant covetousness shows that we are not in Christ. But there's a period there. No covetous man has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God, period. What are we to do with this? Let's go back to David. Turn with me to Acts. Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13 verse 22. Acts chapter 13 verse 22. Paul and Barnabas have been sent out, preaching of the gospel is occurring, and listen to what is proclaimed in verse 22. And when he had removed them, he raised up for them David as king, to whom also he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus. David was the great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of the Lamb of God. On the one hand, Nathan comes to David and says, David, you're the man. You've done it. You're an idolater. You're a breaker of the 10th commandment. You're an adulterer. You're a murderer. You've stolen what doesn't belong to you. You've broken the 10 commandments, David. You're the man. And here in Acts, without even batting an eye, the apostles preaching is this, from David comes a savior. The great, great, great, great grandfather of our Savior was a man who ruthlessly broke God's law, including the Tenth Commandment. And his very great, great, great, great grandson would be the one who would save him. You see, coveting separates us from God. A breaking of the 10th commandment separates us from God, just like breaking any of the other commandments separate us from God. And how is it that coveting is forgiven? It's forgiven in God's plan outside of David. David, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to reveal to you through Nathan, the prophet, your sin. I'm going to do it, David. You're going to repent because of my spirit's work in you, David. I'm going to tell you that I'm not going to hold this iniquity against you, David. I'm going to use you, David, to be the one that Jesus is going to come through. David, you are going to be the king of all Israel. There's always going to be a king on your throne, David. And over and over and over, what is the common theme? God is doing a work separate from us. Brothers and sisters, It seems as though we have a problem on our hands. Because the book of Proverbs says that it is an abomination. It is an abomination to justify the wicked. How can God justify David? More close to home, how can God justify you? You may not have taken Uriah's wife, but you've coveted, you've lusted in your hearts, you've murdered in your hearts. How is it that God, who says it's an abomination in the Scriptures to justify the wicked, how is it that He can do that? Lastly then, let's see our answer. Let's see your answer. Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 21, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Yes, this is the Christ Jesus who is the great, great, great, great grandson of the lawbreaker. Verse 25. Whom God set forth as a propitiation, that's a big word, meaning atonement that takes away wrath. As a propitiation by His blood through faith. To demonstrate His righteousness. We normally put a period there in our minds, but for this conversation, and with David in view of the 10th commandment, let's press into the next phrase. To demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness. that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. We love the gospel, but do we love it this much? I've got two daughters. One of you covets my daughter and comes after her and then tries to kill her husband and we go to court and the judge says, innocent. Do you think I'm going to look at that judge and say, justice? Thank you, justice. Absolutely not. How is it that God, through Nathan, can say, justified, done, acquitted, innocent? It's because the God who declares through Nathan that David will not face damnation is the God who in passing over former sins gets us to Jesus who is David's vindication. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. That's David. That's David. It's Abraham, it's Moses, it's Noah, it's David, it's Jeremiah, it's Micah, it's Habakkuk, it's all of them. Passed over former sins. What kind of judge is this? What kind of judge just passes over former sins and we rail against it until we see what? The bleeding Lamb of God. Who isn't just David's Savior, but yours. You have been fully punished, Christian, for your breaking of the tenth commandment, which the Bible says is idolatry, which the Bible says will keep you from God's kingdom. And the only hope you have is David's hope. And the words of Nathan the prophet in the ears of David are the words of the Scripture in your ears. Justify. forgiven. Your iniquity will not be held against you. Quite possibly the Bible's worst covetor is with his Savior even now. But by the grace of God, we would have no hope. But this is how God justifies the wicked. Verse 26 of Romans 3. To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness. That He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. God does not ever cease to be just. And yet at the selfsame time, the one who never ceases to be just can justify the wicked because of the Lamb of God. So when we look at God's law, we see the curse, but we also see the one who has borne our curse. And now we are free. When we hear the 10th commandment, not to fear hell and damnation, to look at the Lamb of God and say, this is the one who's died for me. By his spirit, I am able now to rise and by his grace and his aid grow in thankfulness and leave my covetousness behind. Let's pray. Almighty God, for every true believer in this room tonight, we pray that once again they would, in the preaching of the law, greet their savior. We pray that the cross of Jesus Christ would remind us that your law is always about our hearts, that you have, among other things, upheld your law when your son was nailed willingly to the tree. And so now, Father, we pray that the law's loud thunder of condemnation. Would no longer ring in our ears, but we would see forgiveness and redemption and the ability. To no longer be covetous. To grow in thankfulness for what you've given to us. Change our hearts, we ask. By your spirit and for your glory in Jesus name. Amen.