Take your copy of God's Word and turn to the book of Exodus. Exodus 20. And verse 17. While you're turning there, let me just take a moment to remind you that in the evenings we are walking through the doctrines of faith in the Word of God. And we have been in a series as a part of that on the Ten Commandments. And if you were not able to be here last Lord's Day evening, Let me encourage you to listen online to the sermon that our brother Will preached about the ninth commandment. Very encouraging. Let me encourage you to listen to that. But tonight we look at the final commandment of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20 and verse 17. Hear now the word of 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." Let's pray together. Now, O Lord, we pray that You would encourage our hearts as we hear the law proclaimed. We pray that You would use it both to drive us again to Christ, seeing our need for Him, seeing our inability to keep the law in our own strength and yet also see it as a gift that you've now given to us as those who are seen as perfectly righteous in Christ now for joy seek to obey you and grow in understanding your character and our obedience in light of the law. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. You often hear it, at playgrounds, or bedrooms upstairs, or down the hall, and that is the statement, I want that, or give that to me. And really, we get frustrated by it, we feel like we need to correct it. Occasionally, and if you'll allow me, it sounds cute to come out of the mouth of a three or four year old, And yet the three or four year old voice, give that to me, it's mine, I had that first, is really the cry of our hearts. And it's not cute coming from a 20 or 30 or 80 year old. In the word of God, we are told many things. This is what you're to do, this is what you're not to do. These things are meant to drive us to Christ. The final of the Ten Commandments is that we shall not covet. And if you were to do a study of coveting, it's all over the Bible. But what is it? What is it? Let me suggest a definition of coveting, a simple definition of coveting, and then let's trace that through the Bible. And let's see through the Bible that this definition is what we do, and it is terrible. and deserves the wrath of God. But it's also something that by God's grace in the Gospel we can be covered through the work of Christ. Coveting. Here's a simple definition. You could define it in many different ways. Here's one potential way. Coveting is this, when we want wrongly based on a lie. When we want something, something, some person, some idea, when we want that wrongly, based on a lie. Now why that definition? As we walk through the pages of Scripture, you will see that we are called to have desires. We are called to have wants. There are things in the Scripture that are called good, that when appropriated by us, are not sinful. But coveting is when we believe a lie in our wanting, in our desire. Coveting is making a statement about God. Coveting is revealing our hearts. Coveting leads to a whole host of other sins as we'll see in the pages of scripture. And coveting ultimately causes us to stand in need of the gospel. So keep that definition in mind. Coveting is when we want wrongly based on a lie. When you want something correctly based on truth. That's not coveting. But when you want wrongly based on a lie, that's coveting. You can read on the back of the bulletin the three questions related to our catechism for this evening, for this week. And they deal with this. Notice what question 85 says. What is required in the 10th commandment? It requires full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor and to all that is his. What's forbidden? Discontentment with our own estate, envying, grieving at the good of our neighbor. and in all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is His. Can you hear the refrain? Give that to me. It's mine. I had it first. Well, let's look at four simple truths as we walk through the pages of Scripture on the Tenth Commandment. The first is this, coveting is from the heart. Coveting is a heart level sin. It may lead to other kinds of sins, thoughts, behaviors, but it is of the heart. It's from the heart. Many will make the claim that even the Ten Commandments really are about behavior, but the Tenth Commandment, even on the surface, points to our hearts. Notice what it says, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, male servant, female servant, farm animals, anything that is theirs. God's law has been about our hearts. But let's walk through the pages of scripture. Turn with me to Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three, there we'll see that even the very fall of mankind really was about coveting. wanting wrongly based on a lie. Genesis 3, 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 in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the tree 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. Fall of mankind. Wanting wrongly based on a lie. Well, let's compare this with just a chapter before, Genesis 2. Listen to the garden. This is before the fall. Genesis 2, verse 8. The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he'd formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 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. Bedellum and Onyxstone 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 Hiddekel. It is the one which goes toward 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 and keep it. Now remember, this is the garden where Adam and Eve were placed. This is the garden that is overflowing in abundance with life and goodness. It's not by mistake that Moses writes, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that there are good things in this garden. Things that are desirable. You see, wanting something correctly, based on the truth, and ultimately all truth must be tested with what the Word of God says. Wanting something correctly in truth is not coveting. Coveting is when we want something wrongly based on a lie. So in Genesis 3 when that ancient serpent slivers up to or walks up to the ear of Eve and says, did God really say? Now there becomes a wanting. Now there becomes a desire that's not based on truth. Paul picks up on this theme in Colossians 3 when he says to put to death what is earthly in us. And the words he uses are sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Wanting something wrongly based on a lie is idolatry. Romans chapter 7 verses 7 through 8. Turn there with me. We'll get there Lord willing in the months ahead. Romans chapter 7. Listen to what Paul says there. Romans 7, verse 7, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. Psalm 119.36, Incline your heart to my testimonies and not to selfish gain. Coveting is from the heart. It's when we want something wrongly based on a lie. Think of the things that you've coveted. They themselves may not be bad things. In fact, I would submit to you that most of them have not been bad things. We don't believe that evil is bound up in material things. That thing is evil, therefore I must avoid it. That glass of wine, that job. Rather, something is sinful when it breaks God's law. Think about the things that you want wrongly. That person belongs to them, but I want him or her for myself. That object belongs to this brother or this sister, but I want it and I believe I should have it in my heart. There's the lie. God has not given it to you, but you have believed the lie that you know better. So number one, coveting, wanting something wrongly based on a lie, is from the heart. But secondly, coveting reveals our view of God's fatherly care. Coveting reveals our view, what we really think about God's fatherly care. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5. I mentioned at the beginning of our time that covetousness, coveting is all over the Bible. Here the writer of Hebrews picks up on it. Hebrews 13, 5. Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you. nor forsake you. Now think about this. The writer of Hebrews is picking up on the very words of God. I will never leave you nor forsake you. That is contrasted with coveting and not being content. Do you see that? Let your conduct be without covetousness. Don't break the 10th commandment, which could be said as be content with such things as you have for For God has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. How can we covet when God, who is the sum total of all blessings, is our Father? You see, it reveals our view of God's fatherly care. The lie that we believe is, God is wrong. God is holding out on me. God is missing out here. God has made a mistake here. I need something which God has neglected to see that I need. The lies go on and on and on. When we covet, when we're discontent, we are in our hearts making a statement about God. And in Hebrews, the writer contrasts God's promise with our covetous hearts. So Paul can say in Philippians 4.11 that he has learned in whatever situation that he is in to be content. How is it that we can be content but that we recognize that the God who is the sum total of all blessings is our Father? Well, one other passage of Scripture, 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter six. 1 Timothy 6, verse 6. There Paul writes to his student in the ministry. Timothy, listen to what he says. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Think about that. We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out and then contrast that not only with the bedrooms in your house when you're parenting. That's mine. I had it first. Give it to me. But also contrast that with your heart. When you have the same attitude. But Paul finishes in verse 8, 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. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. from which some have strayed from the faith and their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Notice, boys and girls, this verse does not say money is the root of all evil, but the love of it, the wanting of it based on a lie. If I can just get enough of it, it will please me. If I can just get enough of it, I'll be secure. If I can just get enough of it and you fill in the blank, you want it mixed with a lie. See, coveting is from the heart. Coveting reveals the places in our hearts that view God's fatherly care as inadequate. But thirdly, coveting leads to other sins. Let's just take a very quick journey through just a few verses of Scripture and see that coveting leads to other sins. Think about this. Coveting leads to further problems in our lives, doesn't it? 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 own way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord. When you chase after the things that you desire wrongly based on a lie, what does it lead to? A heart that rages against God. How often Are we ruled by our desire for more? And then it leads to all sorts of further sins and internal angst. Think about this. We often think, yes, coveting leads to other sins. It leads to murder. It leads to stealing. Maybe it leads to gossip. And that's true. But there are internal sins that may not be visible that coveting leads to. Friend, is there any part of your current stress load or anxiety, or feelings, or mood, or emotions, whatever word you want to use, that is fueled by coveting? Have you adopted not a, I want to work well as a servant of the Lord, but rather, I've adopted, I need to get more. And that has led you, and perhaps your whole family, down a road that is really based on wanting wrongly, on a lie. Ecclesiastes 6.9, better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite. This also is vanity and striving after the wind. We need to recognize, brothers and sisters, that we regularly are tempted to covet. Maybe we are currently struggling with covetousness. We just want. We just want wrongly based on a lie. And that lie might be a view of God, a view of others, a view of self. Coveting leads us to other sins. Well, lastly, by way of biblical example, coveting is covered, but only by the gospel. Coveting is covered, but only by the gospel. Turn over to 2 Samuel 11. 2 Samuel 11 verse 1. Here we see an example of coveting. We see an example of the revelation that a heart was not fully trusting in the moment in God's fatherly care. We see covetousness lead to other sins. But ultimately we see something else. Coveting is covered. but only by the Gospel. 2 Samuel 11 verse 1, 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. This isn't a detail, by the way, just thrown out there so that you know where King David was. This is very intentional. This is the time of year when the kings go out to battle. Everybody goes out, but David doesn't. This is the moment in the story where we should be perking up going, hmm, what's going to happen? 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 says, 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. Wanting wrongly based on a lie. I am the king. I can have whatever I want. I am the king. God wants me to have this man's wife. I am David. This is what I desire. Why can I not have what I desire? Or bring it down to the three or four year old bedroom. Give that to me. It's mine." Whatever was going on in David's heart, There was covetousness. There was a statement made about God's fatherly care that in some way it's not fully sufficient. And as we'll see, and have already seen, it led to the sexual abuse of a woman. It led to the murder of that woman's wife. And David's journey Even the man after God's own heart was permanently altered. You see, a breaking of the 7th commandment and a breaking of the 6th commandment began with a breaking of the 10th commandment. Wanting wrongly based on a lie. Well, the story doesn't end there. In fact, if you get to Acts chapter 13, you will see that David there is the great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of our Savior. And there, the Word of God says that David was a man after God's own heart. This should be encouraging to us as covetous people. that God's plans are not thwarted by the worst of our evil intentions, by our failures to want rightly based on truth for ourselves, for others. But even in this very story, David's covetousness is dealt with. Turn over a chapter to 2 Samuel 12 and verse 13. You know the story. But to catch us up to speed, eventually, Nathan the prophet goes to the king and tells him this little story. And the story is meant to teach a lesson. The man had a lamb and all of these kinds of things, and David is outraged. Why would he not share? Why would he not work? to make sure that his neighbor had. And in 2 Samuel 12 v. 13, we read the response. Because in v. 7, Nathan says to David, you are the man. And it was not a compliment. You are the man. You are that man. You are the one. who has done this great wickedness. So verse 13, David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, now this is a prophet, one who speaks the word of God to the people of God. This is not Nathan some kind of priest where he gets to try to encourage David. This is Nathan, the prophet, speaking the word of the Lord. Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. There are earthly consequences as we see. But the Lord has put away your sin. He's put away your adultery. He's put away your murder. And He's put away your covetousness. Your sin is covered. But David's sin would only be covered because hundreds of years after David's life and death, The seed of the woman that's promised in Genesis 3, the seed which would come through him would hang on a cross and pay the penalty for David's covetousness, murder, and adultery. But in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before it happens, the voice of the Lord through the prophet says, the Lord has put away your sin. You will not die. Beloved, that is exactly what the Word of the Lord is for us in Christ. The Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die. That's God's Word to David and to us. Sinners who've trusted in Christ, who have the covenant blessing of forgiveness in His grace. Nathan's words are for us. Coveters. The Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die. And so now when we see the law of God and the tenth commandment, it ought drive us to Christ. Lord, I am weak. I still struggle with sin. I do covet. I am discontent. What will I do? The voice, the Lord, just like through Nathan, comes through the scriptures to you. The Lord has put away your sin. And the law drives you. It drives you to Jesus. You get to the end of the law and you realize, if I don't have Jesus, I cannot make it. But. But. The law also now. Is a tool. In your hands, as by the Spirit and through His grace, you seek to glorify Him. Although imperfectly, you rise and say, Lord, make of me a woman. Make of me a man that wants rightly based on truth. I want to be one who wants, who desires rightly. based on truth. Let's pray. Lord, help us, for we are in need of Christ, and by your Spirit, we must be continually sanctified. Forgive us for the ways that we have broken your holy law. All ten summary commandments, which are worked out in the pages of Scripture, But now, Lord, this law is not a statement of condemnation, a voice from you that says, you will die. But a voice to your covenant people, which says, I have put away your sin. You will not die. Help us to see the glories of Christ, even from the law. And then place that law in our hands, and by Your Spirit, grow us, that we may seek to please our Father, who has given us all good things. In Jesus' name, amen.