The Tenth Commandment; Do Not Covet

Introduction

Series Recap - The Ten Commandments

Week 1 - No other gods besides God

Week 2 - No Idols

Week 3 - Do not misuse the name of God

Week 4 - Remember the sabbath and keep it holy

Week 5 - Honor your father and mother

Week 6 - Do not murder

Week 7 - Do not commit adultery

Week 8 - Do not steal

Week 9 - Do not give false testimony against your neighbor

This week - The Tenth Commandment; Do Not Covet

Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The list of things that we are not to covet is not whole until the end… or anything that belongs to your neighbor

What does it mean to covet… Websters, to desire with envy

This might seem like one that we have under control for the most part… we do not consider ourselves as jealous people

Thomas Watson spoke of this command as the one that truly reveals our heart and causes us to violate the rest of the 10

we covent because we love the world and the things of this world more than we love God

God has been really showing me this, I read a book a couple of weeks ago that was basically a testimony of somebody coming to Christ

they explained that they understood that their sin was wrong, that God was apposed to what they were doing, but made the statement that stuck with me, “I loved my sin more than Jesus.”

that is what it means to covet… to love and desire something above all else

in doing that, we have already violated the first few commands

but understand that it leads us to violate the others as well…

we covet, so we murder, we commit adultery, we steal, we lie

this command reveals our heart that leads us to violate all of God’s law

Matthew chapter 6 is the middle of the sermon on the mount

If we are honest, we worry, we stress over things that simply do not last

Jesus is teaching about what it truly means to love God

I went to an auction a few weeks back, at this auction they were selling of china. It was very pretty china, but nobody was buying it.

we have china, we eat on it every thanksgiving and Christmas, otherwise it is stored in the china cabinet with the glass front

i wondered how long that particular family had that china, I imagined them moving is carefully, so they would not break it

how many times they ate from it, how special those occasions were, only now to be sitting on a trailer at an auction selling for very little money

how much do we work and stress over things that at the end of our life, will be sitting on a trailer being auctioned off to the highest bidder

i am assuming it makes it that long, we don’t fix things anymore, we throw them away and go get a new one

24 - “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money

Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew chapter 6 is the middle of the sermon on the mount

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

33 - But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

Jesus is teaching about what it truly means to love God

Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Our Heart’s Treasure

If we are honest, we worry, we stress over things that simply do not last

I went to an auction a few weeks back, at this auction they were selling of china. It was very pretty china, but nobody was buying it.

we have china, we eat on it every thanksgiving and Christmas, otherwise it is stored in the china cabinet with the glass front

i wondered how long that particular family had that china, I imagined them moving is carefully, so they would not break it

how many times they ate from it, how special those occasions were, only now to be sitting on a trailer at an auction selling for very little money

how much do we work and stress over things that at the end of our life, will be sitting on a trailer being auctioned off to the highest bidder

i am assuming it makes it that long, we don’t fix things anymore, we throw them away and go get a new one

19 Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

Jesus is teaching about what it truly means to love God

it is so easy to see the world around us and want more

-21Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

we are to stay at home now due to the coronavirus, but we are still bombarded with what it is that we need

commercials on tv, social media all screaming at us that we need more, that what we have is not enough

that we are not happy

This is fascinating to me too… A while back on social media there were memes going around that had a picture of a cabin in the woods, or a house on a beach

it would appear as if there was no connection to the outside world, no internet, no tv things like this, they would ask if for some large amount of money if you could live there for a year

Everybody always shares this picture and acts like of course I would do that… when if anything these last couple weeks have proved that people cannot stay in the house with their kids internet and tv without going crazy

many people prayed for slower time, more time with the family and less cluttered schedule

now we have it and we are not happy

That is the problem…

The things our heart sees, what our heart desires will never fully satisfy us

they will just give us a temporary happiness

Proverbs tells us that the heart is deceitful above all else

We want to be happy, not joyful

Happiness is a feeling, joyful is evidence of the spirit of God

happiness is fleeting, joyful is eternal

Jesus never promises in scripture that we are going to be happy… he promises that we will be persecuted, hated, go through many trials and tribulations

that is what this command shows us… what it is that we truly treasure, want want momentary happiness not eternal joy

Our Battle

I choose that word intentionally because that is really what we feel like we are in

How man times have we gathered together on Sunday mornings and sang songs of how we love Jesus, that he is our all and all

only to leave rush to a ball game back to work a shopping trip and forget about what we just heard

then feel guilty afterwards

I think that we are all guilty and that is our battle

we claim that Jesus is Lord but we but then we go and live how we want, chasing what it is we want

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

How we choose Jesus everyday

Our Victor

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.

So we must battle to and fight to store up treasures in Heaven

what does that mean?

If I am honest, one of the things that I treasure is my wife and kids

I remember God working in me on how I was praying for them

I write in a journal and looked back a little, and everything that I was praying for them seemed to be more worldly than Godly

I would pray that they would be successful in the different things that they would do,

I would lose sleep over the problems that they would have and

I would do all of this over praying for their spiritual lives

almost as if their spiritual lives were an afterthought to their worldly lives

Then I realized, that is really how I prayed for myself too.

Lord bless this thing that I am doing, give me this or that

I would love to tell you that I am cured of this habit… That I now am very holy and only pray for spiritual blessings and growth for my family and all of you

but it is easy to fall into the same trap because Satan is so good at lying and making this world seem so wonderful

He has been doing it from the beginning with Eve

I read a book “The Gospel of Satan” by Jared Wilson and he wrote that Satan has a file on each of us on exactly how to break us and make us fall

When we see that and understand that, it is easier to recognize that the things of this world are just that, things to draw us away from Jesus

Our True Treasure

How are you at negotiating or making deals

my kids are always trying to negotiate

monopoly - depending on who is negotiating depends on how hard that negotiating goes

Lillie negotiating...

They have done it with snacks…

snack time is always 3PM and we will get different things, how many of these can I have, they will always ask for more…

We are always trying to negotiate with God...

I will do this if you will bless me in this way

thinking back on all the times that I have done that, it is always a spiritual thing that I promise to do for a wordly blessings.

we have this idea that the blessings that come with following Jesus are worldly

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We have to understand that the prize is Jesus himself

when we come to know him, he does not promise all the worldly blessings to make you happy

He promises himself to lead you to joy eternally

eternal joy is not worldly treasures in a heavenly place, it is eternity spent with Jesus!

When we understand this, the problems of this world do not effect us as much

we still hurt, we still struggle but we see things in light of eternity with him not in terms of a temporary world.

Is Jesus your prize, or is he just your means to an end

give the gospel!