Deuteronomy 5:21 - You Shall Not Covet

Introduction

[READING - Deuteronomy 5:6-21]

Deuteronomy 5:6–21 NASB95

6 ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7 ‘You shall have no other gods before Me. 8 ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9 ‘You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 11 ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 12 ‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 ‘You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. 16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. 17 ‘You shall not murder. 18 ‘You shall not commit adultery. 19 ‘You shall not steal. 20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

[PRAYER]

[ILLUS] In Joshua 7, Israel suffered its first defeat as it entered the Promised Land. Perplexed, Joshua sought the Lord and the Lord revealed that their was sin in the camp. Someone had taken some of the forbidden things from Jericho, the first city Israel destroyed as they entered their new land.

It was revealed that a man named Achan had taken the forbidden things; listen to how Achan describes his sin in Joshua 7:21…

Joshua 7:21 NASB95

21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”

What Achan saw, he coveted.

What he coveted, he stole.

What he stole, he concealed.

What he saw, coveted, stole, and concealed cost Achan his life.

Tonight, we are talking about the sin of coveting. We live in a covetous age, so there is the tendency to not take this sin so seriously.

But we begin with the story of Achan to stress this point—covetousness is a sin that when full grown leads to death.

That being the case, we had better take covetousness seriously.

[TS] Tonight, we want to answer several questions related to this sin. Questions like…

What is coveting?

What types of things might we covet?

Why is coveting bad?

And… How do we fight against coveting?

Let’s start with that first question… What is coveting?

Major Ideas

Question #1: What is coveting?

[EXP] If we look at Deuteronomy 5:21, we see that coveting is desiring what belongs to our neighbors.

The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms describes it as, “An intense desire for that which does not properly belong to one but belongs to another.”

The Hebrew word speaks of obsession—an desire so strong that someone decides to violate someone else’s body or property.

Q: What types of things does Deuteronomy 5:21 say we might covet?

Deuteronomy 5:21 starts with what is most valuable to a godly man, his godly wife. Proverbs 31:10 says that an excellent wife has a worth far above jewels, so to covet a man’s wife is most prized treasure.

We remember David coveting Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, with such intensity that he had Uriah killed.

Next comes coveting the neighbor’s house, his home, his field, our neighbor’s land in general.

We remember Ahab coveting Naboth’s vineyard with such intensity that he willingly let Naboth be killed in order to have it.

Then we are told that we are not to covet our neighbor’s male servant or his female servant. In the ancient world, a good servant was a valuable asset like a good employee is today.

Abraham had a servant so valuable that he trusted him to find a wife for his son, Isaac (Gen. 24:9). If someone coveted that servant and tried to steal him away, Abraham would’ve been angry and rightly so.

Then we are told not to covet our neighbor’s ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

[ILLUS] A man once put a ring of ant poison around the home of some fire ants. He watched as the first ants began to gather the poison and take it into their mound.

But then he noticed that some of the poison was being carried away from the mound. Another group of ants from another mound had coveted what didn’t belong to them, took it, and would pay with their little ant lives.

[APP] When we covet what doesn’t belong to us, it won’t be long before we take it. And when we do, we will pay the price.

[TS] …

Question #2: Why is coveting bad?

[EXP] To covet is bad because it violates God’s law and harms our neighbor, but there are other things about coveting that make it a particularly destructive sin. (And full disclosure, here I’m leaning pretty heavily on the old puritan minister, Thomas Watson.)

Covetousness is bad because it is subtle.

It’s a sneaky sin that sneaks up within us. It’s like pride in that we are often in commission of the sin before we are even aware of it.

Covetousness is bad because it is spiritually dangerous.

In the parable of the soils, Jesus spoke of the seed that feel among the thorns. The seed is the Word of God, but that seed which fell among the thorns was choked out by the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth.

In other words, it was choked about covetousness.

Covetousness is dangerous because as Watson puts it—it is a mother-sin.

By this he means that covetousness is mother to all manner of other sins.

Q: Recall the story of David coveting Bathsheba. What other sins did covetousness lead to?

David’s coveting of Bathsheba led to his breaking…

… the 6th commandment—You shall not murder.

David had Uriah murdered.

… the 7th commandment—You shall not commit adultery.

David committed adultery with Bathsheba.

… the 8th commandment—You shall not steal.

David stole Uriah’s wife.

… and the 9th commandment—You shall not bear false witness.

David lied about why he wanted to see Uriah.

[APP] Covetousness is also bad because it will keep us out of heaven. Ephesians 5:5 says…

Ephesians 5:5 NASB95

5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Covetousness is idolatry, and there will be no unrepentant idolators in heaven.

[TS] …

Questions #3: How do we fight against coveting?

[EXP] Here again, I depend on Watson. He says that first we need faith.

1 John 2:15-16 says…

1 John 2:15–16 NASB95

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

We won’t agree with this assessment of the world’s things if we are coveting the world’s things. However, if we have faith in Christ, then we shall overcome the world and all its invitations to covet.

1 John 5:4 says…

1 John 5:4 NASB95

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

We will not overcome covetousness unless we have faith in Christ.

If we would successfully battle covetousness, we also need to make what Watson calls a judicious consideration.

We need to consider that the soul is more valuable than the earthly things we covet. Covetousness would have us gain the world but at the expense of our souls.

As Jesus asked, “What good will it do to gain the whole world and forfeit your soul?”

We need to also consider that the things we covet will not satisfy.

1 John 2:17 says…

1 John 2:17 NASB95

17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 says…

Ecclesiastes 5:10 NASB95

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.

And we need to consider that the things we covet cannot go with us when we die.

Therefore, we would be much better off storing up eternal treasure in heaven rather than coveting temporary treasure here on earth.

[ILLUS] Almost every time we load up to go somewhere the kids gather up what they want to bring with them.

It might be a toy they want to show Sadie or Aricin; it might just be something they want to play with in the car; but they scramble to bring with them that thing or those things they just can’t live without.

[APP] The world is full of people scrambling to get worldly things they think they just can’t live without, but there will come a day when all those things will be left behind and what will remain is what has been done for Christ.

[TS] …

Conclusion

The best remedy for covetousness is contentment.

God has given us what we have and we have to learn to be content with what God has given.

If our minds are focused on the things of the world, then we are not content but covetous.

If our striving is focused on the things of the world, then we are not content but covetous.

If our mouths are focused on the things of the world, then we are covetous.

If our time is focused on the things of the world, then we are covetous.

If our hearts are focused on the things of the world, then we are covetous.

What’s your mind been focused on?

What have you been striving for?

What do you talk about most?

How do you spend your time?

What is the treasure of your heart?

Are you covetous or content?

[PRAYER]