The Uniqueness Of The Tenth Commandment

The Ruler’s Question and Jesus’ Law-Quiz

Please turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 18. So we continue in Luke. We now find ourselves at Luke 18 beginning in verse 18. When you have that please stand for the reading of God's Word. And the ruler asked him good teacher What must I do to inherit eternal life.

And Jesus said to him? Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments do not commit adultery do not murder do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother.

And he said all these I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this he said to him one thing you still lack. So all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. And come follow me.

Amen. Maybe seated.

The Purpose of the Tenth Commandment

Do you have any father. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your commandments. They are rich treasure to us. They restrain us and our sinful patterns. They show us our need for a great and glorious Savior and they give us the way to life as well.

We thank you for this and we pray that you would help us to understand your law today in Jesus name. Amen. So as you can see from your bulletin and the title of this Message the uniqueness of the 10th commandment.

This is a sermon about the 10th commandment. For a long time. I did not understand the purpose of the 10th commandment. It seemed very redundant to me. Jesus said that the one who Lusts in his heart has committed adultery said the one who is angry and his heart has committed murder.

And.

So if these things are the case if these commandments Address issues of the heart. What exactly is the 10th commandment adding when it says you shall not covet your neighbor's house. Was that not already addressed in the command not to steal.

When it says you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. Wasn't that already addressed in the command not to commit adultery and when it continues and says you shall not covet His maidservant nor his manservant nor his ox or his donkey nor anything that is your neighbors.

Aren't these things that are already addressed by the other commandments? What is it? The 10th commandment adds I would say one thing that is generally marked. Increases in maturity in my Christian life is understanding what different parts of Scripture are for.

All Scripture is breathed out by God. It's profitable for instruction for reproof for correction for training and righteousness. That the man of God may be complete quit for every good work. If this is the case and all of Scripture has some purpose.

The 10th commandment has a purpose. We've been talking in Wednesday night prayer meeting about how 2nd Chronicles has a purpose. Many of the narratives are narratives that appeared in Kings.

But.

2nd Chronicles has its own purpose. God has given it for a reason. It's not just a repeat of things that have been said before it's given for a particular reason. The same is true with the 10th commandment.

It's not just a repeat of the things that has been have been said before it is indeed given for a particular reason and The more I've studied this matter the more I've realized that the 10th commandment Rather than being the least important of the commandments is perhaps the most Important of the commandments.

I believe that when I sin. My sins are primarily sins that revolve around the 10th commandment. If I have room in my life to be further blessed it is through obedience to the 10th commandment. And I believe that I can say with great confidence is that this is true of you, too.

This is not just a personal truth for me that my sins are primarily against the 10th commandment. My room for being blessed is in the 10th commandment. I believe this is something that is true for you as well.

Jesus addresses a man who is a covetous man and He addresses him by speaking to him of the law. So as we look at this passage I want us to learn about the uniqueness of the 10th commandment in addition to the uniqueness of the 10th commandment to learn the evil of covetousness and the goodness of Contentment.

This man asked Jesus this question good teacher. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus's way of responding to him is To give him a quiz about the law. The man is asking about the law. He's asking how do I know that I am measuring up to the law of God and Jesus answers him by giving him a quiz about the law.

Now the Bible says on a couple of occasions That the command to love your neighbor as yourself sums up the entire 10 commandments. This is what Paul says in Galatians. He says it also in Romans. The whole law is summed up in this one word.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Law was given in 10 commandments in two tables that are typically divided between the first four. Which are the commands to love God? Have no other gods before me make no grave an image.

Do not take the Lord's name in vain and then honor the Sabbath and then the last six commandments.

Which.

Show us how we are to love our neighbor. So we have four commandments and we have six commandments and as Paul has said The four commandments are sufficient summary for all ten commandments. If you are loving your neighbor, you are loving God.

If you are loving God, you are loving your neighbor. And so Jesus responds by quizzing him about the law, but he doesn't quiz him about all ten commandments. He quizzes him particularly about the second table of the law the last six commandments.

So as we go through this. Consider which each of these commandments are. You know the commandments do not commit adultery. Which commandment is that that's the seventh. Do not murder. Which commandment is that that's a six.

Do not steal. This is the eighth commandment. Do not bear false witness. That's the ninth commandment. Honor your father and mother that is the fifth commandment. Okay, so not in Canonical order but he has listed the fifth commandment the sixth commandment seventh commandment eighth commandment the ninth commandment.

He tells the man one thing you lack. What is the one thing the man lacks. One thing the man lacks is the tenth commandment. He may have followed all the other Five of the six but he lacks the tenth commandment.

He is a covetous man. He is not content. So Jesus challenges them sell all that you have and distribute to the poor you will have treasure in heaven. Jesus offers rest to souls weary with covetousness as this man is.

Offers him rest, but this man is clinging to his possessions. Now I will say By way of note it is good to note that the tenth commandment is indeed a single commandment. You may not realize this but not everyone believes this.

The Roman Catholic Church does not split the commandments into four and six. They split it into three and seven. They combine the command to have no other gods before me and to make no graven images into a singular commandment.

They would deny this but this is partly why they are able to get away With so much idolatry if those are two commandments. Or visit that's only one commandment and these are not other gods. Then it's not the idolatry itself.

That's the problem, right? This is this is some of the reasoning that I think is going on in the background. Even if they wouldn't even if they wouldn't confess to that. And then the tenth commandment when it says do not Covet your neighbor's house.

Do not covet your neighbor's wife. They split that into two different commandments two different commandments. Jesus here treats it as a single commandment one thing you lack. Paul in Romans 7. He says if the law had not said you shall not covet.

I would have not known what covetousness is. Paul treats it as a single commandment and. Then the command itself is already very clearly a single commandment because when it says you shall not covet your neighbor's house.

Talking about material covetousness. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife talking about a sexual covetousness and then it goes on to manservant maidservant ox ox donkey going back to Anything that is your neighbor going back to material covetousness?

It's clear that it's addressing things that it said at the beginning of the commandment. So even the commandment itself is Demonstrating that it is a singular commandment. Okay, so the tenth commandment is a single commandment.

Is a single commandment that is supposed to be presented as a single commandment as the way Jesus talks about it. That is the way Paul talks about it. So what is this commandment? What is it? What does it mean not to covet?

What is covetousness? To covet is.

To.

Distrust God's wisdom in his providence. To distrust God's wisdom in his providence God has decided all things he has decided when and where you will be born. You could have been born at a different time.

He chose that you would be born to live in this era. God could have chosen that you would be. That you would be born in some other place. But he has chosen that you'd be born live a life in such a way that you would you would end up here where you? are now a Lot of people wish they were elsewhere.

They wish they were in a different time. They wish they were in a different place. They wish they had different things. They wish they had different relationships. They doubt God's wisdom in his providence not realizing it's.

Romans 8 28 says that God works all things together for good to those Who love him? God works all things together for good. His wisdom is most great. His he is omni sapient. That means he is all wise.

He knows what is perfectly good but those who distrust him in his His wisdom in his providence his providences is providing for all creatures and things. His governing of all creatures and things those who just trust that are covetous.

We live in a very covetous generation if you've never considered just how covetous it is. Seems that the more things that people have the more covetous people become. You would think that the more things you have the less you would covet because the less room you would have for more needs.

Well, no, it just really seems that the more things that people have the more they covet. Just as one illustration of this. I'll mention what I mentioned a few weeks ago. Just you consider how the default 401k structure is if you if you sign up for a 401k with your employer the investment strategy is Aggressive at the beginning of your career and then tapers off to the end of your career where it becomes very conservative.

Why. Because they know you're a person who wants to live for yourself you don't have in mind Proverbs 13 22 That a good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children. Your investment strategy is to save up for yourself.

Now. Certainly you should be saving so that. You would not have to rely on people in your later years. But ideally you would be living for more than just yourself. You'd be living for others in such a way.

That an investment strategy that has a near-term goal and not an indefinite longer-term goal. Would not be considered a wise one and yet We live in a world where the default strategy is one that is focused on self and that is just a an Illustration you could point to all sorts of things in society that demonstrate a special level of covetousness a special kind of of Greediness of dissatisfaction that goes beyond Things that you have seen even in other generations, even though the world has always been plagued by the sin of covetousness.

It exists today in a special way that should make you especially on guard for covetousness in your own life. Now what is contentment? Contentment would therefore be a trust in God's wisdom in his providence.

One way of speaking of contentment would be happiness. In Spanish the word for happy is content. Oh, right. It's to be happy. So those who are content are happy people. This is something that a lot of people want a lot of people want happiness.

When I was a student there was a tragedy on campus at the university. And so all different groups came to offer different kinds of help and one thing that I recall is all the Scientologists Who came to give tracks about how to be happy and I found a lot of the advice Interesting and somewhat humorous because it was very basic things.

It was like brush your teeth, you know. Stuff like there was a whole page about brushing your teeth as a as a way of making sure that you were a happy person. Certainly if I did not brush my teeth, I would probably be a less happy person, but I found it interesting that this was the.

This was the the main thing that they wanted to share with me or one of the main things that just needed to be highlighted in this book. Everyone wants happiness. Everyone wants to pursue happiness. All the world's religions are trying to give you some kind of happiness.

But if true happiness if true contentment is not just an elated feeling. But a trust of God's wisdom in his providence. Then the world is not truly happy. Okay, they do not trust God's wisdom in his providence.

They do not have peace. What they have is some kind of temporary elation. When they have needs. When they have other things. There is no way to remain happy if you do not trust God in his providence. He is governing all creatures and things.

If you do not think that he is there and it's under no control. Or you think that he is there and you distrust his control. You will not be at peace. You can try to grasp on to control for yourself. But you do not have sufficient ability to be in control and it will ultimately slip from your grasp and you will remain Discontent.

You will remain covetous you'll remain unhappy. So consider also what that means for for the way people label some of their problems right people talk about Anxiety for example, what is anxiety usually about.

Sometimes people are talking about Physical symptoms right like rushed heart rates, etc. Can be called anxiety when there's nothing psychological going on right but What are most people talking about when they're talking about their anxiety or they're talking about their their fear of the future their distrust?

Of God's hand and his providence what are people talking about often when they talk about depression they're talking about discontentment with where they are and what they are and God's providence for their life.

Ultimately, these things are primarily spiritual problems and yet the world tries to address them. Either wrongly as spiritual problems with false religions or as though they are not spiritual problems at all and this is Yeah, this is Unwise.

What is needed is a recognition that God has addressed these matters and that is very good news. Because if he has addressed these matters, they are spiritual things. They can be Addressed spiritually you do not need.

The.

You know wisdom of a hundred gurus or a hundred scientists all you need is the Word of God to address These critical critical issues in man's life. Now let me address a couple of things that Contentment is not okay.

Contentment is not a lack of desire. Okay in Buddhism. You've got this wheel of Samsara right this wheel of suffering and this this spoke of desire is the easiest one to break so that you can collapse the whole thing and get out of suffering and So the the Buddhist solution to this problem of suffering is to cease desiring things.

Okay, but this is not this is not what Christianity is. Christianity is not a ceasing of desiring things is a ceasing of desiring that which is not part of God's hand of providence. But it is a desiring of those good things that God has given.

You should not in your pursuit of contentment try to mortify good desires. You should not see things that you want that are good and then address those By not desiring those things. You should desire them as you ought to desire them, which is appreciating and trusting God's wisdom in his providence and Using the means that God has given to secure those things for example if you desire marriage and Yet you have not yet found a spouse the correct answer to this is not to Say well, maybe I need to just stop desiring a spouse.

This is often what's what's taught to Christians to young Christian people's when you stop desiring a spouse then God will give you one, you know. This is this is the goal. You need to mortify that desire for a spouse.

This is a good desire. That's not something that should be mortified. It should be directed. You should trust God. You should not be anxious. You should not be depressed, but You should direct That desire in the direction that God has given a pursuing spouse.

The same is true if you desire children and God has not given you children, right? Let's say you're you are married and you want children. God hasn't given children there are ways of Directing your desires that aren't just mortifying the desire for children, right?

You could direct that desire by praying to the Lord. You could direct that desire even by adoption or other means but.

To.

You have to mortify that desire of something that God has said is good something that God has said of blessing Would not be what real contentment looks like. Same is true for sanctification right if you want some kind of Increased holiness in your life if there's some kind of sin you can struggle with.

I've seen a number of people who've decided Well, this temptation is just my cross to bear. I am going to frequently throughout my life fall into temptation. This is not something that I'm going to have victory from that is contrary to the will of God.

You should desire to have victory over sin and you should pursue that desire. You should not mortify that desire and just decide that this is your cross to bear. If you lack assurance and you want assurance of your salvation.

You should not mortify that desire and just say maybe it's my cross to bear just to be Just to lack assurance. No, you should you should pursue assurance by reading the promises of God and Trusting in them.

There are ways of addressing good desires that are not mortifying good desires. They are to be directed appropriately. Okay, so that was as the first thing that contentment is not it is not a mortification of good desires.

Contentment is also not found in Selling all that you have and given to the giving to the poor necessarily. All right, that's the command. This man has is not a command towards poverty. Contentment is not generally a command towards poverty.

A.

Lot of people read this passage and they conclude that a true Christian is going to give up all they have and live in poverty. This is how many people have lived. They've made vows of poverty and gone live in a monastery having Nothing to themselves except for the clothes on their back.

This is not What this is commanding. There are many rich people who are blessed with riches in Scripture. You have Solomon, you know The Roman centurion that was mentioned earlier in Luke. You have Joseph of Arimathea and you have Zacchaeus.

Right. Zacchaeus What does he do? He gives away half of all that he has and he gives it to the poor and this is considered a good thing Jesus doesn't say to him. Well, what about the other half now? Okay.

So this is not a command towards poverty. Yes, the one who is content will be generous will give but it is not a It is not a command towards poverty. Instead Obeying the Eighth Commandment the Eighth Commandment being not to steal Involves not just a not just a Not taking things but also of building up of your own wealth in order that you can give.

Ephesians 4 explains that clearly let the thief no longer steal but what let him work with his hands so that he may have. He may give to those who are in need. Let him do honest work Laboring with his hands in order that he may give to those in need.

So you realize that the Eighth Commandment this in the Tenth Commandment by Implication when it talks about stealing or coveting is not saying that the right solution is to have nothing. In fact, the Bible commands that you should build up wealth.

The the right pursuit of this is even in building up wealth so that you can have something that you would share with others all. Right, so This is not a command towards poverty. We should care to build up our own families belongings.

Right if you're going to save up for children's inheritance that means having things. If You are going to give to others that means having things it is good to have wealth. God does call some people to Harder material circumstances as he is this man.

But this is not this is not what the command to contentment in general is a command to it is not a command to poverty.

Okay.

With all of that in mind about what covetousness is what what contentment is let us consider. What is the purpose of this Tenth Commandment? What is the uniqueness of it and? In answering this question, I think it's helpful to start back at.

Verse.

18 and consider the way the man addresses Jesus. And A ruler asked him good teacher. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus gives him an interesting response. She says why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

A pretty frequent way of Discussing this passage is in Trinitarian debates right debates about whether or not Jesus is God. The Aryan the one who rejects that Jesus is God. What does he say? Oh, this is Jesus denying that he is God.

Jesus is saying only one is God or one only one is good. And that's God and so he's denying that he's God and what is the what is the Christian the one who believes that Jesus is? God say he says oh, no, Jesus is saying there's only one who is good and if I'm good What does that make me right?

And so they make this a proof of the deity of Christ and certainly there is a proof of the deity of Christ here. But is this really Jesus's point? Is that even related to the context here. Is this Jesus's concern?

Why does Jesus respond in this way, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. What is this man asking for when he says what must I do to inherit eternal life? He is asking how can I know if I am good enough?

Okay, and how is he addressing this problem? His way of addressing this problem is to go to people that he considers good and Justify himself by having their affirmation. Right, and so he is seeking goodness by going to good people and what Jesus is pointing out when he says Why do you call me good?

Why are you going to good teachers? He is pointing out that this man is not even going about this pursuit in the right way. He's not trying to answer this question in the right way. What he should be doing Is considering the good and perfect law of God and that's what he that's what he addresses him with.

Is giving him that law? Matthew 5 48 says you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. This is what God requires is not us measuring ourselves by. Whether or not good people say that we are good is by the law that God has already given.

Which is good. This is how we know. This is how we know Where we are in respect to what God has required. And so what is. What is special here? Why does Jesus leave this one commandment off and then give it at the end when he says One thing you lack so all that you have and distribute to the poor.

And you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. What's the danger. And if you only had Commandments 5 through 9 and you did not have the 10th commandment. It would be very easy to think what this man thinks.

It would be very easy to think that you have fulfilled these commandments all these I have kept from my youth. This is a man who believes that he has followed all these commandments and he's followed them completely.

It would be very easy to think that. What the 10th commandment does is it shows the heart? When he says one thing you lack the man realizes he is a covetous man though. He has dealt with his outward actions His heart is not right with God.

And so that what is unique about the 10th commandment is it shows the heart and then in addition to that Interprets the rest of God's law to show that it deals with the heart and thus Jesus can rightly say That the one who has lusted in his heart has committed adultery in his heart right the one who is anger.

The one who's angry at his brother has committed murder in his heart the 10th commandment tells you how to interpret all the other commandments. Now there's a very good illustration of this.

That.

Very very fitting. A little illustration may be familiar with the Constitution of the United States is Bill of Rights. Bill of Rights are ten amendments to the Constitution and Each one of them the first nine are all different rights that people have you know freedom of speech right to bear arms Etc etc right these are these are rights that people have.

The tenth one Isn't exactly a right. Let me go ahead and read it to you. The power is not delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states respectively or to the people.

Okay, that doesn't sound like a right. What is that? Those powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution or prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states or Respectively to the people.

What is that? It's an interpretive key to understand how to know how to how to read the rest of the amendments in addition to the rest of the Constitution. None of this should be taken to be an exhaustive list.

None of this should be taken to be that these are the only rights that people have. Anything not addressed by this is a right that belongs either to the states or to the people and so. And you can imagine how this might work right.

They didn't have computers back when back when this document was written and so computers come along and There's strong encryption a lot of countries don't allow you to use Encryption that is too strong so that they wouldn't be able to look into it and see what you're saying, right?

Is that something that the government has the right to say that you cannot do this? The right to strong encryption is not something given to the people.

No.

The the way you interpret the Constitution is that it's not an exhaustive list and so that does belong to the people they do have. That right if it's not addressed. Okay, this is how the Tenth Commandment works.

It interprets the other nine commandments and the rest of God's law. Just like the Tenth Amendment interprets the other nine amendments and the rest of the Constitution Tenth Commandment interprets the rest of the commandments and the rest of God's law.

It lets you know that they are all matters of the heart. If you address it externally you have not addressed it sufficiently. You must address the heart. The Tenth Commandment is unique because it gets to the heart and it Interprets all the commandments as commandments which pierce to the heart.

Paul talks about this in first excuse me Romans 7. Paul in Romans 7 Says this is Romans 7 verse 7. 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.

Now.

Think about that. Would you would he really have if he's talking about the law as a whole and sin as a whole. Is that true even even pagan nations know not to murder even they know not to lie not to steal, you know.

They're somewhere that's more socially acceptable than others. But but most people know sin to a pretty Significant degree but listen to the rest of his explanation. It's not just Those things it says for I would have not known what it is to covet if the law had set not 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. I Was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came the commandment came sin came alive and I died.

So what is Paul saying about the Tenth Commandment? Paul is saying that it shows him what sin truly is. Now someone can know just like this just like this ruler who's talking to Jesus. Someone can know.

Oh, yeah. You're supposed to obey your father mother. You're not supposed to steal. You're not supposed to lie. You're not supposed to murder, etc Etc. You can you can know all that. But the Tenth Commandment gets to the heart it showed Paul his sin.

It showed this man this ruler and Luke 18 his sin. It goes deep. It goes to the heart. A lot of people are living life Just comparing themselves to others like this man, you know, just going to good teachers asking for affirmation from good teachers people are Considering themselves that way they're about average.

They're a little better than others and so they think that they are measuring up to God's law it's like if you were to take a Some of you may have had this experience. I know I did there were a number of classes I took in college where I was doing really poorly.

I was getting almost all the answers wrong, but so was everyone else. And so they graded on a curve. I was getting A's. I was getting A's with everybody. Right, that doesn't mean I knew anything what I was doing.

I was the fact that I was getting A's did not mean anything. A lot of people are considered comparing themselves by each other right and they're all just grading themselves on a curve. So it's important to be honest with yourself about where you are.

Do not just look to your external actions or not look to other people or to people who to affirm you and say that I'm Better than others look to the perfect law of God and see what it requires. Allow it to pierce your heart and show you your heart.

Psalm 19 12 says declare me innocent from hidden faults. You have the hidden faults that must be discovered the Word of God. Sharper than any two-edged sword it pierces to the heart. It shows you who you really are and One of the primary ways that does that is through the law and one of the primary ways in the law is through the 10th.

Commandment.

Covetousness as the Root of Sin

The 10th commandment is the root of all sent the Covetousness. Covetousness is the root of all sin all sin because it's coming from the heart where it's in from come from. It's coming from your heart.

And so covetousness which addresses the heart is the root of all sin. If that sounds crazy. It's not the Bible says it. James 1 14 says but each person is tempted when he is alert and enticed by his own desire.

What is that? That's called covetousness. When is someone tempted when they're coveting. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. So it's describing sin growing forth temptation sin.

Death, where is it starting? It's also starting with wrong desires. It's all starting with covetousness. First Timothy 6 10 says for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierce themselves with many pangs.

When it's talking about the love of money, okay, it's not talking about currency. All right, there are people who covet apart from currency. There are people who have sinned and done evil apart from currency.

A lot of kids never Interact with currency and they have evil. So this is not talk when talks about the love of money. It's not talking about dollars and cents it's talking about a Desire for that which God has not given a covetousness for that which one does not have.

That is the root of all kinds of evil and I'll say translation wise all translations tend to make a little compromise here in order to sound idiomatic. BSV says all kinds of evil. Moat a lot of translations will say all.

Well, what did they say all evil, right. But it's evils plural. So literally this says for the love of money is the root of all evils. Root of all evils. Okay. So every single evil every single evil finds its Root in the love of money in covetousness a violation of the Tenth Commandment.

This is a root of every last. Every last evil. And so you should not be ignorant of Satan's devices if you think that if you think that the root of the evil is an external things or Stuff outside of you that's pressing on you.

What are you going to do? You're going to address that by By trying to remove those temptations from you and not addressing the heart, right if you say, okay. Well, I'm tempted by that friend. So I need to cut off that friend.

Sure. That might be a factor but You've got you've probably got some kind of heart issue to deal with if you say I need to Avoid sinning because of these external factors sure. Cut out those external factors if that's what's needed.

But if you do that to the exclusion of addressing your heart Then you are being ignorant of Satan's devices and you are going to fall pray to him. Now not only is this the root of all sins. But if you think about that, there are some implications to that first.