The Uniqueness Of The Tenth Commandment

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 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 Tenth Commandment. This is a sermon about the Tenth Commandment For a long time.

I did not understand the purpose of the Tenth 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 Tenth 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 Tenth 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 Tenth Commandment has a purpose we've been talking in Wednesday night prayer meeting about how

Second Chronicles has a purpose many of the narratives are narratives that appeared in Kings but Second 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 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 Tenth 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

Tenth Commandment If I have room in my life to be further blessed it is through obedience to the

Tenth 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 Tenth Commandment My room for being blessed is in the

Tenth 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 and want us to learn about the uniqueness of the

Tenth Commandment in addition to the uniqueness of the Tenth 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

Ten 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 Ten 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 is 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 So it was 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 man servant 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

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

It 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

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 contento, 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's 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 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 peoples when you stop desiring a spouse then

God will give you one You know that 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. It 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 is not a mortification of good desires a

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 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, I have 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 a 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 the ruler asked him good teacher What must I do to inherit eternal life

Jesus gives him an interesting response. He 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's God Jesus is saying only one is

God 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 point? Is that even related to the context here is this

Jesus 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 a 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 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

There's 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 said 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 10th 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 cetera, etc.

You can you can know all that But the 10th 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 the 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 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

Tenth Commandment the Tenth 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 talking 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

The ESV says all kinds of evil Moat a lot of translations will say all

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 This means it is fitting that it was the first sin violation of the

Tenth Commandment was the first sin and I mean that in a more Specific way than you may be imagining.

I'm not just saying that Adam desired the fruit that was not for him Okay, or Eve desired the fruit that was not for her

I'm not I'm not just saying that every every single sin has that desire

But consider what does it mean to eat of the tree of the of the knowledge of good and evil, right?

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What is what is the knowledge of good and evil people have had different interpretations of this

Some have said that this is talking about sexual knowledge. And so Is after this that they were that they came together to be man and wife

That doesn't make sense God had already intended them to become man and wife beforehand

God already intended them to To enjoy sexual union with one another beforehand.

So this is not what it was talking about Second some people have said this is kind of a cultural knowledge, you know,

Adam was opened up to the world of creativity I don't know why you would suggest this Adam had just named all the animals.

Okay, he he was already creative Some people have said this is referring to omniscience

That seems to be clearly not the case Adam did not become omniscient I don't think he was under the

Impression that he would become omniscience Those all seem those seem like more foolish answers to me.

There are more common ones though and that is first that there is a

Experiential knowledge of good and evil that comes through eating the tree Now you could say that about evil

Adam hadn't experienced, you know harm to him. He hadn't Enacted any evil, but he had already experienced good.

So why isn't the tree if that's the case? Why isn't the tree just called the tree of the knowledge of evil? Why is it called knowledge of good and evil?

The other thing that people say is understanding Well, it's just like an understanding what good and evil is if he's never seen it before How's he supposed to know what it is?

Well, God told him what was wrong. He already knew it was wrong to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil He didn't he knew what was good.

He knew what was evil. That's not the that's not the problem What is the knowledge of good and evil? You can go home.

You can look at it up on some Website or whatever that lets you search the Bible look up good and evil and you will see it is frequently used to refer

To judgment to making judgment. Okay children that are Too young to be making any kind of judgments.

They are ones who do not know good and evil Absalom when he's trying to set himself up as a judge to replace his father

People laud him as one who knows good and evil Okay, Solomon when he prays for wisdom and God gives him wisdom beyond anyone else

What does he ask for he asked to discern good and evil? Okay, so the knowledge of good and evil is the ability to be a judge of right and wrong to determine what is a wise

Providence from God what is not a wise providence from God right to make those judgments.

So Solomon's saying, okay This is what is wise. This is what is not wise Before the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before sin entered the world.

God is telling man. What is good? God is telling man. What is evil man can follow that and simply accept

God's judgments from him What Adam is doing when he's eating in the tree of knowledge good and evil is he is setting himself on that seat of judgment to judge things for himself to become autonomous

No longer trust God's wisdom in his providence But to trust himself to the size side.

What is a good providence or? It's me having all these different trees a sufficient providence or should

I also have this one that kind of thing? So this is the first sin. It is not only the root of all sins.

It is also the first sin and it is Memorialized even by naming the tree the knowledge of good and evil because that is deciding to take judgment into your hands and decide

What good and evil is to decide whether or not God's providence is wise Now beyond being the first sin

In the root of all sin is also in many ways the greatest of sins There are a couple of things

I point you to to try to convince you of this I really believe it is the greatest of sins in this way because it is the deepest

In numbers 14 repeatedly Talks about the people grumbling before God talks about their their discontentment

This is where they desire water This is the passage shortly after what we've been reading in our scripture reading in the mornings

These people who are coveting water who are coveting things not trusting God in his providence are highlighted frequently throughout scripture as As emblemizing just the height of rebellion against God in First Corinthians 10 it says do not be like those who grumbled in the desert and were destroyed by the destroyer

Okay, this is what it says in the context of eating food sacrifice to idols, right?

like this is the this is the core of any sin is don't be like those grumblers who were not satisfied with the with the

With the providence of God This is a great and heinous sin The other thing

I would point you to to convince you of this is in Jude in Jude 16 in Talking about false teachers, you know some of the the worst and greatest sinners

Comparing them to demons even Jude if you're familiar with Jude, it's only a chapter long very short

You can read it later, right? It is it describes false teachers in the worst possible terms comparing them to demons and Then at the end of all of it, how does he summarize it?

They are grumblers Malcontents following their own desires. So how does he summarize all their sins their tenth commandment breakers their tenth commandment breakers their tenth commandment breakers?

grumblers malcontents following their own desires This is the greatest of all sins and why is it so great?

The answer is that it competes With our true allegiance to Jesus Christ Consider what

Jesus himself says One thing you lack sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven and come follow me

Okay, Jesus is offering up these alternatives. You can have your things or you can have me

You can have your things or you can have me Paul twice in his epistles says that covetousness is idolatry

Have you ever considered how profound a statement that is to someone who knows the Ten Commandments? What is he saying? The tenth commandment is the second commandment.

That's a weird thing to say, isn't it? The tenth commandment is the second commandment covetousness is idolatry

But what is the one who's engaging in covetousness doing? He is displacing

God. He is trusting in something else For his provision for the providence in his life the one who bows down to an idol

Worships gold and silver the one who is covetous and thinks that money is going to solve his problems.

It's worshiping gold and silver Right. What is the object of your trust if your object if the object of your trust is other things?

Other than what God has provided then you are Taking your worship away from God and redirecting it elsewhere and so it is a it's a competition with the

Lord himself and so it leads to Just the worst kind of complaining

Jeremiah Burroughs, we were recently in our home groups going through The rare jewel of Christian contentment one of the things he said in there.

I don't know if you remember this illustration He said that the one who is full of God's Grace, it's like a full jar you ring it and it does not make too much noise

But you take an empty vessel and you strike it and it will make a lot of noise

Okay, the one who is covetous it is because they are not satisfied

With what God has given they are not satisfied with God himself It is such a great sin

Because it is an entire absence of God himself an absence of him

You can be satisfied in Jesus Christ. This man has the opportunity to come and follow Jesus.

You have the opportunity to come follow Jesus Follow him you can have him you can be full you can be satisfied when something strikes you

You have no need to cry out because you will have him completely But if you do not have him if you want other things

Your stuff will not fill the void Doesn't matter if the relationships doesn't matter if they're things

You will be empty and you will cry out and it will ring You'll be miserable in this life and you will be miserable in the next life as well.

Do not Do not Think that these are these are small things, you know, even complaining we tend to think of complaining as a small thing

Complaining is a great thing. Remember the false teachers called grumblers malcontents following their own desires

This is a great great sin when you complain don't think of it a small thing think of it something needs to be needs to be stopped

It's very foolish is very foolish to complain Luke 12 15 the man who

You know built up barns for himself thinking that he's gonna be able to enjoy all this stuff that he has

Says now to a soul You can rest and and eat drink and be merry and he said to them take care

This is Jesus afterward Explained to the disciples take care and be on guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions

Your life doesn't consist in that your eternal life certainly doesn't consist in that You're not going to be able to carry any of that along with you.

There are all kinds of Groups who have tried doing this, you know pharaohs had build built pyramids to try to carry their stuff with them

Archaeologists come in they find all at all. It's still there. They didn't take it with them You cannot take those things with you and then even in this life

You will not enjoy this life just by things there are so many people who are so rich and so sad

That is not the fullness of life But you can have a fullness of life without much if your fullness is in Jesus Christ if your fullness is in trusting him

Enjoying the wonders of eternal life that he has provided through the cross Enjoying the blessings of the

Spirit growing you in holiness Enjoy the blessings of peace knowing that God is in control

Enjoying the hope of the future and these are just a few things that I can rattle off the top of my head

Forget not all his benefits Psalm 1 earth 3 right God has given

So many benefits through Jesus Christ that are all to be enjoyed and can fill us up to the brim

There's so much better than the things of this world that will just leave you empty You can be content with very little.

This is why it is Contentment is so good. You don't even need things to be content. You can have contentment just here today trusting in Jesus Christ You can have perfect contentment

Philippians 4 11 not that I am speaking of being in need for I've learned and whatever situation

I am to be content Paul is in prison and he's content

First Timothy 6 8 but if we have food and clothing with these we will be content

With just the daily bread that God provides as we pray Lord give us our daily bread Ecclesiastes 6 9 for it's for better is the sight of the eye than the wandering of desire

If what you have is Enough for you that is so much better than the wandering of desire that wants many other things having

So much better than wanting and if you have trust in Jesus Christ and those things that you have those things that he has ordained

For you to have are sufficient and you can enjoy them and you can enjoy them not as things that are owed to you

But as things that you can be grateful for that fills you with an extra joy because those things that you have that you don't

Deserve how much more do you appreciate those and those things that you have that you do deserve? it is

So much Appreciation itself is a way of enjoying something That you cannot have if you think that you are owed even more than what you have it will just be a sad with with a grief with a discontentment that you will

Enjoy the things you enjoy it won't be a true enjoyment Now joy is a fruit of the

Spirit, right? This is not something that the world has the world may have some kind of happiness But they do not have a true joy

There are many blessings to be had from contentment 1st Timothy 6 6 says but godliness with contentment is a great gain

Godliness with contentment is a great gain. There's so much joy to be had in godly and contentment

Matthew 6 19 through 21 Do not lay up treasures for yourself on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break into steel

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven or neither moth nor rust destroy These do not break in the steel for where your treasure is there will your heart be also

You can enjoy knowing that you are storing up treasures in heaven things that Don't wear out things that don't break

You know a lot of people really like There are certain things that people are really drawn to and are in our culture

One of them is cars. I always thought that was an interesting one because cars are not something that typically lasts very long

There's something that break down much faster than other Possessions do but those treasures of heaven they last forever.

They never wear down And so what should you do?

How should you if you want contentment? How should you pursue it beyond, you know, just the simple truth of trusting in the

Lord for your salvation Let me give you some some practical things first is begin denying yourself

Pleasures now now there there are sinful things that you should certainly keep away from there are other things like Hebrews 12 describes that are weights

That hold you back Okay, there are good things that it is.

Okay to enjoy in moderation and God has given us the things of this world in order that we would with gratitude to enjoy them

But if you enjoy them beyond what you should Then you are developing a taste for the things that are not

God himself Right, if you are enjoying them beyond what God has ordained in his providence is right for you

You are You're going beyond that you know if you are

Constantly thinking about how you're gonna be entertained if you're constantly thinking about how you're going to you know, enjoy food vacation

Life in general etc, right and you are not ever denying yourself any of these things as you have opportunity

Then you are cultivating in yourself not a taste for God But a taste for the things of this life

Okay, so begin denying yourself as appropriate. You're not not

I'm not talking about some kind of asceticism, right? I've already said this is not a command to poverty, but you ought to deny yourself now you ought also to Give So not only denying yourself, but giving to others like I said

Ephesians 4 Speaks of the thief no longer stealing But doing honest work laboring with his hands in order that it might give the others in need

Okay, the way you can best go to war with your covetousness is not just to deny yourself things But to give them away to other people the covetous person wants to keep these things for himself

If you want to battle with covetousness, this is the probably clearest most direct way that you can do

So is by being generous is by giving you can give to the church

You can give to others who are in need you can give to the efforts of the kingdom of God Do battle with your covetousness?

By being generous and I'll say a couple of notes because I have noticed that in this area there are particular blind spots, especially for people who are

Who are starting out their career here and aren't familiar with the kind of Compensation packages that exist in this area a lot of times people grew up being taught

Okay, you give a certain percentage based on your salary. That's it. And that's how you do it

The reality is a lot of compensation packages in this area are much more complicated than salary, right?

They include salary they include a bonus they include equity You know, maybe there's commissions, etc Give on the basis of all those things

Right give on the basis of everything that God has given you If you receive some kind of inheritance give on the basis of that as well think through everything that God has given you and return it to him with with gratitude and Do not think that because you've hit some magic percentage

That therefore you're in the clear. Okay, that would be that would be so missing the point of the

Tenth Commandment right, the Tenth Commandment is letting you know that Just doing the externals is not necessarily

Satisfying God's law so Even in the Old Testament what they were commanded to give was much more than the tithe

Okay, there were all kinds of commands to sacrifices and offerings that went beyond the tithe Do not think that because you're satisfying one

Old Testament regulation that you're satisfying everything I would argue that in in a prosperous society and the people who are prosperous

Typically should be giving more than ten percent. I would say that most people I'm saying this as a as a generality here say that most people who are giving 10 % are

Likely not giving enough are likely not being as generous as they ought to be

So give give generously give sacrificially look at the way it's described in 2nd

Corinthians It's described as something sacrificial right? You're you're losing something that you could enjoy and Pray, what did

James say? Do you remember what James said? But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire

The desire when it's conceived give birth to sin and sin when it's fully grown brings forth death

These different things plague men, but they do not have because Because they do not ask

God James 4 2 says later on in the same book you desire and you do not have so you murder you covet

And cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel you do not have because you do not ask

Okay, so this is another very clear way of dealing with covetousness. Okay, he's saying sin comes from your desires from your covetousness and The reason why your covetousness has not been addressed.

It's because you have not prayed Okay, so you ought to be praying all of your sins go back to this 10th commandment

All your sins go back to covetousness the way to address this is with prayer. You ought to pray to the

Lord So that you would have those things that you desire This is I'm not even saying so that you stop desiring of things

It is so that you have the things that you desire and those things That you shouldn't be desiring that you would cease desiring as your will is conformed to God's in prayer

Because that is what prayer should be doing. It should be conforming your will to God's okay, so this is a

The answer is not is not even always, you know, stop wanting those things It is just pray for those things so that God would give them to you so that you would stop wanting them

Okay, pray Pray and trust God trust his wisdom and providence be satisfied with what you have now

Praying to him for what you would have in the future and you want to give thanks for what he has already given so you're praying for the things that he hasn't given your

Praying in gratitude. You're thanking him for the things that he has already given Philippians 4 6 do not be anxious about anything

But in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your quest be made known to God You should be thanking him for the things you have.

How do you dress covetousness feeling like? You know your own things your own more things as you give thanks for the things that you already have from him because they are gifts from his hand and then

Lastly just simply do battle gets covetousness Look at your own life Look at times when you're when you're covetous look at times when you're discontent and address those things when you hear yourself complaining

Address the complaint by Praying to God by ceasing to complain by recognizing.

This is a great sin. It's a great sin against the Lord And then when you see this in others do not when you see others complaining

Do not think oh, well, that's just a minor little thing. No treat it as a as a great sin

This is something that you are helping your brother and sister By Encouraging them not to Not to sin in complaining

Tell them that this is the the mark of some of the worst grumblers malcontents following their own desires

Address this and others to your your brothers and sisters need your assistance in this You can do this in a kind and compassionate way.

It doesn't have to be Holier -than -thou or anything like that and then same thing with your own household your own children, especially you know, there's a lot of covetousness that is developed in early years as children

Want things and they cry out for things and the parents just to keep them happy give them the things they want What are they doing?

They're kind of helping them develop this heart of covetousness that they're gonna have to deal with eventually, you know

If they follow the Lord, they're gonna have to realize it and root it out and it's gonna make their work much harder for them

If you do not help them in How to deal with their own desires not giving them everything they ask for Teaching them to pray teaching them to be thankful.

These are things that you can teach in your children You can even teach them to give, you know, if you're a lot of parents think well

I already give a bunch of things, you know, I already take care of my kids needs. Why would they need anything else? They should have other things so that they can learn to start giving of things train them in this so that it's not a

Mindset they have to break later where they think of everything as just being for themselves. Everything they have is just for me. Okay?

Those are ways that you can address this So those who are those who are covetous those who are discontent are discontent in this life it will be especially discontent in the next they will there will be not a moat of happiness for them to enjoy

Because not only will they not be grateful for the gifts that God has given They will not have any gifts that God is giving because they will be completely

Completely absent of any of them And so the answer for all this for forgiveness for our sin of covetousness is to turn to Jesus Christ He is one who was perfectly content.

He never decided Desired anything beyond the providence of God. He never was dissatisfied with God's wisdom in his providence

Even when he had the most reason out of any human who has ever lived for discontentment

When he's about to face the cross, what is his prayer? Not my will but yours. Okay.

He doesn't say your will is Wrong, right? He says not my will but yours

And so he He is one who was perfectly content and he goes to the cross and he suffers as One who is not he suffered the penalty that's due to covetousness and this is what he's being accused of He's accused of one who wants more than what

God has given him. He wants to make this name for himself He wants the status for himself He wants all these students underneath them all these disciples, but he doesn't he doesn't deserve any of these things

He doesn't this is not God's providence for him and he does not trust God's wisdom in his providence

This is the accusation that Christ has received as false accusation But he is suffering as one who is covetous.

He is suffering in place of us who are covetous so burying the punishment due to our sins so that we can be forgiven and Then he has by the cross also given us his spirit his spirit which grows us in Recontentment which teaches us to pray so that we cry out

Abba Father Which fills us with blessedness so that we're not out of the fear of death hanging on to everything that we have but are able

To give it knowing that we are safe in his hands And then he gives us joy joy is the fruit of the

Spirit. So God has given us The spirit by which we might be joyful.

The world does not know true joy The world does not know true contentment any kind of Temporary elation it has is not true happiness

It is a false mimicry of it, but you can have perfect joy. You can have perfect contentment through Jesus Christ He is

He has given something wonderful in his gift through the cross and The Father has given something wonderful in him so that we can be perfectly satisfied in him

Looking forward to the great hope that we have of being with him forever Having our needs met not only now but even in greater measure his providence being so far beyond Those things that we want

This is part of the problem with covetousness these things that we want are so far less than what he has given

It's not like we want more than what God's gives It's that we don't understand what God has given and so we actually want something less than it

God has given so much more he has in store for us so much more Look forward to that with joy and gladness fruit of the

Spirit Welling over in your life. This is my is my prayer for you today that you be full of the joy of the

Lord Amen Dear Heavenly Father. We thank you for Jesus Christ.

We thank you for this wonderful gift that you have given We pray that you would Help us to obey the

Tenth Commandment. We recognize that we are sinners who have Disobeyed you in in Jesus Christ we are made saints and so we thank you for this

We thank you for your spirit by which We can be joyful and we pray that you would grow us in that joy that you will grow us in contentment and that you would

More and more mortify covetousness within our hearts until that great day when we are with Christ in Jesus name.