(Basics) 16. Keeping the Tenth Commandment — Zac Poonen

The Law Exposes the Need for Spirituality

We want to continue in this program looking at the difference between being religious and being spiritual as we did in our last three programs. Look at it in a little more depth so that we can be clear in our own minds on this very important matter.

Many of us are familiar, most of us I think, with the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses. You may not know all of them, but it's good to know them. But I want to point out something to you in those Ten Commandments which you may not have noticed up until now.

And as we understand that, we will see a little bit of the reason why God gave the law, even though He knew that the law could never lead anyone to becoming spiritual or to live a godly life. In fact, in Hebrews chapter eight, if you read that chapter, you will see very clearly that the old covenant was faulty.

That's the word used in Hebrews eight, the old covenant, the law was faulty. Did God give something faulty? Did He make a mistake? He certainly didn't. He knows the end from the beginning. He gave it with the purpose for our help, for us to see our need.

The law was given to expose sin. And we could also say the law was given for God to test man, to see how many people would be satisfied with an external righteousness that brought the honor of men. And how many would seek God for that inner purity which alone pleases God.

Jesus’ Conflict with External Religion

You remember when Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, He told them, you are people who just clean the outside of the cup, but God sees your hearts. And He wants the inside of the cup clean. You are people who do all the right things externally so that people are impressed.

But God sees deep within, and He's looking for inner purity of motive. We can say that the Pharisees were like Adam, covered with figures, and there's a curse upon it. And that's why you find that Jesus was in constant conflict with the Pharisees.

Think about that. The Pharisees who kept the letter of the law down to the last detail, whose doctrines were so correct, that we read in Matthew 23, verses 2 and 3, that Jesus told even His disciples to follow the teaching of the Pharisees.

Have you noticed that? In Matthew 23, verses 2 and 3, Jesus told His disciples to follow the teaching of the Pharisees. He said, because whatever they say is right. The only thing He said is, don't do like they do.

Don't follow their example in your life, because they teach things and they don't practice them. So there was nothing wrong with the doctrine of the Pharisees. There was another group in Jesus' time who were called the Sadducees.

They had wrong doctrines. And Jesus never told His disciples to follow their teaching, because they didn't believe in angels or spirits or resurrection. In fact, they were very earthly-minded. They didn't think much about a future life at all.

Their doctrines were wrong. But not the Pharisees. The Pharisees were people whose doctrines were right. A person can have all his doctrines right, his doctrines may be thoroughly evangelical, and yet he may be religious.

He may be only having that which is external. Think of the Ten Commandments. God said you shouldn't have any other gods. You mustn't make idols. You must not take My name in vain. You must keep the Sabbath day holy.

You must honor your father and mother. You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not bear false witness. Now these are nine of the Ten Commandments. And it's possible for any person, without the help of the Holy Spirit, to keep those nine commandments.

The Tenth Commandment and the Hidden Life of Desire

And the proof of it is, many, many people in the Old Testament kept those nine commandments without the help of the Holy Spirit. They did not have the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times. And yet Paul could say in Acts 23 verse 1, I have lived in a good conscience before God from my childhood up until this day.

The rich young ruler, when Jesus pointed out these commandments to him, he said I've kept all these things from my childhood. It was possible for a God-fearing person to keep all these commandments without the help of the Holy Spirit, just by his own strength.

It's possible for any man of any religion to keep these nine commandments without any help from God. Because man has a certain strength to lead an externally moral life. And if you don't lead an externally moral life, nobody's going to accept your religion.

People expect religious people at least to be moral externally. But when it came to the tenth commandment, the tenth commandment did not deal with externals. It dealt with something inward. The commandment was, you shall not lust, or covet, or strongly desire.

All these three words mean the same. Unfortunately lust has got an evil connotation in people's minds. But all it means is a strong desire. Like it says in Galatians 5 .17, the Holy Spirit lusts against the flesh.

What does that mean? The Holy Spirit doesn't do any evil. He has got a strong desire against the flesh, and the flesh has got a strong desire against the Holy Spirit. It's the same word used in Exodus 20, verse 17, the tenth commandment, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, or your neighbor's wife.

Which means the same as, you shall not lust for your neighbor's house, or lust for your neighbor's wife. Or which means the same as, you shall not have a strong desire for your neighbor's house, and you shall not have a strong desire for your neighbor's wife.

Or you shall not have a strong desire to get your neighbor's servant, and wish that that A servant who works in your neighbor's house could be your servant, because maybe she is such a faithful servant.

You shall not desire your neighbor's business or his donkey or anything that is your neighbor's. The tenth commandment was inward, and there was no way by which anybody could find out whether you had kept it or not.

It was impossible. Now, Paul was a person who was very, very honest, and he tells us in Philippians 3 that according to the righteousness which is in the law, Philippians 3, verse 6, he was blameless.

He had kept the law blamelessly. What does it mean? Does it mean he kept all ten commandments? He certainly didn't. He kept only nine, but that's all that was required. Nobody could keep the ten commandments.

Nobody could say, I have never lusted after anything. I've never lusted after my neighbor's wife or my neighbor's daughter. And remember, every woman in the world is either your neighbor's wife or your neighbor's daughter, everyone in the world.

And you've never desired what belongs to somebody else. There's not a soul in the world who can say that, not even the Apostle Paul. And he tells us that very honestly in Romans chapter 7, when he says, what shall we say then?

Is the law sin? May it never be. He says, I would not have known sin except for the law. And then he mentions the tenth commandment, not the first nine, because he'd kept the first nine. He says, when it came to the tenth commandment, Romans 7, 7, which said, you shall not covet or you shall not lust, you shall not have a strong desire for anything that's your neighbor's.

He says, I discovered, verse 8, every type of lusting in my heart. He was honest. And I thought I was pleasing to God till this commandment showed me the corruption of sin in my life. And I saw I was dead spiritually in God's eyes, because I found every kind of lusting, he says in verse 8, every kind of coveting, every kind of strong desire.

Honesty as the First Step Toward Spirituality

Why did God give such a commandment if he knew that nobody could keep it without the help of the Holy Spirit? Now, here's the answer. God gave it to see how many people would be honest in admitting that they had come short in this area.

Do you know, friends, that the first step to being spiritual is honesty? God doesn't ask you to be holy first. None of us can be holy like him. He doesn't ask us even to be loving or humble or anything, because all these things take time.

But there's one thing you can be today, and that's the first step to true spirituality, and that is honest. Paul was honest. He said, it's true, I find every type of coveting in my heart. I'm a sinner.

And he says, such a sinner that I thought I was alive, I'm actually dead. I'm dead in sin. A man who kept every single external commandment acknowledges that he's thoroughly dead in sin because he discovered every type of lusting in his heart.

How do you find it in your heart? You just got to be honest. And if you're honest, God will lead you further. And if you're dishonest and you pretend that you don't have any such desires and you're sort of clean and upright, like the Pharisees pretended, then Jesus will say to you sarcastically, like he said to the Pharisees, I did not come for you righteous people.

I came for the sinners. I came to call sinners to repentance, and he will pass by you altogether. And you'll miss the Lord completely, like the Pharisees missed him. Why did they miss the Lord? Why did the Lord leave them alone?

Christ’s Call to Those Who Admit Their Need

He says, you people are healthy. He says, I came for sick people. Only sick people need a doctor. Why do you healthy people need me? Do you think they were healthy? Far from it. Those Pharisees were the sickest people in Israel.

Why did Jesus say you people are healthy? He was being sarcastic. He was trying to show them their hypocrisy. And he was showing them that he would not go to help those who are not honest. Do you see how easy it is to come to the Lord?

You just got to be honest about the sin in your heart and say, Lord, there's every type of lusting. And because Paul was honest, you know what happened? He discovered how the Holy Spirit's power could help him keep even the 10th commandment.

Freedom from Lust Through the Holy Spirit

How the Holy Spirit's power could deliver him from lusting within his heart. The blood of Jesus would cleanse his past failure. And the Holy Spirit's power would set him free. He says in Romans 8, 2, the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death.

Do you want that experience? Do you want to come into a life where the law of the Spirit sets you free from this slavery to lust in your heart? Be honest. Tell the Lord that you've come short, that you've failed, that you've sinned in your heart.

Ask him to forgive you and cleanse you in his blood. And say, Lord, I never want to be dishonest again. Ask him to fill you with his Holy Spirit and give you power within. And you can be pure.