November 16, 2008
Sermon #758
The 10 Commandments – You Shall Not Covet
Exodus 20:17 (NKJV) 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
ILL: I am taking a course in writing fiction. One of the first things I’ve learned is that the most important lines I can write are the opening and closing of a story. The ten commandments open with:
Exodus 20:3 (NKJV) 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
And close with: “You shall not covet” because coveting is the mental process that causes us to violate all the other commandments!
I. What Coveting is not
A. Desire
· God has desires
Hosea 6:6 (NKJV) 6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
· A passion for that which is good
Proverbs 11:23 (NKJV) 23 The desire of the righteous is only good, But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
2 Chronicles 1:1 - 12 (NKJV) 1Now Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly. 2And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ houses. 3Then Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for the tabernacle of meeting with God was there, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. 4But David had brought up the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim to the place David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. 5Now the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put before the tabernacle of the Lord; Solomon and the assembly sought Him there. 6And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. 7On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 8And Solomon said to God: “You have shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place. 9Now, O Lord God, let Your promise to David my father be established, for You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. 10Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?” 11Then God said to Solomon: “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life—but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king— 12wisdom and knowledge are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like.”
B. Wanting a Wife or Husband
Proverbs 18:22 (NKJV) 22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord.
C. Wanting riches or things
Psalm 112:1 - 5 (NKJV) 1 Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments. 2 His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever. 4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 5 A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion.
ILL: I was once one being interviewed and the person doing the interview asked, “Pastor Willis, do you own an airplane?” I answered, “No!” To which they said, “Would you like to own one?” When I said, “yes” they said, “that’s the same thing!” No it is not! There are many things I would like to have and it’s not the same thing as having them or coveting them.
II. What Coveting is
Chamad in Hebrew (the desire to have something that can never be rightfully yours)
1. Things dedicated to gods belong to God
Deuteronomy 7:16 - 26 (NKJV) 16Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the Lord your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you. 17“If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’— 18you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20Moreover the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. 21You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you. 22And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 23But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed. 24And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.
ILL: In Milton’s Paradise Lost pictures Mammon as one, “who went about with eyes rather for the pavement of the heavenly streets, trodden gold” rather then that one who saw the wonder and beauty of God!
2. The Glory that belongs to God
Genesis 3:1 - 5 (NKJV) 1Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
ILL: Behind Satan’s word was coveting “to be like God”
3. That which belongs to another
Deuteronomy 5:21 (NKJV) 21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
· His wife – his household peace and home life
· Neighbor’s house – his property
· Neighbor’s servants – his work force
· Neighbor’s ox or donkey – personal property
· Anything else he wants to keep!
III. Coveting leads to a violation of all the other commandments
2 Samuel 11:1 - 24 (NKJV) 1It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” 6Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. 8And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. 9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” 12Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. 14In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”
16So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. 17Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also. 18Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, 19and charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, 20if it happens that the king’s wrath rises, and he says to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’” 22So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him. 23And the messenger said to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. 24The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”
· David saw Bathsheba bathing and lust and coveting came into his heart
· “He took her” forced her into a sexual relationship – rape
· He set up a scheme to deceive Uriah, her husband, into believing that the child was his
· When the scheme failed he designed to have Uriah murdered.
· He demoralized Joab his chief general
· The Results
2 Samuel 12:13 - 31 (NKJV) 13So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill. 16David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”
19When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 20So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. 21Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22And he said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” 24Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, 25and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord. 26Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the people of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken the city’s water supply. 28Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name.”
29So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, fought against it, and took it. 30Then he took their king’s crown from his head. Its weight was a talent of gold, with precious stones. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out the spoil of the city in great abundance. 31And he brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes, and made them cross over to the brick works. So he did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
Theft
Joshua 7:20 - 25 (NKJV) 20And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 21When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.” 22So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. 23And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. 24Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. 25And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
Murder and robbery
Ezekiel 22:6 - 16 (NKJV) 6“Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you. 7In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow. 8You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. 9In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. 10In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity. 11One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord GOD. 13“Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst. 14Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it. 15I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you. 16You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’”
ILL: According to the Department of Labor, homicide is now the second leading cause of death in the workplace. Employees exacting revenge after being passed over for promotion.
War
James 4:1 - 2 (NKJV) 1Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
ILL: The eastern proverb reads, “Ten poor men sleep on one straw heap, but the largest empire is too narrow for two kings.
IV. Where coveting comes from
James 1:14 - 15 (NKJV) 14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
V. How a Christian can handle coveting
Romans 12:1 - 2 (NKJV) 1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
2 Corinthians 10:3 - 6 (NKJV) 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Conclusion: The answer is found in the mind. It is between self-denial and self-indulgence.
Rob Schenck in his book Ten Words that will change a Nation, wrote:
“Lucifer coveted God’s position and sought to overthrow Him. He failed then, but now thinks he can do it through mankind. A judge orders God’s Law to come down from public buildings. A teacher promotes alternative lifestyles. A screenwriter takes God’s name in vain. A company announces staff meetings on Sunday mornings. An aged mother is abandoned by her adult children. A doctor kills an unborn child. An employee takes home a carton of cigarettes without paying. A news commentator blames right-wing fanatics for America’s problems. An adoring mother hires a hit man so that her daughter can be a cheerleader.” (A politician claims to be the liberator of a nation). They all covet something that can never be theirs-the very place of God.
Always the Ten Commandments
