The Ten Commandments - The Cure for Coveting

I personally, I like to keep up with current events.

Some of us might decide that, hey, Internet and the

news is not really for me, and I get it.

Sometimes we've got to take a break because occasionally it

gets to be too much and we just end up

being angry at everything, and that's not necessarily how we

want to live our lives. But some of us also

still like to kind of know what is going on,

to be in the know. And so I don't know

if you've heard in the last couple of weeks, but

within the last several weeks, we had the world's first trillionaire.

On paper, we had the first the world's first trillionaire.

Now here's the deal. I'm not going to speak about

how we should or shouldn't feel about that, but many

people do have feelings about that. They have lots of

feelings about that. There was lots of people who were

cheering that on, and there was lots of people who

themselves were worth millions of billions of dollars who were

complaining about the world having or a man having a

trillion dollars. And just for as a reminder, this is

kind of always a fun little experiment to remind us

of exactly how much a trillion is, and you do

it with seconds that a million seconds is eleven days. Okay,

a billion seconds is thirty one years. A trillion seconds

is over thirty one thousand years. But in money, like, okay,

that's a lot of money. It's a lot of a

lot of money. And honestly, if we're just being honest,

like people have also done the calculations for like how

much money you'd have to spend every single day in

order to actually spend a trillion dollars within your lifetime,

and it's absurd. So we can say, Okay, maybe we

don't need a trillion dollars, maybe we don't even think

we need that much. Maybe we don't even think we

really need even a billion. But if you're anything like me,

you might be tempted to go about your day and

start thinking about life and think about things and provision

and different things like that, and go like, but if

I had like a million, Like if I just had

a million, I know, there's all kinds of people who

get a million dollars and they blow it. There's all

kinds of people who get a million dollars and they

just they don't know what they're doing. But if I

had a million dollars, I could make it work. If

I had a million dollars, then I just wouldn't have

to worry. I'd be able to figure out in a

way to maybe sure everything is set. If I only

had a million dollars, everything would be okay. Now here's

the deal. That's not the only thing we think about

this way. We think about other things like this. There's

many of us who say to ourselves, if I only

had her husband, if I only had his wife, if

I only got that guy's job promotion, if I had

his upbringing, if I had their family, their bank accounts,

and on and on and on. We could go list

of things that's different for each one of us that

if we only had that thing, then finally we would

be okay. So my question for you to start is,

what's that thing in your life right now? Fill in

the blank. What's the thing keeping you up at night,

what's the thing bothering you, what's the thing that's on

your mind, What's the thing maybe you're a little too

obsessed with right now. I get that way about things.

Fill in the blank. What have you been saying in

your heart right now? In my life. If I just

had blank, then I'd be okay. Because how we answer

that very important question will determine whether or not we've

been breaking the tenth Commandment or not. So, actually, if

you would please open your bibles. So the second book

of the Bible, Exodus, chapter twenty, this is a series

we've been going through, and today, by God's grace, we

have made it to the tenth and final commandment. So

we're gonna be a chapter twenty of Exodus one verse

or verse seventeen. We're gonna read this again. If you

do not have a Bible gable, Readnue one. But we

are gonna look at this tenth commandment, making up the

last of the ten. We're gonna read it. Pray and

ask God that he would do the rest. Amen, all right,

Exodus twenty, verse seventeen. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant,

or his female servant, or his ox or his donkey,

or anything that is your neighbors. Let us pray, Lord God,

we asked that you would give us understanding, that we

would be able to understand and walk in accordance with

your law, that we'd be able to observe it with

our whole heart. Lord, this is something that only you

can do, giving us the understanding required in order to

actually have this bear fruit in our life and help

us know you better and live as you've called us

to live as your people. So we give you glory,

we give you thanks, and ask that you would be

with us during this time in Jesus name. Everyone said amen.

So I said, this is number ten. This is the

tenth one. And it's kind of a weird one. Like

if you just think about like top ten, top ten

no nos in the Bible, and here we are, don't covet,

don't covet. God has told us not to worship other gods.

Makes sense that God would tell us to do that,

makes sense that God has told us not to murder.

Thank you. That's a good thing to know we shouldn't do.

Not to commit adultery. I think we're all on board

with that, not to steal, bear false witness. We've seen

all kinds of things and then we get to this one.

It can almost feel out of place. You really just

think about it. When's the last time you saw a

big news headline saying mass coveting not very often. This

is a weird This is kind of a weird one

because we don't observe it in our day to day

life all the time. There's definitely instances where you can

see it. Look at your children, Why do you steal

that from your stabling? I wanted it? Oh okay, well

you're still in trouble, but thank you for being honest.

Most of the time for us as adults, so coveting

is hidden. And one of the reasons that coveting is

not as easy to spot as say, murder or eventually

adultery or theft or lying about something or someone is

because coveting is something that happens in here. Coveting is

something that happens within our heart. The Final Commandment is

so unlike the other commandments because now God is addressing

literally our hearts, explicitly addressing our hearts right here in

this final commandment. Okay, and fair enough, we get that now,

but maybe we're still a little bit confused yet. Okay,

God says, don't come it. It made his top ten list.

Maybe we kind of have an idea of what that

really means. But we also might think who cares? Who cares?

It's not hurting anybody, not really bothering anyone. I mean

I'm a little bothered, but like, it's not bothering anyone else.

But that is not what God's word tells us. Not

only is it actually hurting you, but in fact, breaking

the tenth Commandment is the prerequisite to breaking the rest

of the ten commandments. That is that when we break

the tenth Commandment, we are in fact either breaking or

ready to break the rest. Look what James says James

four one through two. What causes chorals and what causes

fights among you? Is it not this that your passions

or that word can also mean you're The things that

you take pleasure in are at war within you. You

desire and do not have. So what do you do?

You murder, You covet and cannot obtain, So you fight

and choral You do not happies, you do not ask.

So this coveting, this internal greed, this envy, this lust,

call it whatever you want for something that is not yours,

is the start in our heart to us sitting externally,

before we get to those other things. We break this commandment,

big deal. It is actually a big deal. That's crazy.

Now I want to clarify before we go on, because

you might just be like, okay, so we're like, it's

bad to one things. No, didn't say that. It's actually

it is okay to want things. It's okay to desire things.

But what the Bible here is going to begin to

try and warn us of is how we often either

desire the wrong things, or we desire the right things

in the wrong way. I kind of read a funny example.

I might butcher it, but it was basically saying that

stuff isn't bad. Inherently, stuff isn't bad anymore than water

outside a boat is bad. You kind of needed to

float like. It's actually very helpful to have water. The

problem is when the water gets in the boat that

you have a problem. It's when the desire for these

things goes into our hearts in a way in which

it is not meant to, in which it's not supposed to,

that we begin to sink. At its core, the reason

that coveting is such a big deal is because it

really produces three really nasty things in our hearts. The

first one is that it just promotes selfishness, a selfish

way of thinking it's all about me. I should have that.

Why not I have that? I'm better, better, looks better,

a bigger bank account, more equipped for that position. It

produces discontentment. And I read somewhere I thought this was

really helpful and thinking about discontentment, that it's not wrong

that we notice the things that other people have. The

problem is when we notice the things that other people

have and we start to become ungrateful for what God

has given us, and that it's core. Probably worse of all,

is that coveting is idolatry. You say, wait, didn't we

cover that in the first two We did, And here

we are at the end, ready to circle back around.

Coveting is actually idolatry that when we covet in our hearts,

we in fact have begun to break the very first commandment.

It's crazy, that is to worship the Lord alone. When

we start coveting, we start to seek after and worship

these other things in a way that makes us idolatrous. Today,

I believe what will be most helpful for us is

if we look at what the Bible says. The cure

for coveting is kind of seems like a big problem.

Be interesting to know. Does the Bible have anything to

say that can actually help us other than just telling

us not to do it. Here's the deal. The Bible

does just tell us not to do it. So down

there you go. That's a quick sermon. But let's also

be helpful and go what does the Bible equip us

with or does the Bible specifically say or does it

specifically say anything, because sometimes we're just so ignorant of

what our Bibles say that we have. We run around

with all these problems and the Bible is just like

read me, Jesus has answered the same time and time again,

but we just don't even know. So we're gonna look

at three major things today. First, we're gonna just look

at what is coveting, to dive into that a little

bit more. Second, we're gonna look at the cure for coveting.

And then finally we're gonna actually just kind of take

a quick little peek at how when we stop coveting

we actually are able to begin to care for others.

But we'll get there. So let's start with the first.

As we just stated a second ago, at its root,

coveting is selfish, selfishness. It's discontentment and it's idolatry. It's

just so much fun, right, Like He's like, woo, Like,

I know I commit that, but like when you say

it like that, I'm not a big fan of you

putting it that way. Coveting is selfish because we're only

looking at our own lot in life, our own wants,

our own desires and abilities to get ahead above others.

We're truly only considering ourselves. And as I was going

over my notes, I just wanted to say this because

I know we all have the tendency to do this.

We're like, yeah, we are. I hear that we're selfish,

But man, I know this other person in my life

who's like a pain in the neck, And man, I

hope they're hearing this message. Why because it would benefit you. Now.

We're just back to selfishness in your own heart. So

I hope when you hear this, don't become distracted in

thinking about other people, think about yourself. This applies to

your own selfishness, and by God's grace, will also apply

to theirs. The selfishness is looking to other things God

has given other people and really feeling sorry for the

things that God has In fact, given you. We are

unsatisfied with what God has given us. We are discontent

with what God has given us. This is a big issue,

and I bet many of us just don't think about

it in this way. But God, who is in control,

is the author of your life, has written each one

of your days before you've lived even one of them.

Your life is the one that God has given you,

and it's not by accident. But that's not how many

of us live. Most of us live like our life

is just kind of a chaos tornado that we're like

I am expected to get through to the other side.

But your life is a gift from God. Your life

is a gift from God. He gave it to you.

There's nothing in your life that has caught God off guard.

And that's like really good news for him being God,

that he's not like, oh miss that one. That's not

the type of God we worship. We worship a God

who is above all of these things. There's nothing in

your life that God didn't see coming. There is no

thing the Lord has given you that was by accident.

The Lord knows what you have, Lord knows where you're at,

Lord knows what you're going through, and specifically for those

who have put their hope and trust in Jesus. This

is what we're told eight twenty eight. And we know

that for those who love God, all things work together

for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

Let me tell you why that's good news really quick,

because we go through like all kinds of stuff that

is terrible and awful and not fun and hard to understand.

But I can have a verse that says He can

work all things for the good Ephesians one to eleven.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined

according to the purpose of Him who works all things

according to whose will, the council of his will. When

I read those verses, how can I think that there's accidents?

How then can I be ungrateful for the plan that

God is working out in my life? And here's the deal.

I've not arrived in any form shape away. I'm we're

struggle bus and but I'm gonna let you just in

all like a little like something peaking to my life.

Of like, I got really tired of feeling anxious and

frustrated about the next like turn or season in my life,

because you know, I don't know the future. Kind of

a crazy thing, I know, but like I don't know

what's coming next, and I kind of hate that as

a little creature who's not God. And so I've had

to really wrestle over this fact. You spend a lot

of time in prayer going into God's word, trying to

remind yourself of the truth of what God has to

say about these things. And for me, it's it's these

truths that really helped me. They really helped me because

I'm like, I'm not in control, but he is, and

he said he's gonna work it for good. He has

a plan, he has a purpose, he has something that

he's doing. And so for right now currently where we're

trying to sit in is instead of just being afraid

of what plot twist is coming next, I'm kind of

just trying to ride the exciting adventure that the Lord

has put us on. I don't know, this is crazy,

this is awful. I didn't want things to go this way.

I didn't hope things to turn out this way. But like,

I'm in a story and he's writing it, Like I

think I can be okay because he also told me, like, hey,

even if he doesn't tell me the specifics of the

end of the story. He says they're good. So do

I believe that or don't or don't I. That's where

we're trying to kind of hang out in right now. Sure,

it's selfishness, it's coveting, or it's selfishness, and it's discontentment,

but ultimately it's idolatry being revealed in our hearts if

you want kind of a case example really quick. Like

I just said, I was frustrated because I'm frustrated when

I don't feel like I'm in control. I'm frustrated when

I feel like I don't get to be God. I'm

frustrated when I'm confronted with the truth. But we still struggle.

Going back to our first question, if I only had

blank fill that in, then I'd be okay. That way

of thinking answered with anything, But Christ shows us what

we're truly worshiping.

OW actually gets worse because a heart, a heart that

is a heart that is coveting, is a heart that

is dissatisfied with Christ.

Oh, that was the one. That one's the worst one.

A heart that is dissatisfied with Christ. And honestly, that

should make us weep because how often do we find

ourselves apparently dissatisfied with Christ? And why that is? Because

the heart that is coveting is a heart that is

looking for something else to satisfy what only Christ can.

It's idolatry. And what coveting is is a lie from

our heart's telling you if we only had that thing,

if we only have that extra thing, then I would

be okay. If I just had her husband, if I

just had his wife gos my life would just be good.

Then I'd be okay. But here's a problem. Not one

of those things will last. So we're kind of back

to square one events. What are you gonna do when

those things return to dust? What are you gonna do

when those things that you've put your hope in, your trust,

in your faith in that maybe even fooled you for

a little bit that you were gonna be okay because

of this thing disintegrates, explodes, walks out on you, disappoints you.

What are you gonna do? How are you going to

be okay? Because if you put it in a created thing,

the answer is you are doomed. You're doomed to become

discontent and you're doomed to not be okay and be okay.

It is such a like a it's a terrible way

of writing this. It is not the most clear way

of writing this. Despare, wrath, pain, sorrow, those deep things

that we feel we're doomed to that for the rest

of our life if we try and put our hope,

our faith, our trust in anything that is not the Lord.

Not I'm mad at you, I'm also mad at myself.

Just to be clear, Okay, we're all in this boat together.

God's word convicts and speaks to each one of our hearts,

Lord Willing in this moment. Ultimately. Actually it is kind

of crazy too, because think about like how many people

we know who are like they blew up their life

for one reason or another because they're like, well, this

wasn't making me happy, so I want to blow up

my life to go and try and seek this other

thing that's going to make me happy. And then it

takes about five seconds for them to be like, well,

I guess if I had the like new new wife,

then I'd be okay. Or if I hit that new

tax bracket, then I'm sure I'd be fine. They're looking

to finite things to satisfy what only an infinite God

can if I hadn't made it clear enough, like we

do those things too, We do those things too. There's

some people that are more obvious, make it more obvious,

but all of us do the same thing. No one

gets away from this commandment. We've all coveted, we're all selfish,

we're all discontent and idolatrous. So at that point being made,

I'd like to argue what the cure for coveting is,

and I think you're gonna hate it. I want to

argue that the cure for coveting is by being content

in the Lord. The cure for coveting is contentment in

the Lord. If you love it, that's cool too. One

of my favorite quotes is from a man named GK. Chesterton,

and he says the Christian ideal has not been tried

and found wanting, it's been found difficult and left untried.

And he's got one liners like this all the time.

It's so much fun to read. But there's no Christian

that I know who has known the Lord and had

the Lord fail them. But I have known many, many

Christians who've had their expectations of what they think God

should do fail them. I've seen Christians failed by their

faith placed in false hopes and idols. I've seen Christians

struggle to let go and surrender certain areas of their

life to God. I've seen Christians say that Jesus is

all they need, but their actions and attitudes would tell

you otherwise. And if you want to know how I

how often I see that Christian? I look at him

every single day in the mirror while I'm brushing the

teeth every single day. Not only that, read about him

pretty constantly. You just open your Bible and there's just

pretty much pick one except for Jesus. He did fantastic.

Pick someone else in the Bible and they struggle with

this problem too. How about the person we look to

as an example of what it looks like to actually

have faith and be justified by God. Abraham. Abraham had

a literal direct promise from God himself that the old

man with no son would have a son from his

old wife Sarah. And Abraham's like, okay, cool, cool, sounds good.

And eventually he gets impatient and sleeps with his wife's

servant and has a son, and He's like, we did it.

God's like that is not what I meant, and not

obviously blew up areas of their life as well. That's

not what God meant, though, and he lets him know

that by saying, well, I mean, I still promise you something,

So I'm going to come through with what I told

you I'm going to do. So what happens is Sarah

conceives it has a baby in her old age. It's incredible.

God does exactly what he said he was going to do,

even though Abraham the entire time was just trying to

find workarounds to kind of get that thing faster or

figure it out his own way. And it's because of that.

When we hear God's word tell us to find contentment

and our everything in Him, we should do so instead

of trying to find our own workarounds. We need to

hear God's word. We need to repent of our idolatry,

our selfishness, are discontentment, and then believe what God says.

We need to be rooted in Christ and the truth

of his word, so that no matter how much the

seasons change around us, which they will, no matter how

much those things change, we're still growing, still bearing fruit,

and still firmly rooted in Jesus, because everything in this

world will change and fail us, but Christ is the

only one who never changes and it will never fail us.

So why are we settling? Why are we coveting things

that will change and will fail us? Once again, I

think part of the problem is that we don't know

what God says, and then if we do, we just

don't remind ourselves of it or don't believe it. So

what I'm going to do this kind of stopped talking

for just a few minutes and let the Bible do

the rest of the talking, because I pulled up some

verses that give us an example, or remind us or

or tell us the things that we ought to remember.

They're pleading with us to be satisfied in the Lord

as the answer to our discontentment. Look at these Hebrews thirteen.

Keep your life free from the love of money, and

be content with what you have, for he has said

I will never leave you nor forsake you Philippians four.

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for

I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low and know how

to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned

the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me

Matthew six. Therefore, do not be anxious, saying what shall

we eat, or what shall we drink? Or what shall

we wear? For the gentiles seek after all these things,

and your heavenly father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness,

and all these things will be added to you Psalm sixteen.

The sorrows of those who run after another God shall

multiply their drink offerings of blood. I will not pour

out or take their names on my lips. The Lord

is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot.

The lines have fallen from me in pleasant places. Indeed,

I have a beautiful inheritance Psalm seventeen. Arise, O Lord,

confront him, subdue him. Deliver my soul from the wicked

by your sword, from men by your hand, o Lord,

from men of the world whose portion is in this life.

You fill their room with treasure, or they are satisfied

with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants.

I don't even get to keep what they have as

for me. I shall behold your face in righteousness. When

I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. So

I'm sixty three, Oh God, you are my God. Earnestly

I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh

faints for you, as in a dry and weary land

where there is no water. So I have looked upon

you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory because

you're Oh Gods. This is one of my favorite verses

in the entire Bible right here, because your steadfast love

is better than life. And the reason it's one of

my favorite version of the Bible is because it's convicting,

not because I nail that, because I'm like I do,

I think Christ's love is better than life. We'll keep going.

My lips will praise you, so I will bless you.

As long as I live in your name. I will

lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as

with fat and rich food with my mouth, and my

mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember

you upon my bed and meditate on you in the

watches of the night, for you have been my help

and in the shadow of your wings. I will sing

for joy. My soul clings to you. Your right hand

upholds me Psalm seventy three. I'd love to read the

whole thing, but I had to just do the kind

of beginning and end Psalm seventy three. Truly God is

good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my

steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the

arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Down

a little bit farther says Nevertheless, I am continually with you.

You hold my right hand, You guide me with your counsel,

and afterwards or afterward, you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you. And there's nothing

on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and

my heart may fail, but God is the strength of

my heart and my portion forever. Many of us want

this contentment so bad, and so we try in our

own strength to be good Christians so that we can

finally get the other things that we want. But it's

even in this that we're missing the simple message the

Lord is trying to tell us, and we're not the

only ones to do this. Even at the beginning of

the church, Paul has to address and also let other

people have their heads up that other people are gonna

be whack. He has to let Timothy know that, Hey,

there's gonna be people who are going to try and

use Godliness as a means to get the things that

they really want. They're gonna try and take on God's

name because then they think that finally, if they just

wear or wave around God's name, that he'll give them

the things they really want. But Paul corrects this way

of thinking. If anyone teaches a different doctrine or does

not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus

Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is

puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. An He has

an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words

which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction

among people who are depraved in mind and depraved of

the truth. Here it is imagining that godliness is a

means of gain. But what's Paul's response, But godliness with

contentment is great gain. For we then listen to this

rationale pretty logical, for we brought nothing into this world,

and we can we cannot take anything out of the world.

But if we have food and clothing, with these we

will be content. But those who desire to be rich

fall into temptation and to snare into many senseless and

harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. That

is the not okay, by the way, ruin and destruction,

for the love of money is the root of all

kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some

have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with

many pangs. So not only did they wander from Jesus,

their life got worse. Many people are chasing after things.

Other things have wandered from Jesus. Who are coveting. We

commit idolatry with the things of this world and chase

after them instead of chasing and resting in Christ. And

Paul told them the answer verse six, like godliness with

contentment is great gain. Now. I don't know if you've

ever seen Kung Fu Panda. It's one of my favorite movies.

The message is simple. Po the panda, the whole movie

is trying to find the secret ingredient to becoming the

Dragon Warrior. Not only that, they have a fun subplot

about a noodle dish made by his father in which

he is trying to discern what the secret ingredient is

to his father's noodle dish. To be fair, his dad

did make him think that there was one, But the

answer spoiler alert to both of those things is that

there is no secret ingredient. The noodle dish is just

a good noodle dish. There is no secret to becoming

the Dragon Warrior. There is no hidden step to finding

contentment in Christ. So stop looking for other things to

bridge the gap. Surrender everything else, treasure Christ as your

greatest good. I believe you will not be content in

Christ until you're convinced that Christ is your greatest treasure.

I'm convinced that you will not be content until you're

convinced that Christ is all you truly need. I'm convinced

that you won't be content, and tell you that you

are convinced that Christ truly cares for you. And really,

all of those are the same way of saying that

you won't be content in Christ until you convinced that

you can be content in Christ, that Christ actually can

satisfy everything that you need. Many of us are just

too scared to jump from the other things that we've

been looking to for security, those things that keep failing us.

By the way, at least I have this broken thing

that I'm floating on. But Jesus gives us the example.

Look at this in Matthew thirteen. The Kingdom of Heaven

is like a treasure in a field which a man

found and covered up. Then in all his or then

in his joy, he goes and sells all that he

has and buys that field again, just in case you

didn't get it the first time. Jesus is like, I

have another one for you. The Kingdom of Heaven is

like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on

finding one pearl of great value, win soul all that

he had and bought it. The cure for coveting is

by finding contentment in the Lord alone. I don't need

to look to other people's things to be okay when

I look to God, who didn't even spare his own

son for me for you, but in fact he gave

his son up for us. All Romans eight thirty one.

Listen to this, please, What then shall we say to

these things? If God is for us, who can be

against us? Dope verse, put it in your back pocket.

Remember this. You need it. I need it. And it's

not even done yet. He who did not spare his

own son, but gave him up for us all. Now

we can stop right there and say that seems pretty good.

That seems like much more than we deserve, and it's

the truth. But that's not all it says. It says

he who did not spare his own son, but gave

him up for us all? How will he not also

with him graciously give us all things? It gets better?

Which is crazy? He gave us Jesus, and he just

told us it gets better. That if God was willing

to give his own son, who would take on flesh,

die in our place, die for our selfishness, our discontent

and idolatry. That for anyone who believes in Him, they

can have eternal joy, eternal contentment, and eternal life. That's

much better than what this world has to offer you.

If God was willing to take care of our sin

and our heart problem, how much more can we trust

God to take care of everything else, But do you

believe that? Are you convinced of that? Do you have

faith in God? And it's okay to be like, I

am struggling because I think there's a really if you

read the Gospels and you see the amount of time

that Jesus spends with his disciples, the amount of times

that Jesus is just like you of little faith, you

of little faith, you of little faith, just kind of

all the time. Kind of makes sense because you're like, I, yeah,

I do have a little bit of faith. I should

stop kidding myself and be like, no, I'm really believing

in Jesus right now. Jesus just tells us like we struggle.

We struggle in this area, but these are truths that

we can cling to to be convinced of, to have

faith in God, that we can trust that God has

us right where he wants us. Listen to this Psalm

twenty three. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads

me beside still waters. And what's crazy about this verse

is it's not saying that I can't look around and

find other things to want. It says is that when

I look to my shepherd and rest knowing that he

leads me, he takes care of me, and he provides

for me. That I don't have to look around because

I can look to him. I need the worship team

to come up, please. It's in this mindset, it's in

this presence that we get to experience a peace that

surpasses all understanding. Philippians four says, do not be anxious

about anything, but in everything, or but in everything by

prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made

known to God. In the peace of God, which surpasses

all understanding, will guard your hearts in your minds. In

Christ Jesus. It's when we finally stop being selfish and

discontent that finally, instead of looking to ourselves, we can

finally look up and start looking out to the interests

of others. We can actually love others the way the

Lord has called us to. And if you've been with

us through this series, you remember that the second half

of the law is talking about how we can properly

love others as God wants us to. So when we

get to this tenth commandment, we can see how not

only this is a commandment here to deal with our heart,

But it's also here to teach us how to actually

love those around us. If God's command here is to

not desire, is not to desire to have the stuff

that other people have, then the opposite of that would

be to rejoice about your neighbor's blessings instead of thinking

about how much that thing would have benefited me, or

how if I keep this from myself, this will be

for my own good and benefit, This will help me

get ahead of them. Finally, instead of going and looking

to my own interests, I can start going, how could

bless someone else? Why is that the right move for them?

Thank God that that's what God thought that they needed

more than me, and not being snarky about it. The

more we stop coveting, the more we can start caring

for others. When we covet, our hearts become a black

hole of complaints and dissatisfaction with everything that gets sucked

into it. It doesn't solve the problem, It just keeps

bringing things in. But when we're content in the Lord,

our hearts are warm and life giving like the sun

to those around us. So the things for us to

ponder today is how is your heart? Is? What is command?

Is speaking to How is your heart? Is it self

seeking or is it seeking the good of those around you?

And let me use a quick marriage example. We spend

a lot of time thinking if that other person would

just do that thing, then I'd be okay, rather than

thinking God put me in this marriage. How can I

be a blessing to that other person? I'm content, I'm

good with God. He's what I need. Now. How can

I bless, serve, love and care for that other person?

Think about it in the workplace, I'm trying to get

ahead of that guy. But how often do we show

up going like I am here as God's instrument to

bless these people, to work hard, to give God glory.

If that results in a promotion, praise God. If I

don't get it first, praise God. God has me right

where he wants me. Do you spend more time trying

to please yourself than you do seeking the benefit of others?

Is your heart leading you away from the Lord? There's

an old Hank Williams song. It's one of my favorites,

called your Cheating Heart. It goes like this, Your cheating

heart will make you weep. You'll cry and cry and

try to sleep, But sleep won't come the whole night.

Through your cheating heart will tell on you. This person

whose heart has cheated on their lover now can't find

any rest. Their cheating heart is telling on them in

many many ways. And some of you have a heart

that has been cheating on the Lord, and you two

are having a hard time finding rest for your and

the cheating heart is telling on you. It's telling on

you through the lies that you're speaking about others, the

theft that you're committing, the adultery you're committing, the murder

you're committing, the idolatry you're committing against God by skipping

worship of Him, by using his name in vain, by

bowing down to other things or to worshiping things other

than God. The selflessness or selfishness, your discontent that you

feel is your cheating heart telling on you that you're

committing idolatry. And every single one of us need to

repent of the sin and return or turn to Christ.

And Christ are hearts can find the satisfaction that He promises,

And only He can provide that in our hearts. We've

turned to Christ, can finally say, if I just have Christ,

if I only have Christ. Then I'll be okay, And

by God's grace, we will rid ourselves of these coveting

hearts and finally love God and love people as we ought. Amen.

Would you please stand