Rev. David Holwick Z
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 30, 1995
Exodus 20:17
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I. The lust to own: Buying a new van.
A. Checked off wanted options.
1) Saw conversion vans with little TV's.
2) Used van matched options and price, got it.
B. Afterwards, looking at other vans all week. And ads.
II. Tenth Commandment deals with our inner heart.
A. Some see this commandment as weakest one.
1) Pales compared to murder, adultery.
2) When was last time you coveted neighbor's donkey??
B. Last commandment reveals true nature of whole law.
1) It shows how the law relates to what lies inside our hearts.
a) Inner instincts that lead up to the act are included.
b) This sin pervades all the others.
2) None of the Ten Commandments can be observed merely
from an external or formal act.
C. Reveals our inner nature, too.
1) Most of us won't commit the biggie sins like murder.
2) But all of us will covet.
3) Our coveting shows we are sinners and lawbreakers. Rom 7:7-8
a) Simply being told not to want something makes us want it.
b) Coveting goes to the center of our souls.
III. The effects of coveting.
A. We wreck other people's lives.
1) We tend to act on our desires.
2) (Naboth and Ahab) 1 Kings 21
3) Coveting leads to quarrels and conflict. James 4:2
a) Squabbles over inheritances.
B. We wreck our own life.
Bob James of Paint Rock, Texas, had a problem with stinging
ants in his yard.
He laid a small circle of poison around their mound.
Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants
began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony.
Bob returned later to see how well the poison was working.
Hundreds of the stinging ants were carrying the poison down
into their mound.
Then he noticed a hole in the circle of poison.
Some of the poison was moving the opposite way away from the
mound.
Some smaller, nonstinging ants had found this "food" and were
stealing it from their ant neighbors.
Thinking they were getting the other ants' treasure, they
unwittingly poisoned themselves.
When we see someone with more than we have, we must beware.
The hunger to beg, borrow, or steal our way into what is theirs
may poison us spiritually.
#2081
IV. Where the tenth commandment comes from.
A. Not all coveting is wrong.
1) Root is word "desire" or "delight."
2) God gave us desires, and filled world with delightful things.
a) It doesn't imply that we can't desire anything.
b) God knows we need things. Luke 12:30
c) Good to desire God's gifts. 1 Cor 12:31
3) Balance is needed.
B. To wrongly desire delightful things is sin.
1) Desiring excessively.
a) Need, or greed?
b) Life doesn't consist of abundance of possessions. Lk 12:15
2) Desiring illegitimately.
a) "Do not enter." God forbids some good things to us.
b) Achan's sin. Joshua 7:21
3) Desiring exploitatively.
a) When gaining a good thing hurts someone else. Micah 2:2
C. Coveting is based on a fallacy.
1) Happiness doesn't come from the outside in.
In his novel "The First Circle," Russian writer Alexander
Solzhenitsyn has one of the characters in prison say,
"The happiness of incessant victory, the happiness of
fulfilled desire, the happiness of success, and total
satisfaction - THAT is suffering!
That is spiritual death....
[People] waste themselves in senseless thrashing around for
the sake of a handful of goods and die without realizing
their spiritual wealth....
It is not our level of prosperity that makes for happiness,
but the kinship of heart to heart, and the way we look
at the world."
#3247
2) The myth of "more" is not limited to novels.
In real life it was Howard Hughes' obsession.
There was only one thing he wanted in life--more.
He wanted more money, so he parlayed inherited wealth into a
billion dollar pile of assets.
He wanted more fame, so he went to Hollywood and became a
film maker and star.
He wanted more sensual pleasures, so he paid handsome sums
to indulge his every hedonistic urge.
He wanted more thrills, so he designed, built and piloted
the fastest aircraft in the world.
He wanted more power, so he secretly dealt political favors
so skillfully that two U.S. presidents became his pawns.
All he ever wanted was more.
And yet this man ended his life emaciated; colorless; with
a sunken chest.
His fingernails resembled grotesque, inches-long corkscrews.
His teeth were black and rotten, and innumerable needle
marks covered his body from his drug addiction.
Howard Hughes walked around nearly naked most of the time
with his beard and hair to his waist.
He lived in darkness, wore rubber gloves, sterilized
everything in his junk-filled room.
He spent most of his time watching old movies and drinking
soup.
He talked on the phone for 10 to 15 hours a day, he was so
lonely.
Howard Hughes died weighing 95 pounds believing the myth of
more.
He died a billionaire junkie.
#1689
a) We like stories of messed up billionaires.
b) But what will your kids say about you?
D. Happiness is an inside job.
V. The alternative: Contentment.
A. Contentment is not passive acceptance of whatever comes.
1) It is being happy whatever our circumstances.
a) Rich, poor, etc.
2) It is a condition of the heart. Phil 4:11-12
B. Contentment is realizing what has true worth.
Study after study has shown that money is not the key to
happiness.
A recent survey was made of 52,000 men and women, most of
whom were in the upper economic brackets.
Out of sixteen possible sources of happiness for married
women, money ranked thirteen.
With married men, money ranked tenth.
It was ninth with single women; seventh with single men.
Your marriage is a better investment than your bank account.
So are your children, your friends, and your health.
There is one investment, however, that pays bigger dividends
than all the rest put together.
Be rich in the things of God. #1769
VI. What do YOU covet?
A. Repent for desiring what others have.
1) We need to search our hearts about our selfishness.
2) Handle everything God gives you with open hands, like Job.
B. Put God first. Luke 12:29-31
1) As Jesus himself says, God knows we need stuff.
2) But we must put God's Kingdom first.
a) Seek godliness. 1 Tim 6:11
3) Having God on our side is enough. Heb 13:5
C. Do you cherish your relationship with God?
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Briscoe, Ten Commandments
I. Attitudes, more than actions.
A. This sin pervades all the others.
B. It shows how the law relates to what lies inside our hearts.
II. Where the commandment comes from.
A. Root is word "desire" or "delight."
B. To overly desire delightful things is wrong.
1) It doesn't imply that we can't desire anything.
2) God gave us desires, and filled the world with delightful
things.
3) Balance is needed.
III. God-given desires.
IV. God-given things.
A. God gives us good, delightful things.
B. Things we must deny:
1) Desiring excessively.
2) Desiring illegitimately.
3) Desiring exploitatively.
4) Desiring exclusively.
V. What covetousness does.
A. It leads to dishonesty and injustice.
1) We wreck other people's lives.
2) (Naboth and Ahab)
B. Our age is weak concerning coveting.
1) The economic system is based on it.
2) Coveting leads to insatiable demands.
C. Your treasure shows where your heart is.
VI. How we can respond.
A. We need to search our hearts.
1) Are we motivated by selfishness?
B. Limiting our lifestyles.
C. We can be content because the Lord is our portion. Heb 13:5
............................................................................
Kaiser, Expositor's
I. Commandment deals with man's inner heart.
A. Shows that none of the previous 9 could be observed merely from
an external or formal act.
B. Inner instincts that lead up to the act are included. 1 Tim 6:6
II. Our coveting is revealed by the law as sin. Rom 7:7-8
............................................................................
Maxie Dunnam, Mastering OT
I. Commandment seems bland compared to the others.
A. We don't covet donkeys, but lots of other stuff.
II. Not all coveting is wrong.
A. Good to desire God's gifts. 1 Cor 12:31
B. Bad to desire:
1) Things directed in the wrong channel.
2) Wanting things that belong to others.
3) Going after things to which we have no right.
C. Learn to be content. Heb 13:5
III. How to we fall into coveting stuff of others?
A. We convince ourselves that we have a sort of cosmic right to
an equal share of the good things of life.
1) We always want to be averaged up, not down.
B. We believe fallacy that happiness comes from the outside in,
rather than the inside out.
1) (Solzhenitsyn quote)
2) Happiness is an inside job.
3) What matters most is not what becomes of us, but what we
become; we determine that.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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