We turn our attention this morning to the 10th commandment as it's been read to you from the Decalogue there in Deuteronomy chapter 5, and as it's quoted here in our text in Romans 7 and verse 7. For I had not known lust except the law had said, thou shalt not covet, and there the 10th commandment is stated. And as we seek to learn from the Lord's word this day, we'll take that verse, Romans 7, 7 as our text, and we'll seek to understand three things. The first thing that we want to seek to understand is the searchingness of this 10th commandment. What is it that the 10th commandment forbids in the first place? What does it forbid? And we could notice as we look at it, the various words that are employed in stating the 10th commandment. And so we have three different words here used in close proximity in Romans 7, for I had not known lust. Now we may think principally of the word lust as the violation of the seventh commandment. We may think of an unchaste, unclean lust, and indeed that is lust, but the word here is broader. This underlying word refers simply to strong desire. And the same word then underlies this translation, covet also in verse seven and the word concupiscence. in verse eight, all words, all these words, as well as the word desire, we read the word desire there in Deuteronomy five are referring to a certain motion, desire, affection of the heart, referring to a certain seeking of the heart after a forbidden thing. We could also notice, as we try to understand this 10th commandment, not only what words are employed in stating the commandment, but also the great number of different objects upon which this desire or covetousness may fix. So there we read in Deuteronomy 5.21, Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor's. We're meant to be overwhelmed by the number of different things that this forbidden lust, covetousness, or desire may seek after and fix itself upon. They are piled up, and then we're told that it's not even a complete list or anything that is thy neighbor's. As we seek to understand, we'd also notice that when the 10th commandment is stated here in Deuteronomy 5, that there's nothing new in one sense that's introduced. There is reference to your neighbor's wife. And so the 7th commandment has already told you what your conduct must be towards your neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not commit adultery. The 10th commandment refers to your neighbor's house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, and your conduct towards all of your neighbor's possessions is already spelled out by the 8th commandment. Thou shalt not steal. And so what is, why is it needed that there be a 10th commandment at all when It doesn't introduce before us any new object upon which sin might act. It's not there to introduce some new object or area where we could transgress, but what it introduces is a new kind of way that sin acts, a new layer and depth of corruption is what the 10th commandment shines the light upon. It's been implied all along in each of the 10 commandments that there is not only an external act that is forbidden, but that there is a legion of underlying desires that are also forbidden. But now that fact is coming right to the surface in the 10th commandment. Because what the 10th commandment forbids is all unlawful motions of heart and inordinate affections and desiring of anything that is our neighbors. And I mentioned to you before that it was significant that there's a variation there in Deuteronomy 5. That in Deuteronomy 5, that first the neighbor's wife is mentioned, and then the neighbor's house is mentioned. Now the Church of Rome puts different numbers on the Ten Commandments. So one thing that it accomplishes is it hides idolatry because it takes the First and Second Commandments and makes them one, but then to make 10 in number, it has to split the 10 commandments and say the 9th commandment is thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. The 10th commandment is thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. However, when we see that Here in Deuteronomy, the order is flipped so that your neighbor's wife comes first and then your neighbor's house. We see that it's unjustified to say that the ninth commandment forbids covening your neighbor's house and the 10th covening his wife because then the commandments would be in a different order. Well, maybe this is, maybe that's a long step of logic. But do you see that if the Church of Rome is allowed to split the Tenth Commandment, it's hiding something. And it's hiding something very important. And the thing that is hidden when the Tenth Commandment is split in that way is that people are left thinking, well, really, Sin is only, different sins are only distinguished because they act upon different things, and it hides the spirit and intent of the 10th commandment. And the 10th spirit of the 10th commandment is not to introduce that some new Act is sinful, but to show the corruption of the heart and the sinfulness of desires after any sinful, unlawful thing. And that's underscored when we come here to Romans 7. And in verse 7, as the apostle quotes this 10th commandment, He quotes it without naming any object at all. He doesn't quote it and say, thou shalt, except the law had said thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. He simply leaves it here. The 10th commandment is, thou shalt not covet whatsoever the object is upon which the affections of a wicked heart unlawfully seek and grasp. Whatever the object is, it is forbidden. The law says no to evil desire. forbids and condemns the first sinful motions of the heart so that anything can be coveted as Absalom well he coveted his father's place in So he broke the fifth commandment because he didn't honor his father, but he had a rising desire to push himself up into his father's place. So he coveted honor in the place of his father. Covetousness can even fix itself upon something that doesn't even exist as in the rich man. who his fields produced plentifully. And he said to his own soul, I'll tear down my barns and I'll build bigger ones. He coveted bigger barns that existed only in his imagination, which shows us then. What this 10th commandment is showing us is that sin is deep in its roots and it is unlimited in its scope. It can go even into the fields of imaginary things and commit sin there. Our shorter catechism tells us that this 10th commandment forbids all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his, that is anything that is our neighbors. It's speaking of a desire that's out of proportion and out of degree. So the two examples, we have Haman who desired that Mordecai would honor him and Well, Haman had a high position in the land. But the thing about his desire is that it was inordinate. When he saw that Mordecai didn't bow, he was full of wrath. He went away from the banquet with a glad heart. But he saw Mordecai standing, and he was full of indignation. He went home to his house, and he told his household all about his wealth and his multitude of children. And he said, yet this availeth me nothing, as long as I see Mordecai standing in the king's gate, that his heart so wrapped itself around this one thing of Mordecai honoring him. His desire for that was out of all proportion, just like with Ahab, who wanted the vineyard of Naboth and came to Naboth in the first place Ahab didn't attempt to steal Naboth's vineyard, but he actually proposed a transaction where he would give him a better vineyard or give him the price of the vineyard in money. And then when Naboth rightly favored the promise of God and the inheritance over pragmatism, Ahab came away heavy and displeased to his house. He turned away his face and he would not eat his bread. He wasn't proposing to steal Naboth's vineyard. And it was Jezebel's idea to kill Naboth. And it's true that the vineyard shouldn't be transferred because it was the inheritance. But in some sense, Ahab was trying to propose a fair deal. I'll give you money. And yet his desire for what belonged to his neighbor was disproportionate and he could not rest content while that thing was denied to him. He was wrong in his desire and the degree of his desire was part of his sin. The 10th commandment shows forth the perfection of the law of God. And it's appropriate that here in the last, the 10th commandment, that the entire perfection of the law of God should especially shine forth. Our catechism also tells us that this commandment requires a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor and all that is his. It requires charity in the utmost degree of perfection so that every motion of our heart and every affection that we have concerning our neighbor is only towards him to delight in his good, never to envy or grieve if he has more than we do. The 10th commandment requires, as Paul says, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. The 10th commandment requires that charity that seeketh not her own. The 10th commandment ultimately requires that love, which we only have ever seen in man. We've only ever seen such perfect love practiced in man by man. by our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The 10th commandment ultimately requires that every shade of every thought and feeling towards your neighbor only delight in his good and even that you be willing to die, that you would rejoice if you could die for his good. The 10th commandment shows forth the perfection of the second table of the law, which requires perfect charity towards our neighbor. And it shows forth the perfection of the first table of the law, which requires that we love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. because fretting and murmuring at the providences of God, as the Israelites did so much in the wilderness, speaking against God and against Moses and saying, there's no bread here in the wilderness, so that the Lord sent fiery serpents amongst them. To be discontent with our own estate is to find fault with God and therefore to not be contented with God himself. The 10th commandment requires us to take God as our portion. And this is why the apostle says in Colossians 3, 5, he speaks of covetousness, which is idolatry, that to have anything less than an undivided heart, which loves the Lord God purely, for any portion of the heart to be turned aside unto the love of money. That's one word that underlies the word covetousness. We see the word covetousness in our Bibles. Sometimes the word is emphasizing the desire. As we've said here in Romans 7, sometimes as in Hebrews 13, the underlying word refers to the love of money, sometimes to the desire for more. Is God enough for you by forbidding covetousness? And one of the words for covetousness means wanting more. The 10th commandment requires you to be at all times in such a frame and state in your whole soul that you will say, if I have God, I want nothing more. As in Lamentations three, the Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore I will hope in him. The 10th commandment shows the perfection of the law of God. It is searching. And Paul tells us here of his own experience and how the law said, thou shalt not covet. I wonder if the example of Stephen had anything to do with Paul's coming to be convicted about the perfection of what the law of God requires in the account of Stephen. We don't have any direct reference necessarily to the 10th commandment, but we have Stephen saying to those with whom he disputed the unbelieving fellow Jews with whom he disputed. He said the last words of his speech in verse 53 of Acts 7. He said of them who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. He said that they weren't law keepers and they thought that they were. That was the thing they prided themselves upon. And he was bold to say, you're not law keepers. And then by his own example in his death, he showed something of what an uncovetous spirit looks like. At his death, when he was being stoned, and men have very little reason to fake anything when they're dying. And then when Stephen was dying, and when Saul of Tarsus was looking on, then it was that Stephen, while they stoned him, he was calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. His spirit was all and undivided. We know that holiness is never perfect in this life. And Stephen only truly became perfect the moment after he died. But what I mean is that to a large degree, by grace at his death, his spirit was all the Lord's. And this is what he wanted with all his soul was to know God in Christ and to be received by the Lord Jesus Christ. All pleasures of sense and the whole world he let go of, but commended his spirit to the Lord Jesus. There was a heart upon which this law of the 10th commandment had been written. And there was a heart upon which this law of the 10th commandment had been written, not only being content to have God in Christ as his portion, but in perfect charity. Yes, not, he wasn't perfect till after he died, but a large degree of charity towards his neighbor so that as he died, he knelt down and cried, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. That in the, In the most sincere motion of his heart, he wanted the good of those who are putting him to death. And this was true charity. And this was the likeness and image of God and some true resemblance of what he really requires. And the second table of the law crowned by the 10th commandment, the 10th commandment searching. Now this is some few words said about the searchingness of the Tenth Commandment. But let's also consider, secondly, the power of this Tenth Commandment. The power of this Tenth Commandment, and in verse 7 of Romans 7, Paul is telling us the powerful impact that this Tenth Commandment had upon him, and that it was a turning point in his own life. Let's consider several steps in in order to comprehend what's being said here. The first step is that covetousness is sin. And that should be clear enough, because he says, I have not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said thou shalt not covet. So this Motion of the heart, this inordinate affection and this desiring what is our neighbors is forbidden by the law and is therefore sin. And earlier in verse five, Paul speaks of the motions of sins. So the first rising of sinful desire is itself sin. Maybe you wonder why is it necessary to say that? Doesn't that seem rather obvious? Well, someone might say, well, if sin is only in the first rising of desire towards a forbidden object, doesn't that make it less? Isn't sin that's only in the desire to be extenuated? It's not as bad. because it isn't carried through into the action, someone may say. And in a certain sense, that is right. If there's a desire in the heart and a rising of the heart up towards sin, that by grace is conquered and subdued, it's better or less heinous in one sense, than if that desire is suffered to grow and to bring forth the act of sin. In one sense, it's right, but here's another thing. Here's the other thing that we need to see. In another sense, it's actually an aggravation of the sinfulness of sin when we consider its first rising in the heart. For this reason, because the first risings of the heart show more truly what we really are. James says, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. So these words acknowledge what I just said. Suppose that sin is only in the desire and it doesn't come forth into the act. Wouldn't you say that's maybe a lesser form of sin? In some sense, perhaps we could say that. It's like a child that's conceived but never born. A lesser, I'm sorry, words are eluding me to explain it. In some sense, yes, we would say if it's only in the desire, it's a less developed form of sin, but it also shows where sin comes from. It comes from a man's own heart. It's not God who tempts him, but he's enticed of his own lust. And God's eye is much upon sins first rising. You remember the words, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And likewise, in the second Psalm, the opening words, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? That God holds it as the great guilt of nations, that what they merely imagine or meditate And though their meditation is a vain thing that they'll never be able to bring to pass, they cannot dethrone God's Christ, but it's a vain thing they'll never do, but they're imagining it, they're meditating it, and that God counts as great sin. God looks much upon the heart because it should be his throne. So this covetousness, this first rising of desire towards a forbidden object is itself sin. That's one thing our text teaches us. Here's a second step, and that is that natural man is blind to that fact. that the first risings of his desire are of themselves sinful. Paul says that he once was blind to that fact, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. So proud natural man in his unregenerate state, uh, doesn't go the length of this commandment. And he thinks some natural men may confess, well, yes, I have sins in certain ways, but I'm good at heart after all, he doesn't take indoors the searchingness of the 10th commandment. And he actually has. a powerful religious ally, natural man's religion, has reached its towering form of perfection in the Church of Rome. And so there is, in the official teaching of the Council of Trent, this statement to the effect that even though the apostle here in this chapter says that covetousness, lust, concupiscence is sin. Even though he calls it sin, it's not truly or properly sin in a baptized person. Because baptism destroys original sin, And so the first rising or inclination of the heart towards some sinful object in a baptized person, it doesn't become sin until the mind deliberates upon it and the will consents to it. And so then when you read our confession of faith in chapter six and paragraph Five, you'll understand why this needs to be said as follows. This corruption of nature during this life doth remain in those that are regenerated. And although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself and all the motions thereof are truly and properly sinful. And so here in Romans, in chapter six, for instance, and in verse six, this inward corruption is likened to a person. It is called the old man. This inward corruption is there again in Romans six and verse six compared to a body. And that terminology of a body appears again at the end of chapter 7, where Paul, now as the regenerate man, laments that this body still is with him. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Words escape me to express it because it really is a very great mystery. But what I'm trying to show you is that there's a deep natural corruption in the heart of man that is sinful. And this 10th commandment touches it and reveals it to be sinful. We hear very often, or I should say we hear more and more these days, people will excuse sin by saying, this is just the way we are. We were acting according to our nature. We're acting according to the way to our hearts, the way we are, the way our hearts are shaped. We're acting according to that. So how can it be sinful? But the law of the Lord says, be ye holy for I am holy. God is holy and therefore all his acts are holy. And what God requires in his law is nothing less than that you be holy. holy. He requires an entire holiness of your entire person. That your heart and your very first impulses of affection that rise like the mist off of the water. He requires in his law that you be holy to that degree of rootedness to that depth. He requires, especially in this 10th commandment, he forbids the very existence of sin and the body of sin and death. Yes, we receive it from our first parents and were brought into the world with it. And yet the law of God forbids it. It's there, but God's law forbids it and says, be holy for I am holy. And this is the reason why we're brought to that statement of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ye must be born again. This 10th commandment shuts every single door and it says, Don't think that you can bring forth something that will merit anything with God because the very motions of your heart are stained with sin. Don't think that you can reform yourself or change yourself because you have no place to stand. We can't say, well, my, uh, My body is corrupt, but at least my will is upright and I can stand upon the ground of my own unfallen will or my own unfallen mind and I can act upon myself to reform myself. No, this 10th commandment shuts every door to you. People might say, well, that's very discouraging, but actually, Calvinism is a lot more encouraging than Arminianism. But because Arminianism, semi-Pelagianism, which are degrees of sliding down a slope to putting confidence in the flesh, say you have something in yourself to build upon. But after all, whatever is left there in you that's unfallen is uncertain anyways, and it might change. And so you could build upon it, but then it could give way under your feet, and then you would be lost. And rather, the Bible doctrine says, you have nothing to build upon. And you can't even produce faith. But God can. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Look to the grace of God. This is what the 10th commandment shuts us in to. To be blind to the sinfulness of sinful desires is ultimately to be blind to sin itself. That's taught us here in our text. I had not known sin, but by the law. That's the state that Paul was once in, of not knowing sin. Can that mean that he was doctrinally ignorant of the doctrine of sin? He who knew the Old Testament scriptures like no one else, surely he wasn't ignorant of the Bible's doctrine of sin or the reason why there needed to be a day of atonement or Passover lamb, his blood shed. He wasn't ignorant of the doctrine of sin, but he was in a state practically and experientially where he didn't know sin. And what was it that wrought the change? He once didn't know sin, but then he came to know sin. He came to know sin when he came to understand the 10th commandment for I had not known sin, but by the law for I had not known lust except the law had said thou shalt not covet. that this was the thing that turned the lights on so that he saw sin as sinful. And we want the lights to be turned on because here in this chapter, here in verse 13, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. And so people we meet will say, yes, I acknowledge that I'm a sinner. No one's perfect. Yes, I told a lie once and so on. But they're still in the state that Paul was in. I had not known sin. A man knows sin when he sees the searchingness of the 10th commandment and the evil risings of affection in his own heart and the corruption of his whole nature. That's when we can say, I know sin. This blindness of the natural man to covetousness and evil desire has slain multitudes of souls. When Christ was near to the rich young ruler, none of the commandments humbled him. What must I do to have eternal life? You know the commandments. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not bear false witness. The Lord Jesus named to that rich young ruler all the commandments of the second table except for the 10th. And he said, all these have I kept from my youth. He didn't know sin. And then it was that the Lord Jesus said to him, go away and sell all that you have. And then it was that he went away grieved because he had great possessions. He didn't see his sin. He had a great idol that was in Christ's place. His evil desires were fixed upon the world and his possessions. And he was content to stay there grasping the world. And he didn't see that that was his greatest sin of all. And so we say with Isaiah, who have believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Why is it when God comes as he does in the gospel and he offers a mild gospel way to have eternal life. Why is it that people don't believe even those who hear and sit under the gospel? Why do they instead remain self-satisfied in that state that Paul was in, not knowing sin, thinking well of themselves? Why don't they? Surely this is one great reason. It is because they have not yielded to the searchingness of the 10th commandment. The light of the 10th commandment would show us the reason why you don't have a taste and savor for Christ and that mild, sweet gospel way is because there's an idol in his place that you're grasping. And that grasping, your grasping of the idol is your greatest sin of all. This is what sunk Judas to hell. that he loved money and Demas who traveled with this apostle whose words were reading and who forsook him because he loved this present world. Judas and Demas had just as good gospel offers as you have, but they're now in hell because they did not see this, the sinfulness of their covetousness. But there was a man who did see it. There was a man who saw this man who once was called Saul of Tarsus, who tells us here of his own experience. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, For I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Have you allowed yourself to be searched by the light of the tenth commandment? Have you come like the woman of Samaria, who said to her townsman, come see a man which told me all things that ever I did? Have you fallen on your face before this holy Lord and said, unclean, unclean? There is no soundness within. May God grant it to us to have his law strip away our excuses and our proud thoughts of self and lay us low. This is the power that God gave to the Tenth Commandment in the life of Paul. May he be pleased to give it to each of us. The power of the Tenth Commandment is to teach what proud nature is stubborn and will not learn, but God gives power to his law to teach it. So those are a few words about the power of this Tenth Commandment, but I want to say A little further, a third thing, which is the limits of this 10th commandment. What this 10th commandment can do is bring proud nature down to the dust and bring men to see themselves as wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked in a spiritual sense. That's what the 10th commandment can do. But there are things that it cannot do. And there in chapter 8 of Romans, Paul speaks of what the law could not do. Romans 8, 3, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. What can't the 10th commandment do? The 10th commandment cannot save you. It cannot save you from the predicament that it reveals if you have eyes to see this predicament. And to be more particular, several things that the 10th commandment cannot do are that the 10th commandment cannot reveal the righteousness of God. The 10th commandment requires righteousness, but it doesn't provide righteousness or tell you where you may obtain by faith alone righteousness. And Paul has written this epistle in order that he might tell us where we may find righteousness. And it is the gospel that reveals the righteousness of God. Chapter one in verse 17, speaking of the gospel of Christ, that is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, he says, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. And again, in chapter three and verse 21, he says, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. So when we hear the word law, we need to be able to understand sometimes there's meant law in a broad sense and sometimes law in a narrow sense. So the law and prophets in a broad sense Well, do they reveal the righteousness of God? Certainly so. And even the Ten Commandments themselves are begun by the preface, which says, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. The law in a broad sense does reveal a God who saves. But the law in a narrow sense, take it strictly, take it as the bare commandment or precept of God, which says do, which demands doing. and which says, thou shalt not covet. In this sense, the law, in a narrow sense, comes to you who are sick, no, you who are dead, and it says, get up and walk, live. It says to the one with an utterly corrupt heart, have a perfect heart. Be content with the Lord as your portion and desire nothing more, and rejoice perfectly when your neighbor prospers, and be willing to die for your neighbor. It comes to a malicious, God-hating, self-loving heart and says, be perfect, exercise every degree of love towards God and towards man. And this bare precept cannot save you. And instead, we must look to a righteousness revealed in the gospel in which God shows forth Jesus Christ and perfect righteousness in him to be received by faith alone from faith to faith every way by faith. And that alone is this righteousness obtained. We must look off to the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect fulfiller of the law of God who did indeed. He was utterly content in every shade and degree of his affections with his God and father as his God and loved his neighbor to the laying down of his life. We must look to the gospel to see where the righteousness of God is revealed. This 10th commandment can't reveal the righteousness of God. This 10th commandment cannot destroy the body of sin, which is spoken of, as I said, in Romans 6 and verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. The bare commandment of God, take the law in a narrow sense. And it comes to the man in his state of sin. And does it enable him to put this inward corruption to death? No. Rather, it provokes and stirs up his corruption, as we've read in multiple places here in Romans 7, that it wrought in me, the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. And what an evidence of the fallen state of man outside of Christ, that when the commandment comes He rebels against the commandment. The more light, the more rebellion. And so the law cannot crucify, mortify, and put to death this grieving body of corruption within, but only the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. Only when we rest on him by faith and can say, I have been crucified with Christ, then alone are we redeemed out from underneath of the bondage of corruption. This 10th commandment then can't destroy the body of sin. And also the 10th commandment, take it in its bare sense, take it as a bare precept. It cannot comfort the wretched man. And there we read later in this chapter of the experience of Paul, where he speaks in the present tense, I am carnal sold under sin. If then I do, I do present tense fall as a believer is here groaning because of the inward conflict. And this is actually a mark of a believer to have this inward conflict. It's unique to the believer to have it. Because the man in his unregenerate state, who is under the dominion of sin, sins with a whole heart. And he can't say that he disallows his own actions as Paul does here. He can't say that there are two principles wrestling within him, a law of his mind and a law of his members. And all this while, The believer loves the law of the Lord. You see how that's unique to the believer? Because he says, so then I with the mind, I myself serve the law of God and that he delights in the law of God. After the inward man, verse 22, the believer loves this 10th commandment. and says, Yes, Lord, it is right that there should be in my heart such an absence of covetousness that I will content myself with God in Christ as my God and say he is my portion and I have full contentment in him. It is only right that God should have such dominion within me that all my affections are under the control of his spirit and that I can receive lovingly and cheerfully all his dispensations towards me and say the lines are fallen for me in pleasant places. It is right that I especially who have looked to him who laid down his life for his friends should show so love my neighbors that I only rejoice when they prosper. I delight in that law of God. I delight in the 10th commandment. I long that it should be so with my heart. That's the language of a believer. And yet he says, Oh, wretched man that I am. longing to be freed from that closely clinging body of corruption that the 10th commandment points out. Have you ever resonated with Psalm 119 and verse 113? I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love. There's black and white, love and hatred. I love the law of the Lord. I love the law of a God who has provided a righteousness for me and who has in Christ crucified and mortified that old man, that body of sin. I love this God. I love his law. There is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. And with wrath and condemnation taken away, how can I not love the law? But I hate vain thoughts. I hate these inward things, these thoughts. which are contrary to the law, these vain, empty, trifling desires, I hate them, and I love the law. That's the mark of a believer, is that your state and your condition. Then you may with Paul thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who shall not forever leave his people in the present state where he's pleased to put his regenerate people with two laws raging within. But we can thank God that we're no longer under the dominion of sin and will one day be freed from its very presence at the level of desires. May God help us to that. Amen. And would you pray with me? Lord, our God and our Father in heaven, we bless thy name for thy word and for for thy law, which searches us and tries our very inward thoughts. Help us then to be humbled before thee and to look outward upward to look off by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, putting no confidence in the flesh. Save us, we pray, from an antinomian spirit also, which isn't grieved by sin or thinks that there is no sin within, but do help us to be grieved by sin. even as we rejoice and give thanks to thee, our God, through Jesus Christ. We pray for any who've heard the word today, who've come in under the blindness of a natural condition, not seeing the depth of corruption. And we pray, open their eyes. And we pray that they might, by the commandment, die so that they may in Christ live and in living, bring forth fruit. even that walking in the ways of thy commandments. And we pray in Jesus name, amen.