Well, good afternoon, church family. I hope you're doing well, and I hope that you are staying dry with all the rain we've been having. I am coming to you from the First Baptist Church, Jenny Lynn Sanctuary, and I am thrilled that we have this time this afternoon to study God's word together and continue our weekday devotionals through the Ten Commandments. So if you have your Bible, I just invite you now to turn with me to Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20, we will be looking at the 10th commandment this afternoon. Exodus chapter 20 at verse 17. The 10th commandment. Exodus chapter 20, verse 17. Dear friends, let me read the word of God to you. The word of God says, 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 neighbor's. Dear ones, this is the word of God. Thanks be to God. Let's pray together. Our Father and our God, we thank you for this time we have to study your word. Father, we praise you for your word. For your word, oh Lord, is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. We pray, Father, that today we would hide your word in our heart, that we may not sin against you. Father, we ask that you would take your word, that you would first open our minds to understand the scriptures, and by your Spirit, we pray that you would put knowledge in our mind and understanding in our hearts, that you would tune our affections to love you, O God, to honor and worship you with our words and deeds, and to cling more earnestly to Christ. Father, we pray that you would forgive us for our longing eyes, that you would turn our hearts away from love of the world and the things in the world, and that you would teach us to be satisfied in Christ. Because, Father, in Christ you have given us everything. You have given us your own dear Son as our Savior and our King. Dear Lord Jesus, anchor our hearts that they may not wonder that they might stand steadfast and true in love for you. Father, we ask your blessing in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, friends, we come to the final of the 10, the final commandment of the 10 commandments. Again, I just urge you to Commit this section to memory. I find that memorizing Scripture is the single best way to meditate on the Word of God. Remember, friends, that God in His Word calls us not only to be just those who peruse or just have a broad glance at the Word of God, but we are to be students of the Word of God. As the psalmist says, he meditates upon the Word day and night, that the wise man, meditates, that the one whom God blesses, the one who God's face shines upon is the one who delights in the law of God and on his law he meditates day and night. So let us be those who meditate on the Word of God. Remember that word meditate in the Bible means to fill up. It means to fill the mind with the truth of God's Word and to as it were, churn and chew and begin to digest the truth, to ask questions, to pray, to seek God's face and ask that by his spirit he would illumine and give us insight into His Word, and for that reason, friends, memorization is the single best tool that I can recommend for your meditation of the Word of God. So as you commit a verse at a time to memory, as you're praying and asking the Spirit to teach and to lead you, be confident that our God says that if we seek Him with our whole heart, He will be found by us, that we will know Christ and we will grow in our love, our joy, and our obedience to Him. And so friends, this is not a profitless endeavor. This is not a, you know, a carrot on a stick, but the Lord says that we should seek Him. that we may find him. And so as we seek the Lord and his word, we are reminded that these Ten Commandments are the moral law of God. They are, as we have said, the expression of God's own holy character. That is, God reveals who he is by his word, and by his law, he reveals his holiness. And so God's righteous character is disclosed by these Ten Commandments. And we see that they are, on the one hand, setting forth for us what God deems to be right and good and true, and what God declares to be unjust, wrong, false, and profitless for us to do as His human creatures. And we see that these 10 commandments are given, one, as a context of the covenant that God is making with the nation of Israel, at Mount Horeb, but we see that this is really the republication of the law that God set forth in creation with Adam. This is the universal moral law of God to which we have the witness of our own consciences. So, friends, as we look at this, remember this is speaking to us, where we are today. This is the law of God for every generation, for every person in every place and under every conceivable circumstance. This is the Word of Almighty God and these are his commandments for us and these reveal his holiness and they reveal, by contrast, our sin and wretchedness. And we saw how there are really two tables to the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments deal with what we might call the vertical table, that is, man's relationship to God, that vertical direction. But we know that we were made in covenant not just to be in covenant with God, not to just have a relationship with Him, but we were made to have a relationship with our neighbor, with other people. And so there is a horizontal direction or instruction to the law of God. And we see that it is dependent on the vertical. That is, we cannot begin to truly love our neighbor as ourself unless we first begin to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul. and mind and strength. And so these Ten Commandments are, as it were, the exposition of that great and most fundamental law to love God. And we see that that love of God means to believe God and to obey His Word, to trust His promises, to rest under His rule. This love of God is not simply warm, fuzzy feelings about God. or a love of God that is devoid of the truth of God, but it is loving God as he has revealed himself in his word and ultimately in the person and work of Christ. And this true love is the product of the new birth. that though we were made to love God because of sin, we don't love God, and we refuse to give him the glory due his name. But when we are born again, the Spirit quickens and gives to us new affections so that we most earnestly desire to come, to submit, to yield, and to follow King Jesus and to love God. and honor him. As Christ says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And so this is what it means as we come to Christ, as we are reconciled to God in his name. Now in Christ Jesus, the father is training us for righteousness. He is training us to be the holy children that we already are in his dear son. And so verse 17, as we look at the text, notice again, the prohibition. You shall not covet. You shall not covet. Now remember, you, that's the universal application. It means every one of us, so you can put your own name there. This is you, Clay. This is you, Sam. This is you, Paul. You and I, us, we shall not covet. This is a prohibition, a command of negation against coveting. Now friends, if I were to ask you to write up, let's say that you and I are part of the Constitutional Convention and here we are, we've gotten our independence and we're forming a nation and we have to sit down and put the the Constitution together. We have to sit down and form the body of legislation that will govern our nation. I know we could probably think of some things that we would want to put in there. I mean, we definitely would want some of these commandments, you know, prohibitions against murder, against theft. We would want to make sure that there were punishments for folks that lied under oath. And we would want all these things. But I doubt that many of us which spend the precious ink in our Bill of Rights to say we need to have a prohibition against coveting. And the reason is very clear. It's because coveting, friends, is something that is internal. It's something that's going on inside of us, going on in our minds, going on in our affections and desires. It is a hidden emotion. It is a hidden Sin, the word to covet means to cast longing eyes upon. It means to look at someone or something that belongs to someone else and desire to take. and to have it for oneself. And that this desire, this is so strong, this yearning passion to have, that we are willing even to take that possession, to take that which belongs to another for ourselves. And so there is a a desire, longing, a yearning to have, at whatever cost, something that belongs to another. And friends, again, this is rooted in the heart, but the reason it's here is because it really ties to the first commandment. Remember where the first commandment says, you shall have no other gods, before me." Remember, God said that He alone is worthy of worship. He alone is to be the supreme affection of our hearts. And that we are to find our greatest delight and satisfaction in Him, knowing that He gives to us everything that is good and everything that is necessary for us to know Him, to love Him, and to follow Him. And friends, this coveting, and begins in the heart, finds its fruition in all kinds of idolatry. When we are not satisfied in God, when we are not finding our contentment in Christ, when we are not resting with joy in the salvation that Christ has won for us, Then, friends, our heart begins to turn aside to other lovers, to other idols, to other things. And so, friends, coveting begins in the heart. And, friends, that is why God, in his great and perfect wisdom, is leading us here at the end to think about the heart. Friends, that is the core of true morality. Friends, true religion, as it has been said, is a religion of the heart. We remember the famous example in 1 Samuel. Samuel, the prophet, is old, and God has rejected Saul. But God has said to Samuel, Samuel, why do you mourn? Why do you weep for Saul? I've rejected him. But guess what, Samuel? I have appointed for myself a king, a king after my own heart who will do my will. And he is one of the sons of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. And so God says, Samuel, go up to Bethlehem and anoint the son of Jesse that I will reveal to you. And so Samuel goes to Bethlehem and he prepares a feast and he invites Jesse and his sons to come. And you recall that Jesse brought all of his sons before Samuel and he brought his firstborn, Eliab. And Eliab was a very strong, tall, handsome man. Much like Saul, he was a man's man. He was everything from outward appearance that a king ought to be. Strong, athletic, handsome. And Samuel said, surely the Lord's anointing stands before him. But the Lord spoke to Samuel and said, Samuel, look no longer at his outward appearance or his physical stature, because I have rejected him. For God does not see as man sees. For man looks only at the outward appearance, but it is God who looks at the heart, the heart. Now friends, when God speaks of heart in the Bible, he is often using and almost every time using the heart as an illustration. He's not speaking of the cardiovascular organ that pumps blood within your veins, but taking this as an illustration, as an image for the interior man, that just like your heart, is so critical and crucial to your very life, and it pumps blood to the rest of your body. And because it's hidden and encased in flesh and bone, it is inside of you, but it is that very life that animates you. So too, the Bible is saying that the interior man, what we think about, what we yearn for and desire, that inner dialogue, all of these passions and pursuits that are coursing in our mind, find their expression in what we say, what we do. and how we conduct our lives. Friends, God promises that on the day of judgment, he will not only judge us for our words and works, but also for the motives and intentions for every thought and intention of the heart. Friends, so many times we think that we are keeping the law of God if we simply refrain from the outward action. But Christ says in Matthew chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount that God is looking deeper at the inner motivation. You know, Jesus said, you've heard it said, you shall not murder. But I say to you, if anyone is angry with his brother, if anyone says, Raka, you fool, and hates his brother in his heart, he has already committed murder against him from the heart. What Jesus is saying is that God judges the heart. He judges our interior motivations that are the catalyst, the cause that produces the effects of our sin. So, friends, the sin problem we have is inside. The sin problem is not exterior coming in, but it's interior coming out. We have a sinful nature, a fallen nature, a heart that is desiring for iniquity. And what God is saying here is He's saying, even your coveting thoughts, when you want and yearn and desire to take and to have what belongs to another, God says that that is sin. Even if you don't steal, even if you don't lie, If there's coveting in your heart, God says that that is rebellion against him. And so friends, true religion is a religion of the heart. And unless or until we're born again, we can only address the exterior. We can only have behavioral modification. But thanks be to God that he reforms and renews our coveting hearts. And what kind of things does God prohibit us to covet? Well, he gives a list and he identifies things. This is by no means exhaustive, but it is very indicative. He is naming all kinds of things. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. How many of us have looked at our neighbor's grand, large, and spacious home and thought, wow, I would like to have that. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. cast longing eyes upon her and desire to take her for yourself, or his male servant or his female servant, his employees or those who work for him, or his ox or his donkey, his car, his motorcycle. And then we have the blanket, universal statement, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. One implication of this, friends, is that there is rightful ownership, that human beings, we have a rightful Ownership, it's a stewardship, it's a management, it's by no means absolute. So friends, we don't have autonomy when it comes to the possessions we own. We don't have the right to do with what we have, whatever we want. There is no such thing as the autonomy of the human body or autonomy of how we use our possessions. All of this belongs to God because he has made it for his glory and for the enjoyment of those who love him. So friends, there's no autonomy, but there is rightful authority. We have a rightful ownership under the authority of God. And what God is saying here is, I have given possessions to some this and to some that. And he's saying, beware casting longing eyes upon anything that is your neighbor's. Friends, the Bible has much to say about the human greed, Friends, the Bible warns us that we ought not to treasure up for ourselves treasures on earth, not store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But Jesus says, store up for yourself treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. And he says, for wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus says what we, Labor for what we set our minds to acquire and set in our hearts to do and aspire to reveals our priorities. Dear friends, if we belong to Christ, then our ambition is to know and love and worship him, to enjoy him and to treasure him. as our great and sure reward. Friends, I pray today that the Father has given you a heart to treasure him. My prayer is that the Spirit would awaken us, that we would find our God to be a fountain of exceedingly great glory. Because friends, at the end of the day, we can't take anything with us. Moth and rust destroy all that we have built and accomplished. Friends, it's a very humbling thing You know, sometimes we may labor even for notoriety or fame, but dear friends, there are so many stories. There are so many people who in their time were famous and wealthy and accomplished, whose names are now forgotten, who they named lands after their own names, but now they are confined to the grave. Friends, one day we will all die and stand before God. One day, friends, we will give an account for what we have said and done and failed to do. And the Bible reminds us that today is the day of salvation. And dear friends, if you found that you are coveting what your neighbor owns, friends, God in his mercy is warning you today that to find and to set your satisfaction upon anything rather than Christ is a fool's errand. And I would urge you today to repent, to call upon this God of grace and mercy, to know that he is a God who loves sinners, a God who is merciful and forbearing to rebels, but a God who has warned that unless we repent, we will be found on the day of his wrath. exposed before the flame of his eternal judgment. And so I urge you to repent and come to Christ. And I pray that as we come to Christ, the Lord would begin to change this heart that we might be satisfied in Christ. Friends, God is our treasure. As the scripture says, keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have. For God has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. So we can say the Lord is our treasure. Friends, this is the heart that every Christian needs. This is the heart that God is forming in every one of His children, a heart to treasure Him in His glory above all things. And that will set you free, friends, when your heart is set on Christ. When your joy and satisfaction is not wrapped up in what you own or what you could possess or what you could obtain or accomplish, you are free to live for the glory of God and to enjoy Him. You're no longer a slave to your passions and possessions, but you found liberty under the good and gracious rule of Christ. So, dear friends, we just praise the Lord that He is so good to sinners as we are. So let's pray. Our Father, we do thank you for your word and we thank you for this 10th commandment, this prohibition against coveting. Father, we do confess today that our hearts are so often turned aside to love the world and the things in this world. Father, we do pray that you would grant us satisfaction in Christ. Oh Lord Jesus, by the cross, you have atoned for the sins of your people, suffering once and for all the righteous for the unrighteous to bring us near to God. Dear Lord Jesus, in you coveting sinners are forgiven and in you, Lord Jesus, coveting sinners are made content saints. who love, who delight, who enjoy and worship you. Father, we pray, grant us contentment, lead us to live holy, content, and joyful lives in this present world, that the world might know that we belong to you by the joy and love we have for one another. Father, all this we ask in Christ's name.