In the sermon 'Lines in Pleasant Places' by Jason Dohm, the speaker explores the concept of coveting as addressed in Psalm 16 and the Tenth Commandment. The sermon emphasizes the internal nature of coveting compared to other commandments which have more external manifestations. Coveting is described as an inordinate desire for what others have, and it is linked to idolatry and discontentment. The sermon discusses how a right view and disposition towards God can lead to satisfaction with one's circumstances, as God is a faithful provider who acts with wisdom and care. The differences in the Tenth Commandment's presentation in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are examined, highlighting the addition of 'neighbor's land' in Deuteronomy. The speaker encourages the congregation to covet spiritual blessings rather than earthly possessions, promoting a life of contentment by trusting in God's provision and wisdom.

The title of the sermon this morning is Lines in Pleasant Places. And it's drawn right out of Psalm 16 that Joe just read. Just listen again to Psalm 16 verses 5 and 6. David is the psalmist and he says this, Oh Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. David knew times of peace and prosperity. He was king. And he knew times of tremendous turmoil where it seemed like his life hung by a thread.

So when did he write Psalm 16? I submit to you, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter Whether he was in a time of peace and prosperity, or whether his life was hanging by a thread, he could have written this at any moment of his born-again life. At the end of the Psalm, he speaks of a hope beyond the grave. You will not leave me in Sheol.

David could say the lines have fallen in pleasant places because the Lord was the portion of His inheritance and His cup. The Lord maintained His lot So he could say, I have a good inheritance. I have a hope in this life and I have a better hope beyond the grave. This is what coveting and not coveting is all about actually. Do I view what I have in terms of circumstances and stuff to be what a perfectly wise and good father has appointed to me?

If the answer is yes, My view of my circumstances and my stuff is that it is what a perfectly wise and good father has appointed for me individually, then I don't covet. And if it isn't that view, then I covet. I should also note this before we really get started. The other nine commandments have a dominant external manifestation, which can be traced upstream to the unseen, to your thoughts and your motivations and your cravings, but really what lies on the surface of those other nine commandments is this dominant external manifestation. Murder, adultery, stealing.

External manifestation. Murder, adultery, stealing. But this commandment is dominantly internal. Covening, there is no sanction for it. In other words, murder, there's a sanction.

Life for life. Adultery, there's a sanction. Stealing, there's a sanction. In the Old Testament, coveting, just don't covet. That's sort of the end of it because no civil magistrate is going to be able to get into your heart to know and convict you of that.

It is dominantly internal. So it's true that all the other commandments can be traced upstream into thoughts and motivations and cravings. But this one is all that and really only that. When you get to external manifestations of coveting, you're actually breaking another commandment. You would be stealing or committing adultery or something like that.

Let's ask the Lord to help us. Our God, let us be able to say with David, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. Everything I have and all that I have is from your hand, so I know that it's good. Everything you've given me is for a wise purpose that's for my good and everything you've withheld from me is for a wise purpose that's good.

Let us not be filled with covetousness but let us be satisfied with you as our portion and with the lot that you give it to. Whatever our circumstances, let us be able to say the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places because you satisfy us. I pray in Jesus name, Amen. Okay, our pattern throughout the Ten Commandments has been the same, so we'll follow it. Major point number one, what the Tenth Commandment forbids.

It forbids coveting and to skip to the end of the commandment, you shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's. There's a list before you get there, but just skipping to the end, you shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's. This commandment is a bit longer than most of the others. It's the third longest I believe in word count. And there are some minor differences between the 10th commandment here in Exodus 20 and the 10th commandment the second time it's given in Deuteronomy 5.

So I'll just start by telling you what those differences are. First, here in Exodus 20, the order is, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. In Deuteronomy 5 that order is reversed. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife and you shall not desire your neighbor's house. Deuteronomy 5, I'll leave that really without comment, other than to say if I had to venture a guess, I would guess that sometimes people are more predisposed to covet stuff and other people are more predisposed to covet relationships.

So maybe that is an explanation of the difference in ordering. Both are on both lists, so I don't make much of it. Deuteronomy chapter 5 also has an additional item on the list, something that doesn't appear at all in Exodus 20. You shall not covet your neighbor's field or your neighbor's land, the Hebrew word can mean either. So property makes the list in Deuteronomy chapter 5 as another thing which you should watch out.

You can covet property. Also, Exodus 20 uses a single Hebrew word for covet. And if you go to the Hebrew lexicon to look at the full range of meaning, here's what you find. To desire, to covet, to take pleasure in, to delight in. So the sense of that Hebrew word is an inordinate desire.

It's not a problem to delight in something, but it is a problem to delight in something that God gave to him and not to you. And so it's an inordinate desire. In Deuteronomy 5, that same Hebrew word is used the first time, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. Remember, wife is first on the list in that list. So the first time behind our translation of covet is the same Hebrew word, but the second, A different Hebrew word is used the second time, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house.

So instead of covet, the translators render it desire to tip you off that there's actually a different Hebrew word used there. Look at what the Greek lexicon gives as a range of meaning for that second Hebrew word. To desire, to covet, to wait longingly, to wish, to sigh. That gets right to it. It's not even, it's only the description, it's a description of something you would do.

You sigh for something. You're longing for something. To be greedy, to prefer, that Really the sense of that second Hebrew word is to pine away for it. You're just pining away for it. You're sighing wanting to have it.

I think in terms of what the 10th commandment forbids, I think the book of James frames it well. So turn to James chapter 4, please. James chapter 4. He actually uses our word covet and sheds light on coveting. James chapter 4, I'll be reading 1 through 5.

Please follow along as I read James 4. 1-5. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure, that war in your members? You lust and do not have.

You murder and covet, there's our word, you murder and covet and cannot obtain, you fight in war yet you do not have because you do not ask, you ask and do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures, adulterers and adulteresses. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God? Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously? So coveting isn't about wanting expanded resources in order to advance the kingdom.

Coveting has nothing to do with that. It's about wanting more resources to spend on your own pleasures. That's why we're at war with each other over quote-unquote limited resources. God has limited them and we're at war over them because I want to spend it on my pleasures and you want to spend it on your pleasures so we'll scrap over them. It's not about expansion of Christ's Kingdom at all.

We want to cozy up to the world. We want to have more of the world. And so that's behind covenant, to spend on our own pleasures. We don't have because we don't ask, and then when we ask, we ask amiss so we don't get it. God is too wise to give us those things to just spend on our pleasures.

Now, back to Exodus 20. We're given a list. You shall not covet your neighbor's blank. And then God fills in some blanks. He gives us a list of some of the more common things that you might covet and then a catch-all at the end of the list, anything.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. With each of these on the list, there's a strong want or a perceived need. I really want a house like James's house. What could I do with the square feet in James' house? Half the church could live with me at some point or another if I had the square footage of James' house.

Or even, I need a house like James' house. We're so cramped and confined and where we are. I need his house or one just like it. Of course Paul said this in 1st Timothy 6, 6 through 8. 1st Timothy 6, 6 through 8.

Now godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing with these, we shall be content." So that casts need in air quotes, That casts need in a very different light than what we normally think. Paul says, I have food, I have clothing, I have a savior to follow, I'm content. Paul says, be godly and content. There's great gain in that.

Covening is the exact opposite. So we have the coveting coin, it's on the other side of that coin, godliness and contentment. They are polar opposites. Covening is ungodly discontent. So if godliness with contentment is great gain, covening is the polar opposite of that, it is ungodly, it's the breaking of one of the Ten Commandments, discontent, ungodly discontent.

That's exactly what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 13 verse 5. Listen to Hebrews 13 verse 5. Let your conduct be without covetousness. That side of the covetousness coin, covet coin. Let your conduct be without covetousness.

Be content with such things as you have." So the other side of the coin. "'For he, ' God himself, has said, "'I will never leave you nor forsake you." So the argument of the author of Hebrews is, what are you coveting for? God said He would never leave you or forsake you. If you belong to Him, why do you need to clamor for this thing He hasn't given you? He's with you.

He's not leaving you. You can be content. You're free to be content with what you have. You don't need to grasp for things that you don't have because God's never going to leave you or forsake you. He promised you.

Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. Right now. Not what you hope to have next month, year, decade. For God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Now listen to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 10. I know I'm throwing a lot of references at you quickly, but I think they're all helpful. Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse 10. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver. Nor he who loves abundance with increase this also is vanity I love silver you give me silver I'm not satisfied with silver I love abundance you give me abundance I'm not satisfied with abundance So the problem isn't the missing thing that is being coveted.

If someone gave it to you, you would just consolidate your gains and fix your eyes on another object that you don't have. So don't ever think that the problem is the missing thing. It isn't the problem. If you loved silver and we gave you silver, you would love gold. If we gave you gold, you would love houses.

If we gave you houses, you would love land. If we gave you abundance, you wouldn't be satisfied with increase. This is the nature of coveting in the heart. The missing thing is not the problem. You would just shift to a new missing thing.

Or your neighbor's wife. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. Think of how happy I would be if I had a wife like her, whoever her is. A wife that looked like her, a wife that was as industrious as her, a wife that talked like her, a wife that prioritized her life like her. I start the list with how she looks, not because that's the most important thing about the life, but that's the most shallow thing you would go for and that fits perfectly with coveting.

You're not coveting the most godly wife. Covening is shallow by nature. If I only had a wife like her so I could expand the kingdom, yeah, right. I know we'll talk more about this next week, so brace yourselves. But this is dreadful on a number of fronts.

If you're married, who brought you together with your spouse? God in heaven did that. You Say, but I married the wrong person. Wrong! Never say that again.

Never let your brain say that again. Because that's not true. You might have married for the wrong reasons. You might have married engaging in the wrong process, but God gave you your spouse. God did that.

So you're grumbling against God when you covet somebody else's wife. What's another front in which that is dreadful? If you're a husband, Who has God put in place to help your wife make progress? Here's a hint, it ain't me. It's not the pastor.

I guess I am in a little way. You are in the major way, in the big way. God gave you to her to help her make progress. Man After 10 or 20 years with negligible exceptions, if you don't have a good wife, you haven't been a good husband. Wives don't look so smug.

We'll include you next week. You get a one week reprieve. I'll be back. Or your neighbor's land. Deuteronomy 5.

It's not in Exodus 20, but it's in Deuteronomy 5. Your neighbor's land. If I just had room to spread out like they do, You can reach out your window and high five your neighbor. If you want, that's how your neighbor's house is right there. Hey, good morning.

I don't know how we're supposed to be family integrated on a quarter of an acre. How am I supposed to be content with just a quarter of an acre? Those of you who know me know that I actually covet small lots. Are your neighbors male servant? You shall not covet your neighbor's mail servant.

Now we might not technically have mail servants because the modern economy is structured differently, But we have service industries that give us all the same outputs. So don't be put off by the fact like this has nothing to do with me. Of course it has something to do with us. Look at them. They can afford to bring in that guy with all the fantastic skills to renovate this or that.

That's the equivalent of having a male servant. We could have a kitchen like that too if we could afford to bring him in for a week or two. They can and we can't. Man, I wish we could. You shall not covet your neighbor's female servant.

Again, in the modern economy, you can go buy at the store the things which would have been produced by a female servant. Maybe it's food or maybe it's clothing or maybe it's home decor or maybe it's this or that or this. All things which can be coveted. Your female servant used to produce that for you. Now you can go to Target and buy it.

It's all the same. You shall not covet your neighbor's ox or donkey. Again, think in terms of output. An ox or a donkey is just a means to a certain type and level of production. Producing certain things and producing a certain quantity of those things.

You can produce them with an ox and a donkey. You can't without. You can produce a lot with an ox or a donkey. You can't without, so the modern equivalent might be a vehicle or machinery or a tool. Think of what an ox or a donkey give you the ability to do.

We have all of those equivalents. Or the catch-all, or anything that is your neighbor. So the list gives us some things to get our mental juices flowing. That's all that the list is there for. It gives you some things that are commonly coveted.

But this is the including but not limited to language in the contract. If you had a modern contract, you would almost certainly see a list of something. And then at the beginning of the list, it would say, including but not limited to this list. It's anything that is your neighbor's. So the 10th commandment forbids covening, pining away for something that God has given to someone else but hasn't given to you.

That's really the gist of it. Pining away, God you gave it to him but I want it. Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 12 verse 15 when he's brought into a family feud over the inheritance. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 12 verse 15, and he said to them, take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses so I'm gonna read it again slowly just think about it to come to Jesus he's make him share the inheritance with me. Here's Jesus's response.

Take heed and beware of covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. This squabble over the inheritance, you're acting like The big thing in life is how much stuff. Beware, that's what Jesus says. Take heed and beware of covetousness.

It makes stuff loom large. It makes the abundance of your possessions seem like your life consists in that. As if this world and your one lifetime is all there is, so you got to get all you can. That's what Jesus is pointing to. The mentality, like, I got one life to live, and there's nothing after it I got to get.

If I'm going to ever get it, I got to get it now. Christians don't think like that. The Lord's people don't think like that. The Lord's people think like David. There's hope for me beyond the grave, but the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places because God is my portion.

God maintains my law. Or Paul in Colossians 3 verse 5. There's almost identical language in Ephesians 5, so he does repeat it and I just thought I'll pick between the two because they say almost exactly the same thing, but I wanted to tell you, Paul repeats it in letters. Colossians 3 verse 5, Paul writes, Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. In Ephesians 5, Paul gives another list.

He ends the list with covetousness, And then he says exactly the same following words, which is idolatry. To be grasping for something, pining away for something that God has given him but hasn't given to you is a form of idolatry. The missing thing is your God. You would never describe it that way. You would never plead guilty to it, but Paul says you are guilty of it.

It's a form of idolatry. Major point number two, what the tenth commandment requires. We just spent time looking at what it forbids. What does it require? It requires a right view of and disposition towards God.

A right view of God and a right disposition towards God and a right view of and disposition towards your neighbor. The believer's view of God should be that he and all-knowing, all-wise, all-good Father who is bringing things to pass according to knowing everything, being all-wise and always being good to his children. So that the believer's disposition towards God should be one of complete trust. In other words, you have this view of God that He knows it all and He knows how to perfectly act in wisdom according to knowing everything for His glory and the good of those who are His. And so you know that you're a trillion miles away from all knowing, a trillion miles away from all wise, that you're not always good, and so you're happy to have everything be in His hands.

So it leads towards, your view of God leads to a disposition towards God that says, here, do smart things with the things that are in my life, with my circumstances and my possessions. I don't know how to do smart things with that. I know that you do. I trust you. It's a disposition towards God of complete trust all the time.

It's the target. I know we don't hit that target. That's the target. Listen to what Thomas Watson says. I found this so helpful.

Thomas Watson says, the remedy for covetousness is to covet spiritual things more. That's helpful. Thomas Watson cuts you free to covet. Covet grace, for it is the best blessing. Covet heaven, which is the region of happiness, the most pleasant climate, or climate, like the most pleasant climate is heaven.

If our hearts were more fixed upon the Jerusalem above, all worldly things would disappear, would diminish, and be as nothing in our eyes." Thomas Watson says the remedy for coveting is coveting. Stop coveting earthly things and start coveting the spiritual things and you'll have your remedy. Turn to Philippians 4. I shouldn't quote Thomas Watson more than the Apostle Paul, so let's go to Philippians 4. Philippians 4, I'll be reading verses 10 through 13.

Follow along. Philippians 4, 10 through 13. Paul writes, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care for me has flourished again. They sent him resources. That's what they sent him.

Resources to help him be sustained. Though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This is the writing of a person who is done with covening.

He does know how to function in times of prosperity. He's glad for times of prosperity, but he also knows how to function in times of poverty. He's content. If he has food and clothing and a savior to follow, Paul's ready for action. A man done with coveting because God is his portion and his inheritance.

God maintains his law. Just like David in Psalm 16. This could be an extension of Psalm 16. The believers view of his or her neighbor should be that you want good things in their life. It's not bad news when they have good things and abundance and prosperity, it's good news.

You're tender-hearted towards your neighbor so you're glad when times of prosperity are upon them. You're concerned with their happiness and welfare. By the way, Prosperity does not equal happiness. You know that. Be careful what you wish for.

Don't covet, but know this, that the things that you're coveting might bring misery into your life. That may be why God has not given them to you. It's just tender care for you. If you haven't lived long enough to see a person in prosperity, utterly miserable, you haven't lived long and haven't seen much. You need to get out of the house more.

The believer's disposition towards his or her neighbor should be what Paul exhorts us to in Romans 12 verse 15. Let's just listen to this, Romans 12 verse 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. You can't rejoice with someone who's rejoicing because you're irritated that they have and you don't have, you know the 10th commandment alarm is going off. It's going off.

We'll edit those sounds out of the audio. I'll say it again. What is on the other side of the covet coin? Contentment. Contentment.

What does the tenth commandment require? Satisfied with God and the lot that He's given you, knowing that all that He's given you is for your good, all that He's withheld from you is for your good. That he knows it all and disposes of it all according to perfect wisdom and he'll never leave you or forsake you so you don't have to clamor for stuff you don't have to be grasping for stuff. This commandment is meant to set us free from that. This is misery.

To love silver but then never be satisfied with silver, to love abundance but then to never have enough is a trap. It's a recipe for misery. God is trying to hold us back from that. He's trying to set us free to just be satisfied in Him. Major point number three, what the tenth commandment teaches about God.

I'll say what I say every time we get here. I'm sure it teaches more about God than just this, but let me give you two things. Two things. Number one, It teaches us that God is a faithful provider. It'd be cruel to command people not to covet if you weren't a faithful provider, if you weren't able to provide, willing to provide, disposed to provide, and then say, you know, don't want other stuff.

That sounds cruel to me. God is a faithful provider. In the garden He is. Everything that they need literally within arm's reach, but even in the wilderness he is. We know the garden didn't last long, but what after that?

Even when God brought his people into the wilderness, like, where are we going to get our water? It'll come out of the rock. Where are we going to get on our food? It'll fall like dew on the ground, so that you don't have to plant or harvest. You just go pick it up in the morning six days a week and on the sixth day of the week get enough for the seventh.

Jesus said this in Matthew 6 verses 25 and 33. Matthew 6 verse 25 and then verse 33. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Then he goes and talks about the birds.

They don't farm but they do eat. Why? Because God gives them their food. And then the lilies. They don't make clothes, but they are beautifully adorned.

Why? Because God does that. God provides for them. Then in Matthew 6 verse 33, after this long section, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. If you have food and clothing and a Savior to follow, do that and the other things will be added without you grasping for them and clamoring for them.

The book of James gave us something underlying, coveting, feeding our selfish pleasures. Jesus in Matthew 6 gives us something else, worry. Worry can make you covet too. If you belong to Him, you are secure. And so worry is sinful.

Sometimes we think that worry is not sinful. Worry is a common experience. Worry is done by us all at different points, but worry is sin because we are secure. I don't want to bog down the oversensitive conscience. Just repent and keep going forward if you're a worrier.

Really want to prick the under sensitive conscience. That's what I'm trying to do. Number two, secondly, another thing that we learn about God. God does not give the same things to everyone and that is a good thing. Look at God acting like a king.

Acting like He rules everything. Yeah, he is a king. He does rule everything. He can give whatever he wants and withhold whatever he wants. But he doesn't do it capriciously.

He doesn't do it in an irksome fashion. That is not the God of Scripture. He's good. When He's withholding, He's withholding wisely. God is a Father who gives and withholds according to perfect wisdom and in accordance with the good of his children.

You have to take that one on faith. You only get to know at the end. At the end. Well I'm perfectly confident that at the end we'll say, God, you did it all according to perfect wisdom. It all makes sense now.

Until then we look to Him by faith, knowing that He's a good Father disposing all things according to perfect wisdom and with our interests at heart." Our interests are at heart for him. We can say that. That's not man-centered to say that. That is Bible based truth. Our interests are at heart with him.

Amazing. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His ways are higher than our ways. I know we would all give ourselves more than we have. Who's smarter?

God's smarter. That's Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, His ways are higher than our ways. We need to be pulled up to His, not He's not going to be pulled down to ours. I leave you with this, Romans 8 verse 32, we quote this all the time, Romans 8 verse 32, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Don't you dare say God has been stingy with you. Don't you dare say It's well enough for King David to say, the lots have fallen to him in pleasant places. Wish he knew my lot. Yeah, I'm not sure you would trade places with David. Go read again.

Read again the account of David. He could say, the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places because God was his portion. He was satisfied in God. His hope was beyond the grave. Go read Psalm 16 again.

That's what it says. I keep using the phrase clamoring for things all throughout the Ten Commandments. I keep using that phrase. It really is at the heart of all the commandments. We're clamoring for something that we want but that's not good.

But it's especially at the heart of the tenth commandment, you shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's. We're grasping for something that's not good. If it was good, you would have it already. You wouldn't have had to grasp for it. God would have given it to you.

Friends, but believing friends, we're learning to be satisfied in Him, with Him. He will satisfy us. He's not the problem. He will satisfy us. We're learning day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, to be satisfied with him.

Stop grasping and clamoring because we don't need to. He will never leave us or forsake us. It's in hand. It's in hand. Covet the spiritual blessings And then the other coveting will just disappear.

Next week we'll talk about our performance and Jesus' performance. God, Let us be like David, let us be like Jesus. So satisfied, so convinced that the good things that you've given to us have come from you for our enjoyment and our good and our sharing and that the things that we think would be good or are good but that you've withheld from us Just convince us that you've withheld those things for perfectly wise reasons. Maybe to be given to us later, maybe never to be given to us, but that you'll do what's good for us. Let us be so thoroughly convinced of these things in Jesus' name, Amen.