In this sermon, Pastor Grant Brown delves into the tenth commandment, highlighting the dangers of covetousness and its root in idolatry. He explains that covetousness is a corruption of desire, where one's heart craves what belongs to others, thus displacing the Creator with the creation. The sermon emphasizes the importance of contentment and resting in God's provision, as well as the interconnectedness of the Ten Commandments, which begin and end with prohibitions against idolatry. Pastor Brown warns of the destructive nature of covetousness, both personally and within communities, and underscores the need for a heart aligned with God's love. He encourages believers to find satisfaction in Christ, who is the ultimate cure for covetousness, and to embrace the gifts and promises God has provided. The sermon concludes by calling for gratitude, repentance, and a commitment to love God and neighbor wholeheartedly.

Exodus chapter 20 beginning in verse 1. Then God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them, For I, the Lord your God, am the jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers of the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me, and keep my commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be Prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives to you You shall not murder You shall not commit adultery You shall not steal You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor You shall not covet your neighbor's house 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 belongs to your neighbor. May God bless the reading and now the preaching of his word. Amen.

Amen, you may be seated. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. My house is okay, but man, if I could have the kind of house that they have, it smells better, it's bigger, Why can't I have a home like theirs? You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. I'd be a much happier man if I hadn't married my wife and I'd married her instead.

I'd be a much more contented wife if I hadn't married my husband and married her husband instead. He's so much better with the kids. He helps around the house. He's kind to his wife. I wish I wasn't stuck with my husband and instead was stuck with hers.

You shall not covet your neighbor's male servant or female servant or his ox or donkey. My truck is a piece of junk. Why can't I have one like him? All my friends take great vacations to very exotic places. Why is the best that we get a trip to see my family?

How come I have this lame job and he gets to have a great job? Why do I have to have my parents? Why can't I have her parents? Why do I have my kids? Why can't I have kids like my neighbor's kids?

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. I'd have so much more joy if I looked like her. I'd have so much more happiness if I could use my hands the way that he does. If I had his talents. Why does he get all the muscle and not me?

Why does she get all the looks and not me? Thou shalt not covet. This morning we come upon the final commandment of the Ten commandments, a commandment that deals ultimately with desire. Now, desire, get this, desire is not in itself an evil thing. It is righteous and good and holy to have righteous, good, and holy desires.

It is righteous and good to desire to find a wife. Young men, you ought to desire to find a wife. He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. It is a Holy and righteous desire, young ladies, to desire a husband, to be married, to bear children. Children are a blessing from the Lord that is a righteous desire.

It is a righteous desire to work hard, to earn income, to provide for your household, to build, to leave your offspring an inheritance. The desire for an inheritance is not evil. God says those are good and holy desires. It is holy and righteous to want, to desire those things which the Lord calls holy and righteous desires. Desire is not the problem in the tenth commandment, but a heart that corrupts desire.

Desire twisted. No longer being content with the good gifts that God has given to you, but taking those good gifts and throwing them back into the face of the Giver God and telling Him, those gifts are enough. Desire Corrupted like that. That is what is forbidden in the 10th commandment. That is what covetousness ultimately is.

Desire, corrupted. Desire, corrupted. Covetousness is desire or affections, loves that aren't rightly ordered. Not rightly ordered affections. A heart full of idolatry.

And that's exactly what Paul says in Colossians chapter 3. Colossians 3 verse 5, quote, put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry. Covetousness, which is idolatry. Some translations use the word greed instead of covetousness. It's the same thing.

Covetousness is grasping for things that God has not given to you, but he has given to your neighbor. He's given to others. And you want what he has given to others to such a degree that your desire for those things begin to control your life And they begin to shape your affections away from the giver of every good and perfect gift to the gift itself Paul calls that idolatry J.i. Packer puts it this way the things coveted become your God controlling your life and that's why Paul calls it idolatry. Now that's important for you to understand brothers and sisters, it's very important, particularly when you are thinking about how these Ten Commandments hold together as a unit.

So I want to ask you a very simple question. How do the Ten Commandments begin? I am the Lord thy God, and you shall have no other gods before me nor shall you make any graven images the beginning of the Ten Commandments begins with what idolatry how do the Ten Commandments end With idolatry in the form of covetousness. Bookends of idolatry, you know how I like my bookends. You've got vertical idolatry, behold Israel, these are your gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt a golden calf a graven image that's prohibited at the beginning of the Ten Commandments and you've got horizontal idolatry covering your neighbor's property wanting the gifts of God more than the giver of those gifts, you have material idolatry prohibited at the end of the Ten Commandments.

Commandments one through four, love for God, no idolatry. Commandments five through ten, love for God, love for God and love for neighbor, no idolatry. The Ten Commandments are bookended with prohibitions against idolatry. So what does that tell you? Those bookends tell you that the worship of God, that obeying the law of God, Commandments 1 through 10, summing up the law of God.

Obeying God isn't merely a matter of whether you've made figurines or graven images with your hands and you're now worshiping them. That's of course wrong. But that's not the point of the law. Obeying the law of God isn't merely a matter of whether or not you've killed a man or not. It isn't merely a matter of whether you've actually stolen your neighbor's goods or committed adultery with his wife.

All those things are evil. But the issue ultimately is that you want to do those things. You want to commit adultery. You want to be a thief. You want to commit idolatry.

The issue is your heart, and the God who sees your heart. Obedience to the law of God begins and it ends with forsaking idolatry which begins in your heart For from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts fornications thefts murders adulteries all the Ten Commandments Deeds of coveting proceed from the heart, Jesus says. Wickedness as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these things that are evil Proceed from within and defile the man. That's what Jesus said in Mark chapter 7 verses 21 through 23. So love for God, commandments 1 through 4.

Love for man, love for neighbor, commandments five through 10. You don't love God when you worship idols. And you don't love God or your neighbor when you worship idols through coveting. The beginning of the decalogue regulates worship and the ending of the decalogue regulates desire. You cannot divorce worship from desire.

God would have you hold them together and the two together show you that it's not just what you do it's not just what you do though that matters but it's what you desire to do that matters to Almighty God. Which is why Jesus says what he says in the gospels, is it not? I mean, you've heard it said not to commit adultery, Jesus said, but I say to you, I tell you that anyone who looks with lust for her in his heart, we could say any man that covets his neighbor's wife in his heart has committed adultery in his heart. Adultery, the seventh commandment, is first a matter of the heart, as is the sixth commandment, murder. As is the eighth commandment, stealing.

As is the ninth commandment, bearing false witness. As is the fifth commandment, children honoring your father and mother. So in your heart, And so what do you desire? What are you pining for? Do you pine for the glory of the Creator or the creature?

The giver of every good and perfect gift or the gifts that he gives? Do you desire the good of your neighbor or the goods of your neighbor first and foremost. Calvin compared our hearts to idle factories, pump out idols. This is what he was getting at. Covetousness is idolatry, and idolatry starts in here.

The desires of your heart being corrupted. So why does God end the Ten Commandments with idolatry of the heart? Why end that way? Because when you get to the end of the law of God, you might be tempted with the rich young ruler to think, I have kept all these commandments from my youth. Since I was a youth, I haven't worshipped any god but Yahweh.

I haven't rebelled against my parents. I haven't murdered anyone or been a thief. I haven't been bearing false witness. I haven't stolen. I haven't committed adultery.

But have you desired to? Have you desired to do those iniquities? Yes, Which means that You've committed idolatry in your heart, then 1 Samuel 16, 17 is a very true verse. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. And what does the Lord who sees your heart say over and over and over again in his word?

That his law is summed up by loving God with all your what? Heart soul mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. And where there is covetous in your heart, there is idolatry in your heart. And where there is idolatry In your heart, there is no loving God with all your heart nor your neighbor. Do you see how the tenth commandment makes it plain?

That the law reveals your grotesque sin. It is the mirror by which you look and you say, I have broken the law of God and I need the Savior who not only takes away my sin but gives new hearts. In this final commandment you are supposed to see as the Puritan preacher Thomas Watson put it, you are supposed to see that covetousness is a mother sin. The covetousness is a mother sin. Think about that.

Covetousness is a mother sin from which springs all the other children of iniquity. Meaning that in coveting, in breaking the 10th commandment, you set yourself up to break all the commandments. And Thomas Watson does such a good job demonstrating that that I just got to quote him. And I was going to try to put it in my own words. And then I thought, Sometimes perfection cannot be improved.

I mean you talk about a good Puritan to read. If you ever think, I'm just going to read one Puritan. I think Thomas Watson ought to be very much in the conversation. Here it is. It's a long quote.

Covetousness is a breach of all the Ten Commandments. It breaks the first commandment, you shall have no other gods but one. The covetous man has more gods than one. Mammon is his God. He has a God of gold, therefore he is called an idolater.

Colossians 3, 5. Covetousness breaks the second commandment. You shall not make any graven image. You shall not bow yourself to them. A covetous man bows down, though not to the graven image in the church, yet to the grave an image on his coin.

Covetousness is a breach of the third commandment. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Absalom's design was to get his father's crown, which was covetousness, but he talked of paying his vow to God, which was to take God's name in vain. Covetousness is a breach of the fourth commandment. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

A covetous man does not keep the Sabbath day holy. He will do his business on a Sabbath. Instead of reading in the Bible, he will cast up all his accounts. Covetousness is a breach of the fifth commandment. Honor your father and your mother.

A covetous person does not honor his father if he does not help him in his necessities. Nay, he will get his father to make over his estate to him in his lifetime so that the Father may be at his Son's command. Covetousness is a breach of the sixth commandment. You shall not kill. Covetous Ahab killed Naboth to get his vineyard, 1 Kings 21.13.

How many have swum to the crown in blood. Covetousness is a breach of the seventh commandment. You shall not commit adultery. It causes immorality. You read of the hire of a whore, Deuteronomy 23, 18.

An adulteress for money sets both conscience and chastity to sail. Covetousness is a breach of the eighth commandment. You shall not steal. It is the root of all theft. Covetous Achan stole the wedge of gold.

Thieves and covetous are put together, 1 Corinthians 6.10. Covetousness is a breach of the ninth commandment. You shall not bear false witness. What makes the perjurer take a false oath? But covetousness, he hopes for a reward.

And of course, covetousness is plainly a breach of the tenth commandment. You shall not covet. The mammonist, the lover of money, covets his neighbor's house and goods and endeavors to get them into his own hands. Thus, you see how vile a sin covetousness is. It is a mother's sin.

It is a plain breach of every one of the ten commandments." End quote. So lest you think with the rich young ruler that you have kept the law of God, here at the end, God makes it exceedingly plain. No, you have not. For your heart is full of evil desires, exposed by the law of God, And it should absolutely humble you and drive you to the foot of the cross where Jesus Christ bore the wages of your sin and in His resurrection fulfilled every one of the law's demands in your stead. The 10th commandment makes it plain that you have at a heart level not measured up to the standard.

That you really have. You are a walking manifestation of Romans 3.23. You have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that you need the blood and the righteousness of the one who is himself the standard to cleanse you and to make you new. His name is Jesus, and he bids you come to repent and believe and to receive a new heart. Amen, God.

Covetousness is desire-corrupted. It is a heart that worships the creature rather than the creator, a heart that is disordered in loves and affections. It is a heart that ultimately believes lies about God. I need you to get this. Your covetousness, friend, is informed by some fashion of one of these lies that I'm about to say, that God really isn't a kind and gracious gift giver.

That's why you need what your neighbor has. That God really doesn't take care of you and supply your every need. That instead, God is really stingy, and He's the opposite of rich towards His children. When you covet, you are functionally believing those lies. How evil those lies are.

They communicate to you and to your children and to this church and to your neighbor The opposite of what is true about Almighty God a Person who covet whether he knows it or not functionally believes lies about God And we discussed last Lord's Day that those lies have destructive consequences. What are the consequences of coveting? What are the consequences of coveting? Well, let's start with you Individually when you covet You don't repent You know what happens to you? Your heart shrivels up like a prune You're never satisfied.

You're never happy you're always going to be craving for the next thing. Crave, crave, crave. Never satisfied. On to the newest gadget, on to the newest flick, on to the newest car, the next wife, the next house, never, never enough. No satisfaction.

No contentment and your heart just shrivels up like a prune. But what did Jesus say? Luke 12.15, beware, be on your guard against that. Be on your guard against every form of greed for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. Brothers and sisters, greed is covetousness.

The love of money, which is the root of all evil, the love of possessions and things more than God and neighbor, disordered affections. Beware, Jesus says, why? Because that kind of heart will shrivel up and it will die. You will never ever have enough greenbacks to take away the pain. You will never have enough zeros in your bank account to take away the guilt.

You will never have enough gold, silver, and stocks to fill the void in your soul that was meant for God and God alone to satisfy. Your life is far more than possessions. But hellfire is coming for those who covet and don't repent. And no possession, no possession in the world will make things better for you in that moment when it's all taken away in the coming judgment. Beware of greed.

Beware of the love of money and possessions. Beware of coveting, for it will steal your joy, it will steal your peace, and it will shrivel you up. Alistair Begg put it this way in a Scottish accent. A covetous man sees only what he does not have, and his coveting blinds him to everything that he does have. Children, young children, listen to me.

Children, listen to me. Beware of the greed in your heart. Beware of coveting, which will spoil true joy in you. It will spoil the joy that you experience, it will spoil the joy of your parents, it will spoil the joy of this church, it will spoil the joy of your future spouse, it will spoil the joy of the world. Starting in your heart, children.

So children, it's really not that far away. Let's think about it. How far away is Christmas? September, October, November, December? Four months.

Four months from now, what's going to happen? You're going to wake up, and what are you going to do? Some of you might just roll over. I get that. But most of you are going to do what?

You're going to spring out of bed, and where are you going to head on Christmas Day? Go ahead and say it. To the tree. If you have objections to a tree? Sorry.

You're gonna be gathering around the Christmas tree, children, and what's going to be under the Christmas tree probably? Presents. Presents. And when you see those presents, what happens in your eyes? I've seen it.

I've seen it in my own eyes. I just light up with joy. Whoa! And there's some presents under the tree that you've put there, right? And you grab those presents and you bring them to your mom and dad and you have such joy seeing the father and mother you have open the gift that you gave to them And there's such joy in giving gifts, isn't there?

But there's also great joy, isn't there, by going back to the tree, and there's gifts for you. And there's nothing wrong with being excited about the gifts that your parents and your friends and your siblings have given to you. Nothing wrong with that desire. So think about it, children. Your face lights up when that box is in your lap, and it's all wrapped up, right?

And you just wanna tear that wrapping, shh, shh, shh, confetti everywhere, and you open the box up and whoa, it's the new BB gun. It's the new pocket knife. It's the new doll, a new game that I've been hoping for. Thank you, mother. Thank you, father, right children?

Thank you so much. I mean what a joy Christmas morning can be yes But then But then You look over children, and you see what your sister got. You see what your sibling just unwrapped. And the eyes that just seconds ago lit up with joy because of the gift that your parents gave to you. The eyes that lit up with joy, turned into eyes of fire, lit up with flames, the flames of covetousness.

You were totally happy, children. You were totally full of joy when you opened the box and saw the gift. Until you looked over and you saw what your neighbor had, what your siblings got that you didn't get. I want that. I want what they got.

All the wild children completely ignoring the glory of what you did receive. Still in your hands, freshly unwrapped. I've seen it too many times around our own tree. I've seen it too many times in my own heart. I've seen it too many times around the church.

You're happy, you're delighted, and then someone gives someone else praise. A brother or a sister, They honor another brother or sister without honoring you. They give honor where honors do, as God commands, and yet what happens in your heart? But what about me? Am I not those things?

Hasn't she seen me? Hasn't he noticed how good I am? I mean, I just heard that woman tell my friend how wonderful her kids are. How dare her? Hasn't she seen my kids?

Are they not wonderful? I just heard that man praise that other man. Why isn't he praising me? It's covetousness. You can't even let others around you be honored without wanting a piece of it for yourself.

Oh Christian, think on this. Have you not the smile of God? Have you not received encouragement from other saints? Has not given to you this church body and all of its fullness of fellowship and affection? But when you covet, you are saying, that's not enough.

The smile of God is not enough. I want her smile. I want that man's smile. Oh, how covetousness destroys your soul. Now it sucks away joy and happiness and life out of a church.

When that happens in a church, nobody, nobody can honor anybody even though the scriptures say to. Nobody can encourage anybody because covetousness has barred the way. Brothers and sisters, let us not exchange joy for misery. Let us not exchange gratitude and gladness for gloom and sadness because we're not content with the good gifts that God has given to us. Instead, let us look upon the praise of others and the gifts given to others with thankfulness in our hearts because God is doing the work and I'm part of that work.

Let us give thanks to God for the full measure of gifts that he has given to this church. Let us not be robbed of our joy. Let us instead be putting to death covetousness which is in us. Amen? Let us give ourselves to rightly ordered affections, to rightly ordered desires, to cherish the gifts that God has given to us and to be happy for the gifts that God has given to our neighbors and not to us.

So children, listen to me one more time. When covetousness springs up in your heart, children, and it's gonna spring up before Christmas, When covetousness springs up in your heart this afternoon, you need to call that what God calls it. Sin, evil, coveting. And you need to tell God that you know what's wrong. And then you need to cry out to Jesus that he might forgive you and change you and make your heart new.

Oh, God, give me new affections. Make my heart into a heart that is happy when I see my sister when I see my brother when I see my parents happy Let me rejoice with those who rejoice So you need to call the sin what God calls it children You need to ask that God would Make your heart new and Then you need to give a gift Give a gift Give a compliment fight the fires of covetousness with the flames of gift giving. And see the joy that it brings. And be glad as you follow in the family tradition, the Christian family tradition of giving gifts as your Father in heaven loves to give himself. You be like your Heavenly Father.

I don't know of a better way to fight coveting than calling it what God calls it, confessing it, asking that God would make me new, and then fighting the flames of coveting with the Atlantic Ocean of giving a gift. James 1.17, for every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Be like your heavenly Father. Covetousness will make you, brothers and sisters, it will make you, it will make your children, and it will make this church have prune-shaped hearts stealing your joy. Another consequence of coveting that isn't particularly for you is that it will steal your neighbor's joy.

So it will steal your joy and your peace and your satisfaction and it will steal your neighbor's joy peace and satisfaction. So do you want to know the primary driver of the social justice protests back in like 2020? What was the catalyst for all the destruction that those mostly peaceful protests and riots caused? What was the catalyst? What was underneath all of it?

Covetousness. Covetousness, idolatry. They've got money, they've got property, and I don't. Therefore, those with money and property, they're the oppressors because they've got stuff and I'm a victim because I don't have stuff. So we need justice and we're gonna get justice by taking their stuff away and giving it to me That's Marxism and that's evil That's the very opposite of justice.

It's injustice. It's sin and God hates it because it's covetousness, it's idolatry. R.C. Sproul writes quote, covetousness comes out in vandalism. If I can't afford or own what you have then you're not going to enjoy it either.

In other words a vandal seeks to make absolutely certain that no one around him can enjoy anything that he cannot personally enjoy." End quote. Pastor David Mitzemaucker goes on, quote, When covetousness and envy are normalized, citizens cease to see each other as neighbors and they begin to view one another as competitors, obstacles, oppressors. Gratitude is replaced with suspicion. Just think about what we're giving up here. Gratitude is replaced with suspicion.

Admiration is replaced with contempt. And churches, families, and communities fracture under the weight of constant comparison and dissatisfaction." End quote. So when we tolerate covetousness as a church, and when you tolerate covetousness in this community, you hate your neighbor. You hate your neighbor when you covet. You view them as a tool, as a means to get what you want, rather than your neighbor being an image bearer of God whose eternal good is your desire.

You got that? Covetousness makes you like the evil witch Queen Jadis. I've said this before, children, if you don't know what I'm talking about, go home and tell your parents, please read me Narnia. Hey, and you gotta give them that good gift, parents. Queen Jadis, do you remember her?

We're reading the magician's nephew with my girls right now. We're in book six, and yes it's book six by the way. If you don't know Narnia, sorry, again. Jadis, the evil white witch, she is described by Lewis in that narrative, the evil white witch, as someone who's not interested in others unless she can use them. All right?

A witch, that's his definition of a witch, is someone not interested in others unless she can use them. That's what covetousness gets you, children. That's what covetousness gets you, parents. That's what covetousness gets you, older saints and younger saints, men and women, Little white witches that are never satisfied. Little jadises that bring death and eternal winter.

No! Christian you, that's not you. It's not who you are. You do not belong to the dead. You do not belong to the Queen of Winter.

You belong to the King of Life and Resurrection. You belong to the Kingdom of Light and the Eternal Spring. You belong to Jesus Christ who destroys death, crushes the witch's head, and destroys covetousness by the power of his gospel. That's who you belong to. And he is the cure for your covetousness.

He is the cure for your covetousness. The cure for covetousness is the first table of the law, love for God, trust in his provision, being content in who he is and what he's done and what he promises to do for you as his child. The cure for covetousness is being content in Him. The cure for covetousness is Jesus Christ. It's resting in Jesus Christ.

The cure for covetousness is the essence of the fourth commandment. Have you thought of this? The cure for covetousness is found ultimately in the Sabbath, the Christian Sabbath. I mean isn't it interesting, stick with me here, isn't it interesting that the tenth commandment is worded almost identically to the fourth commandment? Have you considered that?

The first table of the law ends with what command? The fourth commandment. And the language of the fourth commandment is very similar to the language of what the second table of the law ends with, the 10th commandment. How does the fourth commandment and the 10th commandment, how are they similar? Your wife, Your servants, your oxen, almost gives almost the same list, doesn't it?

The fourth and the tenth commandment. I need you to understand that the fourth commandment is intimately tied to the tenth. It has the same language and that's not an accident. How can you stop coveting? Rest in God.

Rest in Jesus Christ. Sabbath with your people and rest in the giver of every good and perfect gift. Trust in his provision. Be content in the Lord. Gather with your people on the Christian Sabbath and have your mind renewed.

Confess your sins together as we've done today. And receive the glorious assurance of pardon in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. And then leave here and God will live as free people, free men, free women, resting in Christ knowing that God will take care of you, knowing that He's perfect in His administration of gifts. That God is perfect and never mismanages what he gives. You need to leave here on the Christian Sabbath as men and women like Job.

Naked I came into the world and naked I shall leave it. I didn't come into this world deserving anything but damnation. I was born in sin, I didn't deserve anything but the wages of my sin which is death, but God has given me eternal life, abundant life. He has given me so much more than what I deserve. So come what may, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.

But blessed be the name of the Lord. If you start talking like Job, remembering what you deserve and remembering all the ways in which God has lavished His grace upon you. If you start talking like Job, it's a lot harder, talking like Job, to look over at your neighbor in lust after his possessions. When you remember that you came into this world naked and God clothed you for all these years, be content in the Lord Jesus. I mean, what did Paul say in 1 Timothy chapter 6?

Remember 1 Timothy chapter 6? Godliness is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, sounds like Joe. For we brought nothing into the world, Paul writes, so that we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with these, we shall be content.

But those who want to get Rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. Getting rich isn't the problem. Paul says, for the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. Money isn't the problem, but a corrupted heart is. And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

So flee from these things, you man of God. Flee from covetousness and pursue righteousness. Pursue God in His faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Money isn't the problem. Having a big, thriving business is absolutely not the problem. Wealth is not the problem. Owning a property, a nice house, building an inheritance, no those are not the problems. Those are good things when your heart is rightly ordered.

But coveting takes those good things, good blessings from God, and it severs the string that connects the gift to the giver so that you might trace it all the way back up and go, here is the satisfied of my soul. Covening says no, that is. So you need to trace the gifts back to the giver. You need to be content in his provision. You need to rest in Jesus.

You need to live free. You need to Sabbath in the Lord Jesus. The command begins like this, do not covet your neighbor's house. How? Because you belong to the household of God.

You eat at His table. How will you then look at your neighbor's house and covet? Rest in His provision. You belong to His house. Don't covet your neighbor's house.

Do not covet your neighbor's spouse, God says. How? For you are the bride of Christ, bought with his blood, being made without blemish or spot. Do not covet his servants or oxen. How?

For your Lord did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many, even you. Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. How? For he has clothed the lilies of the fields. He has clothed the birds of the air in splendor.

Jesus Christ is the author of your faith and the satisfier of your soul. And through his shed blood and imputed righteousness received by faith, you are forgiven, you are declared righteous, you're made born again, you've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit within you, you've been granted a new heart with new affections, a new nature, a new name, a new family, a new community, and new life. You've been given the truth that every promise is yes and amen in Jesus Christ. You're more than conquerors in Him. There is no condemnation in Him.

In Jesus Christ and in His Word, Christian, you have all that you need for life and godliness. That's the cure for covetousness. Jesus the Christ and all that you have in Him. If God the Father has given to you His Son, will He not also give to you all things? Do not be little Judas's, who having Jesus Christ himself, having Christ right there, exchanged him for a measly 30 pieces of silver and lost his soul.

Instead, be content, be happy. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Why? How can happy be the people whose God is the Lord? Because he gives every good and perfect gift because he lavishes his grace upon his children and he brings them to his table every Lord's day and he says to you look look upon the bounty that has been poured out for you as my child bought with blood of my son come confess your sins.

Come and receive assurance of pardon. Come and be welcome to Jesus. Come and be satisfied. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and the wonder that it is to belong to the covenant-keeping God, to the God of covenant steadfast love, The God who promises and never breaks his promises.

The God who is the creator and sustainer of this world, and us, and our children, and our faith. We thank you for every good and perfect gift you've given to us, namely the gift of your son. And we ask that we would rest in him. For it's In His name we pray, Amen.