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The Tenth Commandment - Guarding Your Heart

April 29, 2015 Speaker: Ken Ramey Series: The Ten Commandments

Topic: Sanctification Passage: Exodus 20:17

The Bridge

Exodus 20:17

The Tenth Commandment - Guarding Your Heart

In this evening’s message, Pastor Ramey teaches on the Tenth Commandment, which is, you shall not covet. When we consider what God’s Words says about coveting, we realize that it is essentially a matter of the heart. Its about our desires, and as such, the answer to coveting is contentedness.

While the tenth commandment comes last and may seem less severe, it is actually where all sin starts: the heart. If you covet, this leads to adultery, stealing, lying and murdering. This lines up with what Christ taught in Matthew 5:27 where he claimed that adultery and murder actually starts in the heart. So the 10th commandment is like a gate guarding the other nine commandments. Its about guarding our hearts and desires before we turn outward to sin.

1. CLARIFICATION OF COVETING
There is nothing wrong with admiring things. The problem is when admiration turns into envy, or jealousy. You begin coveting when you believe that you must have something in order to be happy.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Ephesians 5:5-6 declare how serious God takes covetousness.

2. THE CURE FOR COVETING
Contentedness is the cure for coveting. Content people do not covet. Content people are satisfied with God and His mercy, regardless of their circumstances. In fact, the degree to which you covet reveals the degree to which you are satisfied with God. John Piper characterized it in this way: “sin is what we do when we are not satisfied with God.”

Jeremiah 2:13 and Isaiah 55:1-2 speaks to finding complete satisfaction with God.
Philippians 4:11 and I Timothy 6:6 reveals how Paul had discovered to be content in all situations.

God’s command to not covet reaches into our hearts and convicts us all of finding satisfaction in anything but God. This final command reveals that even the most outwardly righteous-looking Christians find that even they have sinful hearts before a Holy God.