Scripture Reading

Again, this morning we have two passages that I’d like to read. One is just a short verse of Exodus 20, verse 17, and then the longer reading, which will be in Psalm 73. So if you want to just listen to Exodus 20, verse 17, and then kind of open up to Psalm 73.

Exodus 20:17 This is the 10th commandment. This is now to the reading of God’s holy word. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Psalm 73 (A psalm of Asaph) Truly, God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance. They have more than a heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore his people return here, and waters of full cup are drained by them. And they say, How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease. They increase in riches.

Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning. If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery places, you cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors, as a dream when one awakes. So, Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image.

Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant, I was like a beast before you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside you. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who desert you for harlotry.

But it is good for me to draw near to God. I put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works.

Let us think the Lord’s blessing on this his holy word.

Opening Prayer

Oh, gracious God in heaven, we do rejoice to give thanks to you for Your word that is truth, that it brings great comfort to us in the midst of distress, that it can encourage us, build us up.

And even when we don’t understand, you give us wisdom that you reveal to us what we need to know all through your word.

And so we just praise you and thank you as we come to these passages, as we consider the 10th commandment this morning, we pray that your spirit would truly open our hearts and our eyes and our minds to hear and understand the truth that is here.

And that you would impress that truth upon each of our hearts, drawing us all closer to yourself, that we may truly find our delight and our trust and our fullness in you and in you alone.

And so we pray for your blessing now upon your word. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Introduction: The Surprising Turn in Psalm 73

Well, here in this Psalm, Psalm 73, the psalmist paints a very surprising picture.

It begins with this wonderful affirmation of the Lord’s blessing on the righteous.

Truly God is good to Israel to such as pure in heart.

And we know that God is truly good to his people, that he’s faithful to provide us with all that we truly need.

And so we may think as we read this first verse of this psalm, we may think that this is going to be a psalm of thanksgiving, thanksgiving for the Lord’s provision.

Now eventually it does come around to that.

But instead of following with a list of reasons that the psalmist has to be thankful to the Lord, the psalmist suddenly confesses then in verse 2,

but as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

And so what a drastic change.

What could have happened? What could have caused him to stumble?

But thankfully, he doesn’t keep us waiting very long. In verse three, he says,

for I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

He was envious or covetous of the prosperity of the wicked.

Now certainly it’s a stumbling block to be envious of anyone, including our brothers and sisters in Christ, or we can even simply covet anything that isn’t ours, that we wish was ours.

And of course, this is what the 10th commandment forbids, as we’ll see.

The Particular Challenge of Envying the Wicked

But what makes this a great challenge is, as the psalmist expresses here, being envious of the wealth, the prosperity, and the general peace and seemingly untroubled lives of the wicked.

And this can especially be a stumbling block when maybe in our own lives, we may be facing various challenges.

We may be facing financial struggles. We may be facing relationship issues or trials or some kind of affliction in our lives.

And we look around and we see the wicked are prospering.

And we wonder, why? Why aren’t they having the kind of problems that I am? Why aren’t they struggling?

They seem to be living life carefree without any real distress or discomfort. They have all these nice things, and yet here I am trying to faithfully live a godly life.

I’m trying to please the Lord in everything that I do, and yet it seems that everything around me is falling apart.

And sometimes those afflictions and challenges can be relentless. One thing after another coming to us in waves.

And we begin to feel like we’re drowning.

And yet we see the wicked on the beach having a wonderful time.

We think that this should be happening, what’s happening to us should be happening to the wicked, not to us.

They’re the ones that are still on their sins. They’re bad, we’re good. It shouldn’t be like this. It isn’t fair. I want what they have.

And so just like that, we can stumble into the sins of self-righteousness, of judgmentalism, and along with those envy and coveting.

All sins ultimately condemned in the 10th commandment.

And as we’ll see, at the root of such coveting is really a discontentment with what the Lord has provided for us.

The Remedy in Psalm 73

And this is why the psalmist, after describing the prosperity of the wicked, explains the remedy for this lack of contentment is, first of all, to remember the end of the wicked that will surely come, God’s just judgment upon them.

And then secondly, he would call us to remember the Lord’s grace and mercy that is poured out upon us.

And how God cares for us and gives us all that we need, even when we acknowledge that we do not deserve any of it.

And so as we consider the 10th commandment this morning, we’ll note how this commandment calls us to place our full hope and trust in the Lord, to care and to provide for us, and that we’re not to concern ourselves with what others have, but we’re to always be thankful and content with what the Lord has blessed us with.

The Heart Issue: Discontentment

But we want to begin with the heart issue.

And in relation to the Tenth Commandment, the key heart issue is, as we noted, discontentment that is instead of being satisfied and grateful for what you have, you’ve got a great desire within to want something else to want what someone else has, or again, simply to want more than what you already have, even though what you already have is more than sufficient.

Two Amplifiers of Discontentment

This discontentment or dissatisfaction within our hearts is often spurred on by two amplifiers.

1. Idolatry

And the first of these is idolatry.

Idolatry within our hearts stirs within us thoughts and feelings of dissatisfaction and discontentment.

And we may think, how? How does that work?

Well, it comes about when we try to fill our needs and desires with anything other than the Lord God.

Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3, he notes that we’re created with a deep-seated need.

He says that God has put eternity in their hearts.

And this eternity is really the evidence of the image of God in man.

And it tells us that there’s something out there that’s much bigger than ourselves that’s going to fill this great eternal hole that we have in our hearts.

It’s the yearning within ourselves that we’ve been created to be in a relationship with our Creator, the one true eternal God.

And yet we know because of Adam’s sin and rebellion in the garden that sinful man has had this relationship broken and is now in a fallen and sinful state.

And mankind can’t find or even seek after God unless God first graciously reveals Himself.

And yet there’s this persistent yearning convicting us of the presence of God and our need for it.

But again, in sin, the heart of man is turned toward idolatry as he suppresses that truth.

And he spends his life trying to fill this eternal hole or void with something else. Anything but the living and true God.

And friends, this is really essentially the message of the book of Ecclesiastes, right?

The vanity of various pursuits that Solomon notes, the vanity of all these different kinds of pursuits, all in attempt to fill that void that only the eternal God can fill.

And so with a heart turned toward idolatry, in vain, sinful man then strives after these various pursuits, ultimately ending up dissatisfied and discontent because these temporal things can’t possibly fill that eternal void.

And this idolatry leading to discontentment begins really a vicious cycle which seemingly never ends, although ultimately you know it’s going to end in destruction.

It truly is vanity, as the desire is for more and more of the same emptiness.

Right? More and more money and wealth. More and more possessions and land. More and more honor and praise. More and more pursuits of lusts and desires. Whatever it might be.

It’s all empty, but we continue to pursue it.

There’s no satisfaction to be found.

But all these things that we pursue fade away. They wither as quickly as the grass withers in the hot sun.

An idolatrous, dissatisfied heart is an unhappy heart.

Indeed, this is precisely the psalmist’s purpose in writing the book of Ecclesiastes.

He begins,

Vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?

In other words, if we can’t fill that void with the things of this life, well then what’s the point of doing anything?

Friends, this is how idolatry then fans the flames of discontentment within our hearts.

2. Satan and His Lies

But another amplifier of discontentment is Satan and his lies.

Satan is, of course, a liar from the beginning, and he has been, from the beginning, persuading and tempting mankind that there’s something bigger and better in store for them than what God has provided.

Again, this was Satan’s temptation to Eve in the garden.

Genesis 3, the serpent said to the woman,

you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

And Eve fell prey to this lie.

She thought that God was withholding something better than this perfect environment where all her needs were already being met.

That still God had something that he was hiding and withholding.

And so she grew discontent with the abundance the Lord had provided.

And then, of course, the fall only made this discontentment worse and even increase the likelihood that we would all fall prey to such lies as mankind has ever since been susceptible to wanting more and more, to wanting bigger and better, faster and stronger than what we already have.

And we see this again throughout the Scriptures.

The Israelites wandering around in the wilderness after being delivered by the great power in the hand of God through mighty works.

And God had provided them with the daily manna, miraculously that came.

And the Lord provided it for them so that they would have food and nourishment.

And yet they were dissatisfied.

Numbers 11,

now the mixed multitude who are among them yielded to intense craving. That’s covetousness, yielding to intense craving. So the children of Israel also wept again and said, who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.

You see, they believed that the food that they had when they were slaves was better than the bread of life that God was providing for them in the wilderness.

They were discontent with the rich abundance God had given them.

And then later when they finally did get into the promised land and had conquered it, they rejected the Lord as their king.

Again, believing the lie that a human king was going to be better equipped to lead and guide them into battle, after it was the Lord God who, after miracle after miracle, delivered them and gave them victory, and then drove out their enemies before them so that they could claim that land.

But no, they wanted a human king because they coveted what the other nations had.

And then we come to the New Testament, we have Judas, one who was not satisfied with a Christ or Messiah, who was a suffering servant that had come to save his people from their sins.

And so he fell to Satan’s lie that it would be better to betray Jesus into the hands of enemies in order to make room for a political Messiah and King who would never come.

And certainly friends, we can think of the many lies that we might be tempted with in our own lives.

Satan’s snares that stir dissatisfaction in our hearts.

Such discontentment ultimately is going to lead to destruction.

Coveting as the Root of Many Sins

But not only is discontentment the key heart sin condemned in the 10th commandment, but many consider the sin of the 10th commandment that is coveting due to a discontent and dissatisfied heart.

This is the root of many other sins, or at the very least, it’s the sin that leads to many other sins.

Now we know that ultimately pride is the chief sin of sins, but when we understand that pride is basically the idolatry of self, well then we quickly see the connection to coveting and the discontent heart as we just noted how idolatry is really one of the things that provokes discontentment.

Because the sinful self is never going to be satisfied.

And so we see here that it’s all interrelated.

And this is why the Apostle James rightly declares in James 2,

for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

You see, so committing one sin makes one guilty of the whole law because all the sins that are condemned in the commandments are all connected together.

And we see how coveting does this, how it provokes other sins.

Biblical Examples of Coveting Leading to Other Sins

• It was coveting again that led to the first sin. After Satan laid that temptation before Eve, we read, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes. Again, that’s the coveting and that the tree was desirable to make one wise coveting. Again, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate. And we talked about before how that was basically stealing, but how did it begin? Eve found the forbidden fruit desirable. She coveted its appearance. She coveted the delight. And she coveted, as she so thought, the wisdom that it would bring. And yet it brought death. She wasn’t content with what God had given. She desired more. And so she ate, and she gave to her husband, and he ate, and then sin and death entered into the world, so that we all sinned in Adam.
• James in James 1 describes just how this all works. He says,

but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Again, lust being the covetous desire for something. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

• And so then apply this to the other commandments that we’ve considered already. For example, adultery. Adultery begins when you covet another man’s wife. Theft is born out of coveting another person’s possessions, his house, or his servants, or his animals, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. And even murder can be born out of coveting what someone else has to the point where you’ll do whatever you can to secure it, even taking the life of that person or whoever it might be is going to be standing in your way to get what they have.
• And of course, the Scriptures are filled with examples of coveting provoking these other sins. For example, King Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard. And this led to his wicked wife Jezebel’s evil plot in 1 Kings 21 to frame Naboth and have him killed so that Ahab could then steal and take possession of the vineyard that he had coveted.
• And we know that David, even the man after God’s own heart, was filled with lust and coveted Bathsheba, who was the wife of his faithful warrior Uriah. And this coveting led not only to the adultery between David and Bathsheba, but it also provoked the unjust murder of Uriah, all of which was most displeasing to the Lord.
• And in the New Testament, we have Ananias and Sapphira who coveted the honor that was bestowed upon Barnabas, because Barnabas had this plot of land that he sold, and he gave it to the church, the proceeds to the church, and they would say, hey, this Barnabas, he’s a swell guy. And Ananias and Sapphira, they saw that, and they wanted that praise of men. They coveted the praise of men. And yet they lied to God and to the Holy Spirit about what they had sold and about the amount that they received. And ultimately, their progressive sins cost them their own lives.

So yes, friends, coveting provokes other sins.

And when it does that, it compounds guilt upon guilt.

And when you compound guilt upon guilt, you store up of God’s wrath for the day of judgment against the one who covets.

The Tenth Commandment Itself

And this is why the Lord graciously gives us the 10th commandment in his moral law.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

And the challenge this sets before us is that we must guard our hearts, not only from Satan’s temptations, but also from the innate sinful desire to fill the void with anything other than the Lord.

The 10th commandment calls us to not covet or not desire the things that others have.

Practical Implications

And what does this mean practically?

Well, it means we don’t have to be pressured to keep up with everyone else.

There’s a kind of keeping up with the Joneses was an old saying, keeping up with the neighbors. They get something new, well, we’ve got to get something new.

Well, if your neighbor has something, it doesn’t mean that you have to have the same thing.

And of course, this is what keeps advertisers busy and cash registers ringing, right? Because they feed into the covetous desire that people have to keep up with the latest trends and the fashions and technology and just simple appearances.

And of course, the seeds of this desire spawn early on in childhood.

And you think of the whiny child in the store causing a scene because their parents don’t meet their every demand and get them whatever they want.

And it’s frightening because if they’re never corrected and they’re never taught to be content with what they have, then they’ll grow up to be discontented adults.

And the temper tantrums of an adult is much more unpleasant than that of a child. As they try to fill that eternal void with worthless things, that will lead them to destruction.

The Remedy: Contentment

So what’s the remedy to avoid this destruction?

Well, simply it’s this. To be content.

To be content and satisfied with what God has graciously given you.

In other words, it’s doing really, again, the exact opposite of what our culture promotes and what advertisers depend upon to sell their products.

Again, because the world tempts, how can you be content when there’s something bigger and better, new and improved, faster, tastier, more natural, healthier, and on the cutting edge?

You see those kinds of things on all kinds of packaging or on commercials.

But these are the lies of Satan that we need to resist and flee from as we rely on the grace of God to be content with what we have.

Now certainly, I want to say that being content doesn’t mean that we don’t try to improve our wealth or our estates by lawful means.

Again, we talked about that when we considered the Eighth Commandment.

Proverbs 10 says,

he who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

And so we need to be diligent. We need to be working. We need to be pursuing these things.

But it does mean. Being content does mean that we’re to be thankful for whatever it is that we have and that what we have, whether it’s our possessions or people, isn’t the all to end all.

That is, we’re not in a competition that he who has the most toys wins.

And some people live their life like that.

Indeed, Jesus warns us in Luke 12, saying,

take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.

Wealth, possessions, and stuff are not to be idols in our lives that we serve and pursue with all our hearts, soul, minds, and strength.

Because these things will quickly pass. Even in this life, they quickly pass.

And they are of no lasting value. Thus they’ll leave us empty and unfilled.

And so we strive then to be content with what we have.

Paul’s Example of Contentment

The Apostle Paul in Philippians 4 gives us a good example as to what this looks like. He says,

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.

Now, admittedly, we know it’s easier to be content in the midst of blessing than it is to be content in the midst of affliction and persecution.

But Paul’s example here shows us that we need to be content in all situations that arise.

But note carefully that he also points out that we can’t be content in our own strength.

Philippians 4 verse 13 is a verse that’s often taken out of context to support all kinds of crazy claims and abilities about what people can do.

But here the context is clear that Paul is referring to whatever situation he’s in, whether good or bad, he has strength from Christ to be content because he’s relying on the power of Christ to strengthen him rather than on his own strength.

And as we’ve seen, man, separated from God, usually tries to fill this void with all sorts of possessions or vices, but the only thing that can fill the eternity in the hearts of men is the eternal life offered by the eternal God.

And so there is no contentment without God.

And we understand that God is the source and giver of every good and perfect gift.

That God is sovereign over all things, including our situations and our conditions.

And this is why Paul emphasizes that through Christ, He can do and endure all things and be content in all situations.

Because God is sovereign and He gives and takes away according to His perfect and most holy will, which He works out for His glory and for the good of His people.

Also, the Christian realizes that the material things of this world, though they’re good and necessary, they aren’t what really and truly matter in the eternal perspective of things.

We know our treasure lies not in our bank accounts, not in our closets, not under our beds, not anywhere else, but our treasure lies somewhere else.

Jesus urges in Matthew 6,

do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

The true believer in Christ realizes that all these things will pass away and that they’ll be destroyed as quickly and as easily as the grass withers in the hot sun.

But this then leads to the fact that there is something that we are to covet and desire and to store up.

The Apostle Paul challenges us in Colossians 3,

if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

We’re to set our hearts and minds on the things of God, desiring and even coveting His goodness, His grace, His mercy, and His love.

In fact, 1 Corinthians 12 verse 31, which is the last verse of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says,

…but earnestly desire the best gifts, and yet I show you a more excellent way.

And here, he’s basically setting up that great love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13.

By informing us that we’re to desire the best gifts that God can give.

And the best gift that God can give is love. Love for God. Love for one another.

And so we can, with a godly covetousness, we can desire the heavenly blessings that Christ has secured.

We can desire the goodness and love of God, and we can also strive after the blessed fruit of the Holy Spirit, against which there is no law.

Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Let us covet those things and desire those things.

This is what the Tenth Commandment calls us to: putting off the vain, empty pursuits that lead to destruction, and putting on the pursuits of godliness and Christ-likeness that lead to eternal life.

Addressing the Prosperity of the Wicked

But what about the wicked? What about the wicked of whom the psalmist wrote in Psalm 73?

We’ve been challenged to be content in our own situation, but there’s that lingering thought, well what about the wicked?

To the psalmist and admittedly to us, it seems as though they do prosper without consequence.

Verse 4 and 5, he says,

For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men.

After all, it’s one thing for the faithful believer in Christ to strive to be content, even in the midst of great affliction and suffering, as we rely upon the grace and the strength of Christ to sustain us.

But this doesn’t change the reality of what we see around us.

And if pressed, if pressed upon the point, it does seem to us as unfair, doesn’t it?

Beloved of God, keep in mind that one of the reasons that the wicked seemingly don’t suffer as much and endure the various trials and afflictions, I mean they do, but they don’t seem to endure the things, the kind of things that we do.

One of the reasons why is because Satan, the great enemy, attacks the people of God, trying to undermine them, trying to pull them away from the Holy One, trying to disrupt our faith.

Like Job and Satan’s afflictions upon Job was to get Job to curse God.

That’s what Satan’s desire is for the people of God, to get us to a point to afflict us to where we curse God.

And then we separate ourselves from him.

But you see the wicked, Satan isn’t concerned with them.

He doesn’t have to worry about them because he already has them in his grip.

They’re already in rebellion against God.

He already has them under his control and influence.

And so he doesn’t need to disrupt their lives and pull them away from God because they’re already away from God.

But again, even knowing this, it can be difficult to, again, sit back and watch the wicked prosper while we’re suffering.

Indeed, the psalmist goes on to describe the reality of this great challenge, even confessing in verse 16 that it’s just too painful to understand.

That is until verse 17.

Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery places, you cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors.

As he enters the temple of the Lord to gather with God’s people for worship, he’s reminded of the rich blessedness that awaits the people of God and the grievous end of the wicked who reject the Lord and who seek after and make idols of the temporal things of this life.

Those who reject the Lord will never be satisfied.

Their hearts will be filled with discontent as they vainly pursue all manner of worthless idols to fill that eternal void within them.

And these will perish, as the psalmist confirms in verse 27.

But as for the righteous, for those who trust in the Lord to provide, for those who seek to be filled by His glory and His righteousness, they will find in Him and in His Son, Jesus Christ, the fullness of all they desire.

Even the filling of that eternal void with eternal life and the glorious presence of their God and Creator.

Indeed, the psalmist commits himself to this rich blessing in verse 28.

But it is good for me, the righteous, the one who trusts in Christ. It’s good for me to draw near to God, for I’ve put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all your works.

Conclusion

And so beloved of God, let’s not be distracted by the prosperity of the wicked and the vain pursuits of the world.

But let’s strive to be content in our lives, to be about delighting ourselves in the Lord and what he has given us, doing the good works which He has laid out for us to do, knowing with all faith that He will give us the desires of our hearts, even filling that great void, to enjoy Him and to glorify Him forever to the glory of God alone.

Closing Prayer

Oh, gracious God in heaven, we do rejoice and give thanks to you for this encouraging word and this challenge that you present to us.

And we just praise you and thank you that you remind us of these things that you’ve given us your law to lead us and guide us to your truth.

And we can see the emptiness of what the world offers and how we’ll never lead to the satisfaction of that yearning desire that we have that you have created us with. To be in fellowship with our Creator.

That the only way to fill that void is through Jesus Christ and faith in Him.

That in Christ we have the fullness of your presence.

And we look forward to this even, we can enjoy that now, but we look forward to the greater fullness and the consummation of all things at the end of the age.

When we are there, in your glorious presence, seeing you face to face, rejoicing and giving thanks, and being filled with your glory and your praise.

And so we just praise you and thank you, God, for this important reminder.

We pray that you would, by your spirit, apply these truths to all of our hearts, drawing us all closer to yourself, all to the praise of your glorious name.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray, amen.