Exodus 20:17

1. Exodus 20:17 17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

2. 20He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. Mark 7:20-23

3. 21For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come–sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. Mark 7:20-23

4. Mark 7:20-23 23All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

5. The Sin Everybody Struggles With And Nobody Confesses Larry Cline - Hardin Valley Church of Christ – 3/2/2014

7. “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.”(Exodus 20:17)

8. Observations:

9. The command hits close to home. We don’t often covet things far from us but it’s the things close to us that are so enticing. • The command is forceful. We are told twice not to covet. It’s the only command like that.

10. Unique. As far as I know there is no similar command in other codes or civilizations. • Coveting is an invisible sin. It deals with the internal not the external. • Coveting is probably the most often broken command.

11. 7What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." 8But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind... (Romans 7:7-8)

12. Most of us don’t take coveting all that seriously. We could call it “the sin nobody will admit”. • It’s the root of many other sins. At the bottom of every other sin is the belief that God hasn’t given us everything we need.

13. Defining The Word: • The Hebrew is used positively & negatively. • “Strong desire” or “to delight.” • “An excessively strong desire to have something that belongs to someone else.” • “An overt dissatisfaction and discontent with what God has provided and a longing for what He has forbidden to us.”

14. A helpful word picture: Proverbs 21:25-26 25The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, For his hands refuse to work; 26All day long he is craving, while the righteous gives and does not hold back. Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it."

15. What’s wrong with the whole world… I have three walnuts and each one wants two.

16. Luke 12:15

18. Be Aware What is your default setting?

19. $450,000,000,000 (Billion) Annually To Make You Unhappy With: • Who you are • What you have • How you look • What you do At its core most advertising is designed to make us ungrateful and feed on our greed.

20. Social Comparison, Advertising And Consumer Discontent

21. “Merchants Of Discontent” “How To Motivate Your Prospects”

22. WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM!

23. The Cure For Coveting

24. God says kill it. Colossians 3:5 • Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (ESV) • And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. (The Message)

25. Learn The Secret! Philippians 4:10-13 10But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned [before], but you lacked opportunity. 11Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

26. 12I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

27. 12I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

28. 12I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. 13I can do allthings through Him who strengthens me.

29. It was spring, but it was summer I wanted; the warm days and the great outdoors. It was summer, but it was fall I wanted; the colorful leaves and the cool dry air. It was fall, but it was winter I wanted; the beautiful snow and the joy of the holiday season. It was winter, but it was spring that I wanted; the warmth and the blossoming of nature.

30. I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted; the freedom and the respect. I was 20, but it was 30 I wanted; to be mature and sophisticated. I was middle-aged, but it was 20 I wanted; the youth and the free spirit. I was retired, but it was middle-age I wanted; the presence of mind without limitation. My life was over; but I never got what I wanted.

31. Conform or Transform? “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light on His glory and grace.”

32. What if today, we were just grateful for everything?